When assigning a pension, points for non-insurance periods may be taken into account

Law for the benefit of the employee

Marina Dmitrieva

Leading expert - professional accountant

Current as of October 14, 2019

Insurance experience plays a vital role in modern pension legislation. Its value is one of the three main indicators that determine the moment when the right to assign an old-age insurance pension arises. Read about what is meant by this length of service, how it differs from labor experience and what is the amount required to assign a pension in our material.

What is insurance experience and how does it differ from labor experience?

Insurance experience is a concept that began to be used for pension calculation purposes in 2002 after the Law “On Labor Pensions...” of December 17, 2001 No. 173-FZ came into force, where it was described as the sum of periods of labor or other activity during which insurance premiums were paid to the Pension Fund. This amount is subject to increase by the duration of certain other periods (Article 2 of Law No. 173-FZ).

Since 2020, in connection with the adoption of the Law “On Insurance Pensions” dated December 28, 2013 No. 400-FZ, Law No. 173-FZ has lost its force, remaining in demand only in that part of it that does not contradict Law No. 400-FZ and contains provisions used to calculate the amount of pension. However, the definition of insurance experience migrated from Law No. 173-FZ to Law No. 400-FZ (clause 2 of Article 3) in virtually unchanged form (with only a few editorial amendments).

The modern concept of length of service for the purposes of calculating pensions is deciphered in Art. 2 of the Law “On State Pension Provision...” dated December 15, 2001 No. 166-FZ, where it is indicated corresponding to those periods of labor and other activities that are taken into account in the insurance period.

In the modern interpretation, length of service is part of the insurance period, and a mandatory condition for recognizing the length of service as insurance is the payment of insurance premiums during its duration.

Meanwhile, for persons whose retirement occurred in the period after 2001, the rights to pension provision for the most part were formed before the introduction of the concept of “insurance period”, and for them it is still important to take into account that period of work when calculating pensions. length of service that has not yet been accompanied by the payment of insurance premiums. The features of taking into account such length of service in the calculation of pension capital are described in Law No. 173-FZ (Articles 29.1, 30).

What surcharges are there?

The pension legislation in force since 2020 establishes the size of the pension depending on the value of the pension coefficient (or, as it was previously called, pension points).
The amount of points depends on the amount of insurance contributions for compulsory pension insurance that was transferred for this person. Each pension point in 2020 is converted into a pension at the “rate” of 87.24 rubles, in 2020 it will be 93 rubles

.

However, since 2020, it has become possible to take into account some non-insurance periods

, in particular:

• completing compulsory military service;
• period of child care until he reaches the age of 1.5 years;
• period of receiving unemployment benefits;
• period of caring for an elderly person (over 80 years old) or a disabled person, etc.

Some of these periods give the right not only to the insurance period (which is now, in fact, needed only in order to gain the minimum for retirement), but also to a certain number of pension points.

In particular, for non-insurance periods included in the insurance period, you can receive:

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• for each year of military service - 1.8 points;
• for each year of caring for an elderly or disabled person – 1.8 points;
• for each year of caring for the first child – 1.8 points;
• for each year of caring for a second child – 3.6 points;
• for each year of caring for a third and subsequent child – 5.4 points.

In this case, child care points are awarded for periods of no more than 1.5 years for each child and no more than 6 years in total

(although there have recently been initiatives to abolish this limit).

Points are awarded only for those non-insurance periods that are included in the insurance period, and they are included in the length of service provided that they were preceded or followed by periods of work

.

Periods taken into account in the insurance period

The list of periods taken into account in the insurance period is quite simple. It is divided into 2 parts, corresponding (Articles 11, 12 of Law No. 400-FZ):

• labor and other activities (including those carried out outside the territory of Russia), in which insurance premiums are transferred to the Pension Fund of Russia (including on a voluntary basis);
• other (non-labor) activities.

The number of non-working periods included in the insurance period includes the time:

• completion of military or other service equivalent to it;
• receiving disability benefits from social insurance funds;
• child care up to 1.5 years (but not more than 6 years in total);
• receiving unemployment benefits;
• the presence in places of detention of persons convicted unjustifiably;
• care for persons who cannot cope without assistance;
• staying with a spouse at his place of service (including abroad) in the absence of the possibility of getting a job (but not more than 5 years in total);
• cooperation under a contract with bodies conducting operational investigative activities, if such cooperation turns out to be the main type of occupation;
• suspension from work in case of unfounded prosecution;
• the performance of their duties by judges.

The inclusion of non-working periods in the insurance period is carried out on the condition that these periods are interspersed with periods of working activity.

Non-insurance periods are included in the length of service and calculation of the pension amount

In connection with the dissemination of inaccurate information on Internet resources about the exclusion of non-insurance periods from the work experience, the PFR Branch for Tatarstan draws attention to the fact that, in accordance with current legislation, periods such as caring for a child up to one and a half years old, military service, caring for a disabled child and a disabled person of the 1st group since childhood, a pensioner who has reached the age of 80, are included in the insurance period, despite the fact that the citizen did not work at that time.

Moreover, for each year of such a period, a citizen is awarded a certain number of points. For example, for caring for the first child – 1.8 points, for the second – 3.6 points, for the third and fourth – 5.4 points; for each year of conscription in the army - 1.8 points.

These periods are included in the length of service if they were preceded or followed by periods of work, regardless of their duration. There will be no changes in the procedure for calculating length of service when assigning a pension, including taking into account non-insurance periods. In the Republic of Tatarstan, when applying for an insurance pension, cases of refusal to offset non-insurance periods have not been registered.

IMPORTANT! Since 2020, a new basis for early retirement from an old-age insurance pension has appeared. To do this, citizens must have a long insurance period: for men - at least 42 years, for women - at least 37 years. This norm allows you to retire 2 years earlier than the new retirement age, but not earlier than 60 years for men and 55 years for women.

Note that in this case, only periods of work and temporary disability (sick leave) are included in the length of service. But time spent caring for a child and military service are not included in the long insurance period that gives the right to early retirement.

However, these and other periods (for example, caring for a disabled person; residence of spouses of military personnel serving under contract in areas where they could not find employment) are assessed in pension points and are included in the insurance period when determining the amount of the pension. Therefore, all pension rights of citizens are taken into account when assigning pensions for long service: some periods are used to determine the right to a pension, others are used to calculate the amount of the pension.

“We strongly recommend that you trust only the information posted on the official website of the Pension Fund of Russia and in its official accounts on social networks,” said Eduard Vafin, Manager of the Pension Fund for the Republic of Tatarstan.
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Periods constituting work experience before 2002

The lists of periods included in the length of service formed before 2002 consist of the following time intervals:

Are points awarded for non-insurance periods?

Pension points are awarded for non-insurance periods. In one calendar year a person can receive:

1.8 points - for the period of military service under conscription;

Question answer

How are pensions indexed for working pensioners after dismissal?

1.8 points - for the period of residence of spouses of military personnel serving under contract in areas where they did not work due to lack of employment opportunities;

1.8 points - for the period of unjustified detention;

1.8 points - for the period of caring for a disabled child, a disabled person of group I;

1.8 points - for the period of care by one of the parents for the first child up to 1.5 years;

3.6 points - for the period of care by one of the parents for the second child up to 1.5 years;

5.4 points - for the period of care by one of the parents for the third (fourth) child up to 1.5 years.

This number of points will be awarded if the citizen did not work during this period. If, for example, a person worked while on parental leave, he will be able to choose which points to use when calculating his pension: for work or for the non-insurance period.

The amount of insurance experience required to assign a pension

The length of the insurance period required to assign an old-age insurance pension is set by Law No. 400-FZ (clause 2 of Art. is set equal to 15 years. In this case, the period 2015-2023 is considered transitional (clause 2 of Article 35 of Law No. 400-FZ) , during which the amount of required experience is less important, but increases annually by 1 year.The starting point for this countdown is 2020 and an experience equal to 6 years (clause 1 of Article 35 of Law No. 400-FZ).

By year of the transition period, the amount of required insurance experience will be distributed as follows (Appendix No. 3 to Law No. 400-FZ):

From 2024, as a result of the last addition of one more year, the insurance period will take on the value established by clause 2 of Art. 8 of Law No. 400-FZ.

Let's sum it up

• For modern pension legislation, what is important is not the length of service, but the insurance period, which is the sum of periods of work and some non-work periods of time included in its length. A prerequisite for classifying the length of service as insurance is the payment of insurance contributions to the Pension Fund during its duration. The presence of an insurance period of a certain length is one of the prerequisites for the emergence of the right to an old-age pension.
• Work experience in its modern definition is regarded as an integral part of the insurance period corresponding to the periods of work included in it. At the same time, the concept of length of service, without linking it to the condition of payment of insurance premiums, appears in legislative provisions that make it possible to take into account, when calculating a pension, rights to it accumulated before 2002 (from which time the place of work experience in pension legislation was taken by insurance).
• There are 2 formulas by which the amount of pension capital accumulated before 2002 is calculated. Their work experience is taken into account as a coefficient applied to average monthly earnings. But the lists of periods for inclusion in the length of service according to each of the formulas do not coincide with each other and do not correspond to the list of periods that form the insurance period, despite the presence of a number of similarities in these lists.
• The insurance period required to qualify for a pension is 15 years. However, it will begin to be applied only in 2024. And before its onset, during 2015-2023, there is a transition period, during which the value of the required insurance period increases annually by 1 year, starting from 6 years corresponding to 2020.