Can a person with rental or investment income over 7500 euro per year qualify for 65s benefit ?

S class

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No.

However they could qualify for Jobseekers benefit at age 65.

Basically the subsidiary employment rules for Jobseekers benefit are different to those for 65s benefit.

Employment 1. PAYE employment
Employment 2. Rental or investment income over 7000 euro per year.

To qualify under Jobseekers benefit rules, both employments must have run concurrently for at least 6 months and you must cease one immediately prior to making your claim.

Employment 2. must have existed for a minimum of 117 weeks.

You then take up Employment 1. for a minimum of 6 months and then cease this employment and claim Jobseekers benefit.

Depending on your class A Prsi record you are entitled to either 6 or 9 months Jobseekers benefit.
Say you are entitled to 6 months. You can cease Employment 1 and make your claim slightly under 6 months from your 65th birthday. By doing this you ensure that you are a Jobseekers claimer on your 65th birthday.

Anybody who is a Jobseekers benefit claimer on their 65th birthday automatically get to keep their Jobseekers benefit up to age 66 and this is paid at the maximum rate.
This is exactly the same as 65s benefit.

You might not qualify for the maximum rate of Jobseekers benefit for the initial 6 months up to age 65, as this depends of your PAYE earnings in your governing year. If your PAYE earnings are zero, or below a certain amount, you would only qualify for minimum JB rate. This is approximately 100 euro per week

In order to qualify you must ensure that you have a minimum of 39 class A credits in your governing year. This is two full years before the year of your claim. If your claim is made in the year you reach age 64 this will be the calender year your 62nd birthday.


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I am 64 and will be 65 at the end of March this year.
I have worked since age 17 until Feb 2022 so now just have to sort out next 14 months until I reach 66.
Awarded 39 weeks of job seekers benefit from Feb 2022 & claimed 29 weeks (until Aug 2022).
Claim transferred to Illness benefit from Aug 2022 to date.
Illness benefit will expire in Aug 2024 (7 months before I am 66).

I have rental income in excess of €7000 & this has existed for more than 117 weeks.
I would like to apply for BP65 at the end of March.
I have 39 paid contributions in 2021 to cover GCY requirement.
However the rental income appears to disqualify me from BP65.

As less than 2 years have passed since I transferred from job seekers to illness benefit, it seems possible to link my claims & go back to Job Seekers benefit.
I have 10 weeks Job Seekers awarded but unclaimed from my previous claim.

There are less than 10 weeks until I am 65.
If I was to go this route, I would be on Job Seekers when I am 65 & would hope to be left on it until I am 66.
I see a note on various stipulations on previous claims but have no visibility to them.

Thanks for any comments.
 
If you manage to be a Jobseeker on the day of your 65th birthday you will be okay.
You should contact DSP and ask them if you would be automatically changed to JB if your IB expired during your 65th year. If you were it would save you the hassle of trying to convert back to JB.
 
No.

However they could qualify for Jobseekers benefit at age 65.

Basically the subsidiary employment rules for Jobseekers benefit are different to those for 65s benefit.

Employment 1. PAYE employment
Employment 2. Rental or investment income over 7000 euro per year.

To qualify under Jobseekers benefit rules, both employments must have run concurrently for at least 6 months and you must cease one immediately prior to making your claim.

Employment 2. must have existed for a minimum of 117 weeks.

You then take up Employment 1. for a minimum of 6 months and then cease this employment and claim Jobseekers benefit.

Depending on your class A Prsi record you are entitled to either 6 or 9 months Jobseekers benefit.
Say you are entitled to 6 months. You can cease Employment 1 and make your claim slightly under 6 months from your 65th birthday. By doing this you ensure that you are a Jobseekers claimer on your 65th birthday.

Anybody who is a Jobseekers benefit claimer on their 65th birthday automatically get to keep their Jobseekers benefit up to age 66 and this is paid at the maximum rate.
This is exactly the same as 65s benefit.

You might not qualify for the maximum rate of Jobseekers benefit for the initial 6 months up to age 65, as this depends of your PAYE earnings in your governing year. If your PAYE earnings are zero, or below a certain amount, you would only qualify for minimum JB rate. This is approximately 100 euro per week

In order to qualify you must ensure that you have a minimum of 39 class A credits in your governing year. This is two full years before the year of your claim. If your claim is made in the year you reach age 64 this will be the calender year your 62nd birthday.


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Hi S class, thank you for sharing this. Do you know what is regarded as investment income in this context? Does it include deposit income?
 
Does it include deposit income?
Yes. Any income subject to Prsi would be included.
So rental, share dividends and deposit interest.

ARF or pension income is allowed up to and above 7500 euro per year.
 
Hi S class
Many thanks, this has been most helpful
I am hoping you can help me on this one also
I am trying to work out how long Jobseekers Benefit will be paid when you re-qualify before your 65th Birthday, This is important to still be on JSB on your 65th birthday
see Citizens Information below:

My query is:
If you claim JSB for 9 months on retirement at age 60 with 38 years of Class A PRSI - and at age 64, (with more than €7.5k ARF), you work for 6 months at class A to requalify for JSB. Do Dept of Soc Prot, still count back to your date of entry into insurance and award 9 months JSB again? or do they only go back to the end of your first JSB claim, with only 6 months of Class A's and award 6 months JSB?

Another small query, not as important as above, Are the earnings in your governing contribution year all your PAYE earnings (including occupation pension at M class and ARF at S class) or only earnings from class A employment?

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If you qualified for 9 months at age 60 you would requalify for 9 months again for the second claim.

Only class A PAYE earnings are counted.
If you have no class A earnings in the governing year you will get 109.50 per week.
 
If you claim JSB for 9 months on retirement at age 60 with 38 years of Class A PRSI - and at age 64, (with more than €7.5k ARF),
To clarify.

Your ARF of greater than 7.5k does not disqualify you from receiving Benefit Payment 65. You don't need to have 6 months employment as your ARF is not classed as subsidiary employment.

You could qualify for Jobseekers Benefit at age 64 with 3 months class A PAYE employment and then get 9 months of payments.
It is not critical that these actually run up to your 65th birthday.

It is only when you have income greater than 7.5k from investments or rental that the 6 months employment and Jobseekers benefit up to your 65th birthday is critical.
 
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Your ARF of greater than 7.5k does not disqualify you from receiving Benefit Payment 65.

My apologies, i am confused by this statement. I though the answer in post 1 was "NO" to the title question

Can a person with rental or investment income over 7500 euro per year qualify for 65s benefit ?

Maybe you meant to say "ARF of greater than 7.5K does not disqualify you from receiving Jobseekers Benefit at age 64"?
Or am i missing something completely?
 

Can a person with rental or investment income over 7500 euro per year qualify for 65s benefit ?

Maybe you meant to say "ARF of greater than 7.5K does not disqualify you from receiving Jobseekers Benefit at age 64"?
Or am i missing something completely?
Yes the qualification rules for Benefit Payment 65 are confusing.

ARFs are considered as a pension income for the purposes of qualification for BP 65. So there is no upper limit for the yearly drawdowns amounts.

If you only have ARF and other pension income you don't need to follow the plan in post #1

If you want to maximise your benefits you can plan as below.
This will get you a second 9 months of Jobseekers Benefit and 12 months of BP 65.

"You could qualify for Jobseekers Benefit at age 64 with 3 months class A PAYE employment and then get 9 months of payments.
It is not critical that these actually run up to your 65th birthday"
 
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And i myself confused investment income in the title with ARF - we read and learn
I am not too keen on actual working after retirement. Here is a scenario

I delay retirement until April of my 61st year (Birthday is late in the year) and retire with a small occupational pension and an ARF above €5k per annum
I get 9 months of Jobseekers for 38 years of Class A PRSI
I continue to sign on for credited Class A's in my 62nd - 65th years
On my 65th birthday i apply for Benefit Payment at 65
I have lots of Class A's historically
I have the 39 credited class A's in the governing year (year of my 63 birthday)
and i have the 13 paid class A's in my 61st year, as i did not retire until April
Will i qualify for BP 65 with above?
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Yes, you will qualify.

13 weeks of paid class A Prsi in the calendar year of your 61st birthday is fine.
 
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