The approximately ten thousand pensioners who retired last year did not receive the entire interim increase of 3.57% in the benefit for July and August, Dinheiro Vivo noted in a consultation with receipts processed by Social Security. The value of the increase was lower, about 3.4%, which according to DV’s accounts corresponds to a discount of up to eight euros. The flaw has already been discovered by the services and will be fixed on October 9, retroactive to July. This means that on that date these pensioners should see up to 24 euros more in their account, which is the total amount for the months of July, August and September.
For example, a monthly gross pension of EUR 873.46 increased in July by 3.47% or EUR 30.34, bringing the total to EUR 903.34. In August, in the transfer made yesterday, the increase was already lower, 3.41%, which corresponds to more 29.78 euros, rising to 903.24 euros. The correct increase of 3.57% should be EUR 31.38 in absolute terms, which translates into a pension of EUR 904.63. In other words, social security paid 0.84 euros less in July and 1.39 euros less in August. In another case, a gross monthly amount of EUR 1189.58, which would have been entitled to 3.57% or EUR 42.47, which translates into a pension of EUR 1232.05, was only increased by 3.42% , which amounted to an extra 40.68 euros in July and 40.67 euros in August, resulting in a renovation of 1230.26 euros and 1230.25 euros respectively. The difference is 1.8 euros compared to what is legally established.
By applying the same increase rule of 3.4% for a tranche of two thousand euros, the difference increases to three euros compared to the 3.27% increase due. Knowing that this valuation only applies to those who receive a maximum of EUR 5,765.16, the interim increase will have been about EUR 8 lower in comparison with an installment payment of EUR 5,700.
The guarantee is that these missing amounts will be reimbursed from July, together with the October pension, which will be paid on the 9th in the case of social security benefits. In the case of retired officials, if there are corrections, they will take effect on October 19.
The processing of the extraordinary increase in pensions in July, the same month in which the new IRS tables had to be applied, which guarantee a reduction in deductions for most taxpayers, caused restrictions in Social Security IT services, with as a result calculations that did not comply with the law, the DV knows. To ensure that the mid-term raise reached everyone on the promised date – July 10th for Social Security retirees and July 19th for Civil Service retirees receiving the Caixa Geral de Aposentação (CGA) -, it decided social security to continue with the transfers, even though the system was not working.
In addition, the update that these pensioners had in April, retroactive to the start date of the reform, in 2022, also contributed to the confusion of the accounts. This increase relates to the revaluation of paid careers and not to the regular annual increase in pensions paid in January, to which only taxpayers who retired more than a year ago are entitled. That is to say, pensioners from 2022 are not eligible for this regular increase, but saw the benefit increase with retroactive effect due to the update of the wage values reported to the National Social Security Office, according to the average annual inflation of 2021, by 1.24% and by 1 . 74% for salaries recorded between 2002 and 2011. This procedure should have been adopted last year, but the Ministries of Finance and Labor did not publish the respective regulation until January 9, 2023, more than a year late.
For example, for the accounts of the interim increase, which exceptionally also applies to these pensioners, who retired in 2022, the tranche of December last year is not valid, as for pensioners before December 31, 2021, and who enjoyed , in January half of the increase, between 4.83% and 3.89%, provided that the installment does not exceed EUR 5765.16. That is, for the extraordinary increase of the new pensions for 2022, the value updated in April is taken into account, with the revaluation of the contributing career.
Incorrect receipt from July because it adds up to holiday allowance and pension
Social Security retirees could only effectively verify the additional pension increase in the August receipt, because the July receipt mixes the holiday allowance, which still does not reflect this appreciation, and the July tranche in the same tranche. In addition, it does not disclose the effective withholding rate in accordance with the new IRS withholding tables, which show an average of the tax applied at retirement and at the 14th month.
For Anabela Santos, adviser to the Bar Association of Chartered Accountants (OCC), “the receipt is not correct, it does not meet the requirements of the law that establishes it, including that more information must be given to the taxpayer about the effective withholding rate “. The DV knows that this error was due to difficulties in applying the new IRS tables. However, Anabela Santos indicates that “there was no embarrassment in the private sector”, emphasizing that “companies and entities knew since January 1 that the model was going to change, they had six months to adapt”.
It should be remembered that the holiday allowance increase of 1.785%, compared to half of the interim increase, will only be paid in December for social security pensions, or in November for CGA benefits.
Currently, there are about 2.7 million Social Security and CGA retirees, about 10,000 of whom retired last year, according to DV accounts based on available statistics.
Salomé Pinto is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
