{"id":20005,"date":"2022-11-05T17:04:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-05T17:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/?p=20005"},"modified":"2024-01-21T22:30:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T22:30:35","slug":"voluntary-contributions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/voluntary-contributions\/","title":{"rendered":"Voluntary Contributions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/voluntary-contributions\/#Making_Voluntary_Contributions\" title=\"Making Voluntary Contributions\">Making Voluntary Contributions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/voluntary-contributions\/#Previously_Insured_Employed\" title=\"Previously Insured\/ Employed\">Previously Insured\/ Employed<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/voluntary-contributions\/#Previously_Self-Employed\" title=\"Previously Self-Employed\">Previously Self-Employed<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/voluntary-contributions\/#Pre-1974\" title=\"Pre-1974\">Pre-1974<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Making_Voluntary_Contributions\"><\/span>Making Voluntary Contributions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Individuals may make voluntary social insurance contributions in order to enhance retirement benefits.\u00a0 If a person ceases to be an employed or self-employed contributor and has qualifying contributions of less than 260 weeks, he is entitled to become insured by paying contributions as a voluntary contributor.\u00a0 This must be done within 12 months of the end of the tax year in which they last paid or credited PRSI.<\/p>\n<p>Voluntary contributors cease to be so if they become self-employed contributors.\u00a0 Voluntary contribution does not apply after retirement age.<\/p>\n<p>Former employed contributors pay voluntary contributions at the rate of 6.6% (former Class A, H and E contributors) and 2.6% (former modified rate contributors), subject to a minimum payment. The minimum payment for former Class A, H and E contributors is being increased from \u20ac317 to \u20ac500 and for former modified rate contributors from \u20ac126 to \u20ac250, with effect from 1 January 2013.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Previously_Insured_Employed\"><\/span>Previously Insured\/ Employed<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Voluntary contributions for a previously insured person are based on a percentage of income up to the income level for the year The percentage rate applies to the income of the contributor in the preceding contribution year or where there is no income or income below a level, a minimum contribution set out below is payable.<\/p>\n<p>The percentage contribution payable by voluntary contributors are as follows.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2.6% where the contributions previously paid as an employed contributor did not insure the state pension<\/li>\n<li>6.6% where the contributions paid did cover state pension.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Contributors paying a rate of 2.6% are insured for widows\u2019 pension and bereavement grant.\u00a0 Those paying 6.6% rate are also covered for the state pension.<\/p>\n<p>Voluntary contributions may arise for an individual who retires early before normal retirement age.<\/p>\n<p>Contributions of the greater of \u20ac126 (2.6% rate) or \u20ac317 , 6.6% rate or that percentage of his reckonable earnings for the immediately preceding year.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Previously_Self-Employed\"><\/span>Previously Self-Employed<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Persons previously self employed may make voluntary contributions. The rate is \u20ac253 \u00a0per year.\u00a0 It covers the state pension, widow and widower\u2019s pension.<\/p>\n<p>Voluntary contributions may be paid by a lump sum before the end of the contribution year or by quarterly or half-yearly installments during the period.<\/p>\n<p>The 2012 Act provides for an increase in the rates of voluntary contribution payable by former self-employed and former employed contributors in line with the increase in the minimum self employment contribution, with effect from 1 January 2013. The flat rate voluntary contribution payable by a former self-employed contributor is increased from \u20ac253 to \u20ac500.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Pre-1974\"><\/span>Pre-1974<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A special rate of voluntary contribution was payable by certain people who ceased to be compulsorily insured for social insurance purposes because of the operation of the earnings limit applying to non-manual employees prior to 1974. As there are no longer any voluntary contributors in this category, The 2012 Act \u00a0abolishes this rate of voluntary contribution with effect from 1 January 2013.<\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-20005\" data-postid=\"20005\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-20005 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making Voluntary Contributions Individuals may make voluntary social insurance contributions in order to enhance retirement benefits.\u00a0 If a person ceases to be an employed or self-employed contributor and has qualifying contributions of less than 260 weeks, he is entitled to become insured by paying contributions as a voluntary contributor.\u00a0 This must be done within 12 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20005"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30912,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20005\/revisions\/30912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}