A friend of mine has a special problem.
He was self employed outside of the EU for many years- but did not pay into any state pension system. There is one exception: He paid into the German state pension system for three and a bit years while working there. He came home some time ago and started working in Ireland for a while- but has not paid in the minimum of 10 years PRSI contributions to qualify for a part contributory pension. He became sick and is on illness benefit, getting PRSI credits every week. He has not much time left to his pension day.
He thinks now of paying voluntarily into the German system to reach the required number of 10 years for an Irish EU pro rata pension. The Germans have no problems taking his money.
Question: In paying voluntarily into another EU system he will have an overlapping of Irish PRSI credits and German voluntary contributions. The PRSI sickness credits and the voluntary German contributions would be in the same time window. Regulations say that Irish credits would displace the voluntary contributions in a pro rata calculation of his future payments. Does that mean that a payment of voluntary contributions in Germany would be a waste of money- or do they count for a fulfillment of the 10 year rule- but will be ignored later in the pro rata calculation?
He was self employed outside of the EU for many years- but did not pay into any state pension system. There is one exception: He paid into the German state pension system for three and a bit years while working there. He came home some time ago and started working in Ireland for a while- but has not paid in the minimum of 10 years PRSI contributions to qualify for a part contributory pension. He became sick and is on illness benefit, getting PRSI credits every week. He has not much time left to his pension day.
He thinks now of paying voluntarily into the German system to reach the required number of 10 years for an Irish EU pro rata pension. The Germans have no problems taking his money.
Question: In paying voluntarily into another EU system he will have an overlapping of Irish PRSI credits and German voluntary contributions. The PRSI sickness credits and the voluntary German contributions would be in the same time window. Regulations say that Irish credits would displace the voluntary contributions in a pro rata calculation of his future payments. Does that mean that a payment of voluntary contributions in Germany would be a waste of money- or do they count for a fulfillment of the 10 year rule- but will be ignored later in the pro rata calculation?
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