Government wants to end single contribution to INSS retirement

The federal government is working, in Congress, to close a legal loophole approved in the 2019 Social Security reform: the possibility of using a single contribution, at a high value, in the calculation of the INSS (National Social Security Institute) retirement and retiring with a greater benefit.

The end of the so-called single contribution retirement is in bill 4.491/2021, approved by the House on Tuesday (15). Authored by Senator Sérgio Petecão (PSD/AC), the proposal resolves a national impasse over the medical expertise of the INSS in Justice, which has been stopped due to non-payment.

Since September last year, the Executive has stopped paying for expert examinations in cases against the INSS in the Federal Court, as determined by law 13,876, of 2019. As a result, many actions that ask for granting or reviewing disability benefits are stopped.

The bill approved by the Senate extended the validity of law 3,876, determining that the federal government should pay for the expertise until December 31, 2024. In the Chamber, however, the proposal underwent changes.

The deputies approved the payment of expertise by the insured who loses the lawsuit against the INSS and included the “jabuti” against the single contribution in the law. With that, the bill returns to the Senate.

According to article 135-A included in the bill, there will be a minimum divisor of 108 months in the calculation of the retirement of insured persons affiliated to Social Security until July 1994. The rule will not apply to retirement due to permanent incapacity, old retirement due to disability

“For the insured person affiliated to Social Security until July 1994, in the calculation of the retirement benefit salary, except for retirement due to permanent disability, the divisor considered in the calculation of the average contribution salary cannot be less than 108 (one hundred and eight ) months,” the article says.

According to lawyer Rômulo Saraiva, a specialist in Social Security and a columnist for Folha, the government’s discourse is that the single contribution loophole would be an “invention” by lawyers in order to circumvent the system.

“Actually, there is a literality of the 103rd amendment itself, there was a technique, a wording. [legisladores] put that responsibility on lawyers, but the text of amendment 103 is significantly clear. Now, they want to do this ‘medicine’ through this bill,” he says.

Roberto de Carvalho Santos, president of Ieprev (Institute of Social Security Studies), explains that what will happen is the return of the minimum divisor, which until November 13, 2019, was used in the calculation of those who had few payments from July 1994 .

“It’s not illegal. [o uso da contribuição única]but it is not something that gives sustainability to the system”, says the lawyer, about the current project.

The divisor considered the number of months between July 1994 and the date of the retirement request. Those who had few payments in reais could end up receiving the minimum wage.

For Adriane Bramante, president of the IBDP (Brazilian Institute of Social Security Law), the single contribution was an error in amendment 103. “There is nothing illegal, it is there, in the law, but it hurts the issue of solidarity. that the single contribution would be right”, he says.

How does single contribution work?

The 2019 Social Security reform created the possibility for the worker to discard, in the calculation of retirement, as many contributions as are necessary to increase the average salary on which the benefit will be calculated.

This only occurs, however, if the insured has the minimum number of payments required to claim the benefit, which is 180 contributions, and provided that the discarded contributions are not used either in the INSS or in another social security system.

Since April of last year, a technical note from the INSS guides that pensions are not granted using the minimum contribution rule, which is set out in the law. In the internal document, the agency recommends the suspension of benefits until there is a manifestation of the federal prosecutor.

At the time, the institute stated in the note that the granting of benefits in these circumstances violates principles of financial and actuarial balance of the social security system, characterizing abuse of rights and unjust enrichment.

For experts, however, the law must be respected until it is modified. “While the bill does not come into force — it needs to be ratified in the Senate and effectively enter the legal world — there is the possibility that people will pay their contributions and have the opportunity to retire with this rule”, says Saraiva.

“The INSS demonstrated, with the technical note, that it would not be respecting this ‘gap.’ a review for having exercised their right under the law”, he guides.

Who can retire with the rule

An example of a single contribution pension would be that of a worker who has completed 15 years of contribution before July 1994 and has currently reached the minimum age requirement. If he has six more contributions paid in reais, with smaller amounts, and a contribution towards the INSS ceiling (R$ 6,433.57 in 2021), he could discard these six payments and use as a reference for the calculation only the contribution for the ceiling.

The profile that fits would be policyholders who collected contributions before July 1994, already have a 15-year grace period and do not have many payments after the start of the Real Plan.