Can I pay additional social insurance at one time to receive maximum pension?

Ms. Pham Chau is a preschool teacher. She will be old enough to retire by the end of 2024, but she lacks 5 years of social insurance contributions to receive a pension.

Ms. Chau wondered: "Can I pay social insurance for 5 years at once to receive my pension immediately, or do I have to wait 5 years to receive my pension?"

In addition, Ms. Chau wants to receive a pension at the maximum rate. She does not know if she can continue to pay voluntary social insurance for 30 years of social insurance participation, and pay it all at once to be eligible for the maximum pension?

Có thể đóng thêm BHXH một lần để hưởng lương hưu tối đa? - 1 — People can participate in voluntary social insurance to increase their pension benefits (Illustration: Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance).

According to Vietnam Social Security, people who are eligible to participate in voluntary social insurance are Vietnamese citizens aged 15 and over and are not eligible to participate in compulsory social insurance. Therefore, when Ms. Chau reaches retirement age and is not eligible to participate in compulsory social insurance, she can participate in voluntary social insurance.

According to the provisions of the 2014 Social Insurance Law, the pension is equivalent to 45% of the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions when male workers have paid social insurance for 20 years and female workers have paid social insurance for 15 years. After that, for each additional year of social insurance contributions, both male and female workers will be calculated an additional 2%, up to a maximum of 75%.

Thus, the maximum pension that Ms. Chau can receive is 75% of the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions if Ms. Chau participates in social insurance for 30 years.

Decree No. 134/2015/ND-CP stipulates that employees can pay voluntary social insurance monthly, every 3 months, every 6 months, every 12 months or once for many years later but not more than 5 years (60 months) at a time.

In addition, for social insurance participants who have met the age requirement to receive pension but the remaining social insurance payment period is less than 10 years (120 months), they can pay voluntary social insurance one time to complete 20 years to receive pension.

According to Vietnam Social Security, based on the above regulations, if Ms. Chau retires in 2024 and still lacks 5 years of social insurance contributions to be eligible for pension (20 years of social insurance contributions), she can make a one-time voluntary social insurance payment for the remaining 5 years to receive pension. The time to receive pension is calculated from the month following the month of full payment for the remaining years.

When reaching retirement age (quitting work, not subject to compulsory social insurance), Ms. Chau can continue to participate in voluntary social insurance until she has 30 years of social insurance contributions to receive the maximum pension (75% of the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions).

In this case, Ms. Chau can pay voluntary social insurance monthly, every 3 months, every 6 months, every 12 months or once for many years in the future but not more than 5 years (60 months) at a time.

However, in case Ms. Chau reaches retirement age and still has 5 more years of social insurance contributions to qualify for the maximum pension, she cannot pay voluntary social insurance at one time for 5 years to immediately receive (from the month following the month of full payment at one time for 5 years) the maximum pension.

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