1) Hello! I have read that mandatory pension contributions from employers will be introduced next year, but, as I know, an additional 5% is already being paid for workers of certain professions. Tell us more about it.
Compulsory occupational pension contributions (COPC) are money transferred by an agent (employer) at their own expense to a unified accumulative pension fund (hereinafter referred to as UAPF) in favor of their employees employed in jobs with harmful working conditions. The list of professions and positions, heavy work, work with harmful and (or) dangerous working conditions is approved by the Order of the Minister of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The amount of COPC is 5% of the employee's income.
COPC are paid in national currency no later than the 25th day of the month following the month of payment of income, unless the employer is an economic entity to which a special tax regime is applied, in the manner and within the time limits stipulated by the tax legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The state revenue authorities control the transfer of COPC, and if the employer does not transfer funds to the employee’s account in a timely manner, the employer is charged with funds that are subject to transfer to the account in UAPF with accrued penalties for each day of delay.
2) Now many companies have begun to accept a digital copy of an identity card, how is UAPF doing with this?
UAPF does not lag behind modern trends and for several months now, along with a standard identity card, has been using its digital copy in its work.
To date, individual pension services can be obtained from UAPF without presenting an identity card. To do this, it is enough to have a digital (electronic) version of the identity card in the eGovMobile mobile application.
With an electronic version of the identity card of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, when applying in person to UAPF units, you can:
receive an extract from an individual pension account;
make changes and (or) additions to the details;
change (determine) the method of informing about the state of pension accumulations;
transfer pension savings to an insurance organization.
Note that it is possible to use the digital (electronic) version of the identity card upon personal contact directly with UAPF units.
3) Hello! I am currently on maternity leave. Throughout my whole career I worked officially, therefore for me there was a regularity of contributions to UAPF. Tell me, while I'm not working, do I have any of the pension contributions being paid and by whom they are actually paid?
In accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 25 of the Law on Pensions*, for recipients of social benefits in case of loss of income due to caring for a child upon reaching the age of one year, compulsory pension contributions (hereinafter - CPC) are additionally established from the State Social Insurance Fund (hereinafter - SSIF), which are subject to subsidizing from budgetary funds.
According to paragraph 4 of Chapter 2 of the Rules for subsidizing**, subsidizing of the CPC in UAPF is carried out at the expense of budgetary funds on a monthly basis in favor of recipients of social benefits in case of loss of income due to caring for a child upon reaching the age of one year.
That is, on a monthly basis, until the child is one year old, CPC will be transferred to the mother's individual pension account through the State Corporation*** at the expense of budgetary funds and the State Social Insurance Fund.
When subsidizing, the amount of women's pension contributions does not decrease during the entire period of her receiving social payments for child care from the State Social Insurance Fund and is maintained taking into account the amount of the woman's income, from which the amount of social payment for child care was calculated.
That is, the size of the CPC remains at the level of 10% of the income received during the period of active labor activity until going on maternity leave. Therefore, the 10% contribution includes:
4% - from the State Social Insurance Fund, which makes payments for child care (contributions from the State Social Insurance Fund);
6% - from the republican budget (subsidy).
*Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On pension provision in the Republic of Kazakhstan" dated June 21, 2013 No. 105-V
**Rules for subsidizing compulsory pension contributions to recipients of social benefits in case of loss of income in connection with caring for a child upon reaching the age of one year from the State Social Insurance Fund, approved by order of the Minister of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 18, 2014 No. 330
*** Non-commercial joint stock company “State Corporation "Government for Citizens"
4) Good afternoon! You often talk about digitalization in your materials, tell me how can I track the status of my applications to UAPF without contacting the office?
1) The status of execution of an application for payment registered with the UAPF JSC can be tracked using the service "My applications for payments / transfers" in the "Electronic Services" section.
2) The status of the execution of an application when transferring to investment portfolio managers (IPM) can be tracked on the Main page of the Personal Account in the "Tracking the status of applications" subsection.
For the attention of contributors: UAPF transfers a part of pension savings exceeding the sufficiency amount to the trust management of the IPM within thirty calendar days after the date of receipt of the application from the contributor. The rest of the depositor's pension accumulations will continue to be managed by the National Bank.
Pension accumulations transferred to the IPM do not qualify as withdrawals of lump sum pension payments (as in the case of withdrawals for home improvement and/or medical treatment) and will not be subject to personal income tax at the time of their transfer to the IPM.
3) The status of the execution of an application when transferred to an insurance organization can be tracked on the Main page of the Personal Account in the subsection "Tracking the status of applications", namely:
- using IIN and password;
- using the EDS key obtained from the State Corporation "Government for Citizens";
- using the data specified in the application for payment and (or) transfer.
After authorization on the website of the UAPF JSC, the recipient will have access to a page where it is possible to track the status of the application for payment/transfer. When authorizing through the 3rd method, you can track the status of only the application specified during authorization.
4) The status of the application for a lump-sum pension payment (LSPP) received by UAPF from the Authorized Operator is checked by the contributor independently through the electronic service "My applications for payments/transfers" on the UAPF website and in the UAPF mobile application.
All these operations can be carried out in the following ways:
- using IIN and password (they must be registered in the UAPF database. This is possible if the depositor has chosen "Internet information" as a way to receive information about their savings);
- using the EDS key obtained from the State Corporation "Government for Citizens".
In addition, online it is possible to carry out a preliminary check of documents for receiving payments in connection with leaving for a permanent place of residence (permanent residence) outside of Kazakhstan.
5) Hello! I am a citizen of Russia, but due to the geopolitical situation, I currently live and work in Kazakhstan, how are the issues related to my pension provision being resolved?
In accordance with the Treaty on the EAEU dated May 29, 2014. pension provision for workers of the EAEU member states and family members is regulated by the legislation of the state of permanent residence, as well as in accordance with a separate international agreement between the EAEU member states. Such an international treaty is the Agreement on Pension Provision for Workers of the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union dated December 20, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement), which entered into force on January 1, 2021.
The main purpose of the Agreement is to form the pension rights of workers of the EAEU Member States on the same conditions and in the same manner as citizens of the state of employment, that is, each EAEU Member State must guarantee citizens of other EAEU Member States the scope of rights to pensions equal to scope of rights granted to its citizens under similar conditions.
The norms of the Agreement apply to the length of service acquired by the worker in the period after the entry into force of the Agreement, subject to the official employment of citizens of the EAEU Member States temporarily engaged in labor activities on the territory of another EAEU Member State with the conclusion of an employment or civil law contract with the employer of the state of employment and with mandatory payment of pension (insurance) contributions to the pension system of the state of employment.
At the same time, subparagraph 2.3 of paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Agreement establishes that in the Republic of Kazakhstan the Agreement applies to pension payments from UAPF at the expense of the formed pension contributions:
1) upon reaching retirement age;
2) when establishing disability of the first and second groups, if the disability is established indefinitely;
3) lump sum payment to heirs.
Thus, in the Republic of Kazakhstan:
* from January 2021, when calculating the income of citizens of the EAEU countries engaged in temporary labor activity on the basis of a concluded labor or civil law contract without obtaining a residence permit for a foreigner in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the employer is obliged to withhold and transfer pension contributions (CPC/COPC) to UAPF. At the same time, individual pension accounts (IPA) for recording CPC and (or) COPC will be opened in UAPF automatically when the primary amount of CPC/COPC received from the employer is credited;
* in case of termination of the employment contract or civil law contract with the employer, the right to pension payments from UAPF for these persons will arise only upon the occurrence of the conditions provided for in subparagraph 2.3 of paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Agreement.
At the same time, citizens of the EAEU countries, including the Russian Federation, will have the right to apply for a pension payment to UAPF, which is the competent authority in Kazakhstan for the implementation of the Agreement, or to the competent authority of the state of residence, for example, to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation with the provision of documents established by the Republic of Kazakhstan.
