partnership
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I understand these can be taken into account for the contributory pension. I am unclear if they will count towards the 520 requirement or not. Can anyone clarify please? Trying to work out the benefits.
Change of status credits
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The credits do not count for the 520 basic requirement. You need 520 paid contributions. After that your credits count. At the moment up to an unlimited number. Under the new system, which will be slowly rolled out over the next 11 years, you can use only a maximum of 520 credits for your pension.
You can make voluntary contributions based on your class A Prsi. If you are currently unemployed you can do this (up to and including the year of your 66th birthday if necessary) in order to reach the 520 full rate paid level. You can also use class S which can be obtained from ARF withdrawals (minimum 5000 euro per year) up to age 66.
You can only start making voluntary contributions after you reached the 520 paid contribution mark. The 520 paid contributions are a basic requirement for anything in the contributory pension system. You cannot use voluntary contributions to bring you up to the 520 mark.
The poster already has class B or D contributions. These can be counted for the requirement to have 520 paid contributions in order to qualify for making voluntary contributions.
Mike Rosoft
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So that appears to mean that me retiring at the end of this year on a D stamp and getting employment for a while paying an A stamp wont bring my 330 A class stamps up by 100 stamps to edge closer to 520. Bummer.
partnership
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Do you have a link that says the 520 can be a or d? I understand that you buy them at your last rate so need to make sure thst is A.
Operational Guidelines: PRSI - PRSI Voluntary Contributions
Operational Guidelines: PRSI - PRSI Voluntary Contributions.
www.gov.ie
If you read through this, it states that you must have 520 paid contributions. A, B, D and S can all count to make up the 520 minimum paid contributions needed. I am 100% certain of this as I have made full rate voluntary contributions without having 520 paid A contributions. I had a mix of A and D to make up the 520.
You could qualify based on presently having at least 520 B or D contributions.
If you want to gain the benefit of getting your voluntary contribution based on class A Prsi, you will need to get employment at class A for at least 1week.
You are correct that your voluntary contributions will be linked to your last paid Prsi class.
When you reach 520 full rate paid contributions (A or voluntary based on A or S) your change of class credits will then be counted as reckonable for your Contributory Pension.
If you don't manage to reach 520 full rate paid, you could qualify for a pro rata pension if you reach a minimum of 260 full rate paid contributions. Your change of status credits would also be reckonable in this situation.
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With the new system allowing people to continue paying Prsi up to age 70, you could now be able to reach the 520 full rate paid level.