Voluntary PRSI contributions after ceasing insured employment in another EU state

murphaph1

Registered User
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Hi all.
I'm 41 and living and working in Germany.

I worked the first decade or so of my working life (private sector) in Ireland and have over the magic 520 credits to claim at least a partial contributory pension when I retire.

However I intend to retire a number of years before I hit 68 (or whatever it is by then).

If I was working in Ireland it would be a no brainer to pay voluntary PRSI contributions after ceasing employment to bring my contributions up to 40 years worth and I understand this is possible.

What I would like to know is, do I have the same right to pay voluntary contributions in Ireland once I cease working in socially insured employment here in Germany. I am prohibited from making voluntary PRSI contributions as long as I am insured in a PRSI like system (which I am), which is a pity. The UK allows voluntary NI contributions no questions asked.

If I am not allowed to pay voluntary credits after ceasing employment here, I plan to return home for a few months and find some part time menial job so I can "re-enter" the Irish system and then return here while continuing to pay voluntary PRSI in Ireland. Any holes in that plan?
 
No takers? I emailed the department over 3 weeks ago but so far no response. Catastrophic level of service for a straightforward question :-(
 
Have you seen the information on Citizens Information. It seems to answer your questions

 
Thanks for taking the time to respond. Unfortunately it doesn't address the issue of voluntary payment of PRSI in Ireland (I have slightly over 10 years contributions) after ceasing socially insured employment in another EU state. That's the key issue for me. The rules in Ireland meant I was not allowed to make voluntary contributions after ceasing PAYE employment in Ireland as I was leaving to take up socially insured employment in another EU state. The question is, can I make voluntary contributions on Ireland after this EU employment ceases or will I need to reset the clock by taking a job in Ireland for a few weeks and then making voluntary contributions until retirement age.
 
So I got feedback from the Client Eligibility Section of the department and for the benefit of anyone googling this in future I'll post it here.

Hi xxxx,



I refer to your recent inquiry about becoming a voluntary contributor under the PRSI voluntary contribution scheme.



If a person ceases compulsory social insurance he/she can become a Voluntary Contributor to maintain their insurance record - provided the following conditions are satisfied. One must:



1. Have at least 520 contributions paid under compulsory insurance,



2. Apply within 60 months after the end of the contribution year in which you last have a paid/credited contribution prior to the year that you are applying for.



If you have been paying social insurance in Germany, those contributions would be taken into account for criteria 2 cited above and would qualify you for the Voluntary Contributions Scheme. If you ultimately opt to apply, please include a copy of your social insurance record from Germany. Form VC1 can be found at your local Intreo centre or downloaded from www.gov.ie



I hope this is to your satisfaction. Be sure to contact us with any further queries.



Regards,

Xxxx
 
Hi xxxx,



I refer to your recent inquiry about becoming a voluntary contributor under the PRSI voluntary contribution scheme.



If a person ceases compulsory social insurance he/she can become a Voluntary Contributor to maintain their insurance record - provided the following conditions are satisfied. One must:



1. Have at least 520 contributions paid under compulsory insurance,



2. Apply within 60 months after the end of the contribution year in which you last have a paid/credited contribution prior to the year that you are applying for.

Not sure this means you can be a voluntary contributor in ireland while you are an living in germany.
Was that not your question ?
 
It was but I don't see where that bit is excluded. I mean I can cease employment in Ireland, become a voluntary contributor and then move to Germany I presume. They would hardly compel voluntary contributors to maintain a residence in Ireland, just because. The question from my side was really "does German socially insured employment count instead of Irish socially insured employment" and the answer appears to be yes.

If it's just about having an Irish postal address to set things up then that's no problem.
 
For the sake of completeness and to assist anyone else in my position....

I ended up completing form VC1 and providing copies of my German social security record to the DSP to show I had ceased socially insured employment in the last 5 years, albeit in another EU member state and I was advised that I had been accepted as a voluntary contributor a few weeks later. I was further advised at the time (this was last year) that the department would contact me at a later date to provide details of payments due etc. They made good on this commitment last week (you just need to be patient, I didn't have to remind them or anything), when I was advised I could make my first voluntary payment at the higher rate, which they calculated to be the minimum contribution in my case (€500). I suspect this is because the law states that this is the amount due, when the applicant last paid PRSI at class S which is the case here (PRSI perhaps fortuitously paid on rental income, before I left Ireland-the rules had only recently been changed to bring rental income into the PRSI net IIRC). I suspect I will be billed €500 for each year now, which is a great deal in all fairness when you consider the return. I can just about reach 40 years of contributions assuming a retirement age of 67, comfortably if they extend the retirement age out to 68 by then. The fact my wife will now be entitled to a widow's pension from Ireland is of great comfort also as the German one is miserable in comparison.
 
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