Find out which INSS benefits can have a lifetime review

Beneficiaries of INSS (National Social Security Institute) aid, pensions and retirement benefits with high contributions before 1994 can increase their income through the lifetime review, recently approved by the STF (Federal Supreme Court). According to experts, the review is not restricted to retirements, but it is necessary to fit several criteria to be entitled.

The correction, to be requested in court, includes the worker’s entire contributory life in the calculation of the benefit, and not just wages after July 1994, allowing the insured person to receive the rule that is most advantageous to him.

With the exception of maternity pay, all other social security payments are reviewable, according to the IBDP (Brazilian Institute of Social Security Law), which participated in the process at the STF.

“It doesn’t mean that everyone will have a positive result. It means that these benefits can be submitted to review, in order to know if the income will be better or not”, says Emerson Lemes, director of the IBDP.

“As the review seeks to modify the value of the benefit, it is essential that the beneficiary look for an office specializing in review of the whole life to make the correct calculations and verify that the request will actually provide an increase in the value of the benefit”, says lawyer Carolina Centeno🇧🇷

A lifetime review can be requested by those who receive:

• old-age pension
• Retirement by time of contribution
• special retirement (from activities harmful to health)
• by disability retirement
• disability retirement
• sick pay
• accident allowance
• death benefit

In order to apply for a lifetime review, the INSS beneficiary must meet certain other requirements, such as the first payment of the benefit having been made a maximum of ten years ago, or having submitted a review request within this period.

The essential thing to be entitled to correction is for the insured person to have relevant contributions (in quantity and amounts) before July 1994 or few contributions after July 1994. These contributions will be included in the calculation of the benefit, which may even be left without the application of the minimum divisor in pensions.

According to calculations by social security lawyers, if the insured person is entitled to a lifetime review, in addition to having an increase in his monthly income, he may receive around R$ 300,000 in arrears, as the difference accumulated in the previous five years is called. to the filing of the case in court plus the period until the case is won.

Rules for asking for a lifetime review

• The first aid, retirement or pension payment occurred less than ten years ago
• Have retired between November 29, 1999 and November 13, 2019, under the rules prior to the Social Security reform
• Prove that the best salaries were prior to July 1994, when the Real Plan came into force
• Make the calculation with an expert to find out if the income considering all contribution wages will be more advantageous
• Enter Justice. The decision of the STF does not oblige the INSS to carry out the administrative review

Source: lawyer Diego Cherulli, who represents the IBDP in the issue 1102 in the STF

understand the review

Law 9,876, from 1999, was created to modify the retirement calculation rule, which considered only the last 36 salaries prior to the application for the benefit.

The standard, however, defined two calculation rules, one for the transition and another for new policyholders:

1. For those insured by the INSS until November 26, 1999, the transition system defined that the average salary would be made on 80% of the largest contributions made from July 1994
2. For workers who started their contributions after November 27, 1999, the permanent rule established that the calculation considers the 80 largest contributions since the beginning of contributions

In the comparison between the two rules, the transitional one harmed the worker who concentrated the largest social security contributions in his life before the beginning of the Real’s effectiveness as the country’s currency.

Last Thursday (1st), the STF concluded the judgment on the subject, allowing INSS holders to review their retirement calculations considering all contributions, including those paid in currencies prior to the real.

Thus, retirees and other beneficiaries who began to contribute to the Social Security until November 26, 1999 will be able to have access to the same rule as those who started to collect from November 27 of that year.