The procedure for retiring by age: tips for applying for a pension and its types

I remember that in Soviet times, people lived with the idea that if they worked honestly and conscientiously at a young and mature age, then they would be guaranteed a calm and measured old age, full of respect from the younger generation. Those who managed to reach retirement age in the USSR, in most cases, encountered this. Many were really waiting for retirement, because... were firmly convinced that their services to the state and society would not be forgotten by anyone. Now the situation is different. Realizing the fact that the minimum pension as of the end of 2021 is about 15,000 rubles per month, a good part of the population becomes “terrified” about their future. You can probably “exist somehow” with this money, but no more. It’s good when there are two pensioners living in a family, to whom their adult children, and maybe even grandchildren, provide financial assistance. But what, one wonders, can we say about the lonely? Here things are much worse, as you yourself understand.

And yet, the desire not to go to work, to “spit on everyone” with their heads held high, sometimes outweighs them and, having reached retirement age, employees leave the organization, going on a well-deserved rest. Well, our task for today is to give the employer instructions on how to provide such rest for an employee, and also to understand what awaits the retiree at work and outside of it.

Who can claim an old-age pension in 2021

An old-age pension is a regular monthly cash income paid to people who have reached retirement age. Who will even be able to retire in 2021? Familiarize yourself with the periods for changing the retirement age, the list and sample documents, as well as the nuances of the employer’s interaction with the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation.

When retirement age approaches, the employee decides whether to continue working or quit. To apply for a pension, citizens can independently apply to the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR). But many companies, in order not to distract employees from the production process, themselves begin to collect information about the length of service of the future retiree, prepare and check the necessary documents. Then they submit them to the relevant government agencies, observing the deadlines established for this procedure. This is usually done by the HR department and accounting department of the enterprise.

The new pension legislation sets out the conditions and requirements for citizens who are going to apply for pension benefits in 2021 and receive them in old age.

The conditions for old age pension in 2021 are as follows:

1. The retirement age for a man should be 60.5 years, and for a woman - 55.5 years.
2. Future pensioners must have 10 years of insurance coverage.
3. The number of pension points, also known as the IPC indicator, should be equal to 16.2 points.

Let us recall the table of retirement periods prepared by the Pension Fund and posted on the official website of the Pension Fund.

A citizen can contact the Pension Fund at any of the above periods under the conditions that we have indicated. He will be able to submit an application earlier, but payments will begin to be made as soon as the citizen turns 60.5 or 55.5 years old.

How can a pensioner be useful?

And yet it is absolutely wrong to write off pensioners from accounts. Do not forget that in Russia the retirement age comes much earlier than many Western European countries, and at 60-65 years old a person, as a rule, is in relatively good shape and of sound mind. If he does not take the dexterity and willingness to go on adventures (a distinctive feature of the younger generation), then his professional and life experience will be a good help for the management team. You can consult with them, clarify their forecasts about the future development of the industry, based on their historical knowledge (not always, of course, but often). In a good situation, a retiree can become a good and, importantly, valuable mentor for the entire production department. Is it really worth persuading him to resign if he doesn’t want to leave?

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In any case, there is such a thing as “expectation” and there is “reality”. What the author of this article described relates more to the first. In reality, let’s admit it honestly, many people don’t like or value pensioners. Moreover, they are not treated in the best way in the corporate environment. Read the vacancy announcements - wherever you look, almost everywhere you need “young and ambitious people with a desire to earn money.” This is much more beneficial for the employer. Experience is secondary. The main desire. This makes me sad, to say the least.

We arrange a pension for an employee

Employee actions

Registration of a pension: where to start? This is the main question that concerns future retirees. The answer is simple: from collecting the necessary package of documents for transfer to the Pension Fund.

The employee himself must contact the Pension Fund with a corresponding application. The application must be accompanied by documents according to the list approved by Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated November 28, 2014 No. 958n.

Main list of documents:

• statement (at the end of the article);
• passport (for citizens of the Russian Federation) or residence permit (for foreign citizens and stateless persons);
• certificate of compulsory pension insurance (SNILS);
• work book or documents confirming the duration of the insurance period. For example, papers issued by an employer upon dismissal from a job may be accepted as confirmation of insurance coverage, provided that they do not contain the basis for their issuance;
• certificate of average monthly earnings for 60 consecutive months up to 01/01/2002 during employment. Employers must provide information on average monthly earnings for 2000–2001;
• a document confirming the period of military service (copy of pages 1, 3 and 8 of the military ID);
• Bank account details for transferring payments.

Documents must be submitted to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation at the place of residence (Clause 1, Article 18 of the Federal Law of December 17, 2001 No. 173-FZ “On Labor Pensions in the Russian Federation”). You can also attach documents on the basis of which gratitude and incentives were announced, and others necessary to confirm additional circumstances.

Actions of the personnel officer

1. Preparation of documents.

When preparing documents, the HR employee, within 10 days after the employee’s application, submits to the Pension Fund:

• information in the form SZV-STAZH (approved by Resolution of the Board of the Pension Fund of December 6, 2018 No. 507p);
• EDV-1;
• ADV-6-1;
• explanatory note.

All forms must be completed for the period from the beginning of the year until the day of retirement age. The form indicates the type of “pension assignment”.

The insurance period is calculated by the state on the date of their completion. It includes not only the period of work at various enterprises, but also military service, caring for a child under three years of age, the time of receiving unemployment benefits, participation in paid public works, caring for a disabled person of group 1 or a person over 80 years of age. These periods are called non-insurance periods.

2. Checking and issuing a work book.

As a professional in his field, the personnel officer checks the work book for possible corrections and inaccuracies. If incorrect filling is detected, he helps the future pensioner collect relevant evidence confirming the length of service. It is necessary to ensure that all data in the documents corresponds to reality (full name, dates, numbers, etc.) in order to avoid further paperwork.

The personnel officer, upon a written application from the employee, is obliged to give him a work book for presentation to the Pension Fund of Russia, and then make sure that he returns the book back.

3. Checking information.

To verify the data provided to the Pension Fund, the employer requests an extract from the individual personal account.

4. Dismissal of a pensioner is only at his request.

If an employee wants to end his career and retire, he is fired from the day indicated in his application. He is not required to work the two weeks required upon dismissal. If an employee wishes to continue working, he cannot be fired. It is also impossible to renew an open-ended employment contract into a fixed-term one.

Conditions for calculating pensions

The assignment of a pension in our country is of a declarative nature. This means that until a person applies to the Pension Fund, no payments will be accrued to him. It is therefore important to find out in advance the conditions under which you will be entitled to apply for a state pension.

Who is entitled to an old-age pension and when:

1. Men are 65 years old and women are 60 years old. This requirement will become fully operational only after 4 years, i.e. from 2023. Until this time, the age will increase gradually. There are categories of workers for whom the numbers have a different meaning. For example, civil servants learned about the pension reform earlier than others. For them, the age increases to 65 (men) and 63 years (women) starting in 2021. Or some citizens entitled to early exit.
2. The work experience, which is also called “insurance”, in 2024 must be at least 15 years. Today it is still 10 years, but will increase every year.
3. Individual score – 30 for 2025. This is a special pension coefficient, which is calculated using a formula and depends on many factors: length of service, amount of contributions, date of application for a pension. Today its minimum is 16.2 and it will gradually increase to 30.

I have already mentioned that some categories of citizens retire early. The list of professions and industries that provide such a right is approved by the Government of the Russian Federation.

Where and when to start applying for a pension? A month before the expected date when you can already receive payments, the Pension Fund will accept your application. We’ll talk about how to submit it and what to include in the list of required documents below.

But I recommend starting the process earlier than 1 month before your planned retirement. It may take time to receive supporting certificates: requests to other cities, enterprises, archives.

You can independently see whether your work activity is reflected correctly in your personal account in the Pension Fund. If you haven't started it yet, be sure to do so. You can use your login details to the State Services portal. In the office you will find all the information you need: about years, places of work, positions held. The insurance period and pension coefficient are also calculated there, and there is information about the funded pension, if you have applied for one.

Already at this stage, it is possible to identify inconsistencies or absence of certain periods of work in the work experience. Pension Fund employees advise all citizens, regardless of age, on issues of documenting a future pension. Contact them to help you create requests to correct existing records. If this is not done, payments will be assigned based on available information.

Who is entitled to early retirement?

The law provides for the right to receive a pension early. Under what conditions it is provided, read the following regulations:

• Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
• Resolution of the USSR Cabinet of Ministers of January 26, 1991 No. 10 “On approval of lists of production, work, professions, positions and indicators giving the right to preferential pension provision”;
• Law of the Russian Federation of February 19, 1993 No. 4520-I “On state guarantees and compensation for persons working and living in the Far North and equivalent areas”;
• Federal Law of December 28, 2013 No. 426-FZ “On special assessment of working conditions.”

The conditions for assigning a preferential pension for them from 2021 still remain:

1. Reaching the retirement age established separately for lists 1 and 2.
2. Availability of full general insurance experience and the required number of pension points (IPC).
3. Availability of the required preferential length of service.

The following categories of citizens can apply for early retirement:

• employees who have the necessary preferential length of service for working in difficult and dangerous working conditions;
• those who worked in the Far North or equivalent areas;
• teachers and medical workers with teaching (25 years) or medical (30 years) experience;
• mothers of many children who gave birth and raised five or more children up to the age of eight (they acquire the right to a pension at age 50);
• mothers (or fathers) who raised a disabled child from childhood (they have the right to retire five years earlier than the generally established age: women - at 50 years old, men - at 55 years old).

Law No. 350-FZ, which entered into force on January 1, 2019, which provides for an increase in the retirement age from 2021, changes the current system of early pensions in Russia. In particular, the new law provides for changes in the withdrawal deadlines for such preferential pensions as:

• by length of service - for teachers, health workers, creative professions;
• for residents of the Far North and equivalent territories.

For these categories of citizens, the period of working capacity will increase, starting from 01/01/2019. According to the new law, the requirements for special professional experience for these categories of workers will not change, but the deadline for processing pension payments for them will be delayed by 5 years relative to the year in which the required experience was acquired.

All changes will take place gradually, in several stages, providing for transitional provisions, during which the retirement period will gradually increase until it reaches the values ​​​​provided by the bill.

It will be possible to issue pension payments to teachers and health workers in accordance with generally established requirements, that is, at 60 years old for women or 65 years old for men.

In addition to doctors and teachers, workers in creative activities (in theatrical and entertainment organizations) have the right to receive early pension payments. For them, the old law established requirements for special experience depending on the type of work - from 15 to 30 years. The new law provides for a similar increase in age for them to 55-60 years, respectively. The change for them will also occur in stages, with an annual increase of 1 year.

For citizens who, due to work in the Far North and equivalent areas, retire early, the law on pensions from 01/01/2019 also provides for a number of changes relating to increasing the period of working capacity.

It should be noted that the increase in the working period will not affect workers in the Far North and equivalent areas if they work in difficult or harmful conditions (for example, workers in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, miners, railway workers, etc.). No changes are planned for them by the adopted law.

Without difficulties - nowhere

In this case, we are discussing with you a situation where a person of retirement age independently expresses a desire to retire. However, many employers have cases when an employee does not want to retire under any circumstances. Why exactly this happens, we indicated above - the elementary reluctance of a person to find himself in a vulnerable social position, but this is not the only thing we are talking about. Based on the experience of communicating with our clients, we learned that pensioners do not want to remain aloof from society. Brought up on the norms of behavior and values ​​of the USSR, they do not want to remain aloof from society or lose their active civic position. “I will work and benefit society as long as I stand on my feet” - that’s roughly how they reason. It is worth noting that this is a very commendable view of your own life and your purpose in it. We have a lot to learn. However, this can cause a number of inconveniences for the employer. Firstly, due to their advanced age, some of these employees are not in good health. Regular payments for sick leave and the absence of an employee from the office or production are losses. Secondly, the quality of work, as well as the approach to performing official tasks, can vary from fanatical pedantry to outright negligence. Thirdly, no one will argue with this; older people often have such a grumpy character that this begins to seriously harm the atmosphere in the team. Forcibly dismissing pensioners is not accepted in our country both from a moral point of view and from the point of view of the requirements of the Labor Code. Gently “asking” to leave of your own free will may also not be the best way out of the situation, because... the person will most likely be offended. The question is, what remains to be done? Basically, nothing. Typically, in such situations, the management of the organization invites (very significant) retirees to become “freelance consultants” or “informal mentors” if we are talking about engineering, for example. De jure a person retires and quits his job, but de facto he continues to adhere to the same active life position that we mentioned above. As a solution to this problem, we can recommend that a pensioner write a book or monograph, in other words, put his professional experience on paper in order to share it with the younger generation (of course, for a decent fee). Not everyone will agree to this, and yet such cases do occur in practice.

Registration of a preferential pension

In the case of a preferential pension, the HR department prepares documents to confirm the benefit. To do this, you must provide the following to the Pension Fund:

• reference (at the end of the article);
• constituent documents;
• certificate of entry into the Unified State Register of Real Estate;
• certificate of registration with the tax authority;
• information letter from statistical authorities with OKVED;
• license or certificate of admission to a certain type of work (SRO);
• staffing schedule;
• job descriptions or production instruction cards, etc.;
• copies of workplace certification documents, certification cards, state examination reports of working conditions;
• copies of local acts describing production technology;
• copies of documents on the availability of equipment;
• other documents confirming preferential length of service.

basic information

Registration of a pension is the responsibility of the employee. It is the employee who goes to the Pension Fund with a corresponding application. Grounds: clause 1, article 18 of Federal Law No. 173 “On pensions” dated December 17, 2001.

There are old-age pensions and early pensions. In the first case, women who have reached 55 years of age and men who have reached 60 years of age retire. This is the age so far. But from 2021 it will gradually increase. If an employee worked in hazardous work, he receives the privilege of early retirement.

Sometimes benefits are issued for length of service. The following persons can receive benefits:

• Those working in the army not under contract service.
• Astronauts.
• Aviation employees.
• Government employees.

All these persons must serve for at least 15 years. For civil servants this period is 12 years. Other persons entitled to early retirement:

• Women raising more than 5 children.
• Persons injured during hostilities.
• Persons with visual impairments.
• People serving in the Far North.
• Persons employed in hot production.
• Employees of educational and medical institutions.
• Women employed in textile production.
• Sailors.

There is a standard retirement age. However, in many cases, workers can receive benefits early.

Issuance of a work book

The work book is the main document confirming the employee’s length of service (Article 66 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). And length of service, in turn, is the basis for calculating a pension. The paper is with the employer. That is, the latter must give the employee the original document. It is recommended to issue the original and not a copy, since the original may be requested when applying for a pension on the basis of letter No. 25-19/14554 of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2005.

But there are pitfalls here. According to the law, the original book is issued to the employee only upon his dismissal. Basis - section 4 of Rules No. 225 of April 16, 2003. If an employee loses the original book, responsibility for this rests with the employer. This is due to the fact that it is the latter who is responsible for storing and maintaining work books (based on Rostrud letter No. 656-6-0 dated March 18, 2008).

Therefore, the original can be issued by the manager, but this is an extremely risky decision.

On January 1, 2015, amendments were made to Article 62 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which determined the procedure for issuing a book. Now the employer must issue the original upon the employee’s request. The employee must return the paper within 3 days after submitting the book to the Pension Fund.

Creating a certificate of earnings

To determine the size of the pension, information about the average salary of the employee is needed. The pension fund can receive the required information from its own personalized accounting database. This is the standard procedure. However, sometimes it cannot be implemented. In this case, a certificate is used to confirm the average salary. It covers earnings for the last 5 years. The certificate is provided by the employer if the following circumstances exist:

• Over the past 5 years, the employee has worked for the company and received a salary.
• Proof of work experience is required.

It is not at all necessary for a worker to work for 5 years in the same company. If he changed services, he would just have to contact several companies.

IMPORTANT! If an employee requests a certificate from the employer, it must be provided within 3 days from the date of receipt of the corresponding application from the employee (Article 62 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The certificate is issued in free form. But it must contain all the required information.

Other Important Points

When applying for a pension, you should also remember the following points:

• Registration of a pension is the responsibility of the employee, and not the employer. That is, the employee cannot demand that the HR department take care of his pension.
• A document in the SPV-2 form with personalized information must be sent to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation and for employees present in the company on the basis of civil law agreements, if remuneration is paid on the basis of these agreements.
• The employer may be asked for documents in the SZV-K form. Based on this form, the size of pensions is determined.
• A worker can request from the head of the company a certificate confirming his work experience. They are needed to confirm entries in the work book that were not certified by a signature. Similar certificates are also required when an employee retires early.

Reaching a respectable age does not imply dismissal. Leaving the company is up to the employee. However, if an employee decides to resign upon reaching age, the manager cannot prevent him from doing so. Representatives of the company's department are required to terminate the employment agreement within the time limits specified in the employee's application (based on Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). If an employee resigns due to a pension, he is not required to notify the employer of his dismissal 2 weeks in advance.

Procedure for admission and consideration

The full package of documents is provided in person or through a legal representative (notarized power of attorney).

The time for consideration of an application by the Pension Fund should not exceed 10 working days. To assign payments from the date of retirement age, we recommend that the future pensioner contact the Pension Fund a week before his birthday.

If at the time of submitting the application not all necessary documents are attached, he will be given three months to collect the missing ones. In this case, the day of application will be considered the day the application was received.

Which employees can receive a long service pension and at what age

Pension benefits for long service are not provided to all citizens.

Those who are entitled to a long service pension are:

• Serving in the army, except contract soldiers;
• Astronauts;
• State and municipal employees;
• Aviation workers.

In this case, the time worked in favor of the state by military personnel must be at least twenty years, or at the time of dismissal the employee has reached 45 years of age and has a total work experience of 25 years, of which 12.6 were in military service.

If in 2021 a civil servant required 15 years of experience to retire, then, starting in 2021, its adjustment began to be applied, namely an increase of 6 months annually, and this will continue until the required 20 years.

The dismissal of such employees should be carried out only under the terms of termination of contracts with them or at the end of their service, that is, for a valid reason.

According to Appendix No. 5 of Law No. 400-FZ of December 28, 2013, as amended on March 6, 2021, the age limits for retirement for employees and state employees have been increased. Moreover, the increase in the required age occurs gradually, increasing by 6 months for each year worked until the generally established age limits are reached. For example, if civil servants in 2016 retired at the age of 55 years for women and 60 years for men, then in 2021 women will retire at 56.6 years old, and men at 61.6 years old.

Another innovation is contained in this law - by 2026, increase the minimum length of service for retirement according to length of service for this category of persons to 20 years, for example, in 2021 it is 16.6 years. This increase will also occur gradually - 6 months per year.

Employees of government agencies are granted an old-age pension when they reach retirement age. It is assigned when a disability is established for medical reasons, or due to the loss of one of the able-bodied family members.

With increasing length of service in an employee position, the pension amount is increased every three years to 75% of the average monthly earnings of such employees, minus the amount of old-age insurance benefits.

How to increase your pension

To understand, you need to understand what pension payments consist of.

Let's divide the payments into three parts and see what they consist of and how to increase them.

From January 1, 2019, the amount of the fixed payment to the insurance pension is indexed by 7.05% and amounts to RUB 5,334.19. Such an increase is provided for in Part 8 of Art. 10 of Law No. 350-FZ of October 3, 2018, which came into force on January 1, 2019.

General retirement age

In modern society, employed pensioners have become increasingly common, regardless of the fact that they receive a pension.

According to Appendix No. 6 of Law No. 400-FZ of December 28, 2013, as amended on March 6, 2021, a woman will be considered to have reached retirement age in 2021 if she is 56 years old and a man is 61 years old. However, legislators have provided transitional provisions according to which, if employees reach retirement age in the period from 01/01/2021. until December 31, 2021 (a man is 60 years old, a woman is 55 years old - the main years, to which adjustment months are then added), then they may be assigned a pension 6 months earlier than provided for by Law No. 400-FZ. And this:

• 2021 – 60.6 years old man and 55.6 years old woman;
• 2021 – 61.6 years old male and 56.6 female

According to this law, it is not enough to have age indicators; you also need to have a minimum work experience of 10 years and an individual pension coefficient of at least 16.2 points.

The insurance period is a time period when an employee worked in production for a certain number of years and during this period, the organization made deductions of insurance contributions to the Pension Fund.

Workers who are exposed to hazardous production factors retire to a well-deserved retirement, women - at 45 years old, men - at 50 years old.

Procedure

First you need to get a resignation letter from the now pensioner. Based on this paper, the employee can say goodbye to the organization at any time at his own request. As a general rule, an employee must notify the employer of termination of the employment relationship in writing, no later than two weeks in advance (Part 1, Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). However, an exception has been made for pensioners: management is obliged to terminate the employment contract within the period specified in the application. An employer does not have the right to require an employee leaving for a well-deserved rest to work for two weeks (Part 3 of Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The date of dismissal will be the day indicated on the paper. After receiving the application, on the day of termination of the employment contract, the employer must issue a corresponding order and issue the employee a work book (Part 4 of Article 84.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The order should again indicate the date that the employee indicated in the application. The line “Grounds for termination of the employment contract” must be filled out in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation - for example, like this: “employee initiative” or “own desire”. The pensioner must be familiarized with the dismissal order against signature.

Based on the order, you need to make an entry in the work book. When an employee is dismissed due to his retirement, the entry “The employment contract was terminated at the initiative of the employee, in connection with retirement, clause 3 of part one of Article 77 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation” is usually made. The basis for dismissal can also be an agreement of the parties (Article 78 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, the order is issued on the basis of agreements reached by the manager and the pensioner; an entry must be made in the work book: “The employment contract was terminated by agreement of the parties, clause 1, part 1, art. 77 Labor Code of the Russian Federation." The record is certified by a HR employee or the head of the organization with his signature. Don't forget to stamp it. Based on the data from the dismissal order, a “final” entry must be made in the employee’s personal card.

On the last working day, the resigning employee must receive all payments due to him: wages, compensation for unused vacation, bonuses, if they are provided for in the collective agreement. If the employee has already been on paid leave, the organization has the right to withhold for the leave used in advance. However, it should be borne in mind that according to Articles 137, 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the organization does not have the right to withhold more than twenty percent of the amount of payments. When registering a labor pension for an employee, the employer should provide personalized accounting data to the territorial body of the Pension Fund.

We generate a salary certificate

In order for the future pension to be calculated correctly and not have to be recalculated, during the registration process the employer is obliged to issue the employee a salary certificate for the last 12 months. Employees who began working in this particular organization before 2002 must also provide a certificate of salary for 2000-2001 or for a period of 60 consecutive months until 01/01/2002. Based on the certificates received, the size of the pension capital will be determined, which, in turn, affects the calculation of the number of pension points. The certificate must be issued no later than 3 days from the date of receipt of the application from the citizen. There is no special form developed for such certificates, so its type can be arbitrary.