Pensioners

The pensioner must communicate any of the following changes to their management body within 30 days of them happening:

• Changes of address: usual or tax residence.
• Beginning of work
• Changes in economic situation: awarding and/or receipt of other benefits or pensions, either national or foreign, or any other type of income.
• Changes in family situation: marital status, birth, deaths...

If the pensioner lives abroad, they must also send the certificate of proof of life within the first calendar quarter of each year to prove that they are living abroad so that they can continue to receive his or her pension and avoid having it suspended.

Likewise, and always before the 1 March each year, pensioners that have been awarded minimum supplements in their pension and who have obtained gross income from work income, capital or other items (above the annual established amount), must expressly declare this income.

To report these changes, the pensioner can do so through the Social Security e-Office or the Your Social Security Portal, in the "Manage your benefit" section. To do so, you must have a digital certificate, electronic ID or cl@ve. If this is not possible, the pensioner has a series of forms available to them that can be found on this web page. Once the pensioner has completed and signed the form, it can be sent by ordinary mail or presented at any of the Social Security Assistance and Information Centres (CAISS).

To report the changes, the pensioner can do so through the Social Security e-Office or through the Your Social Security Portal, in the "Manage your benefit" section. To do so, you must have a digital certificate, electronic ID or cl@ve. If the pensioner does not have any of these means, they can use a form called Changing bank and address details.

If the pensioner resides abroad, they must complete the bank details by adding the BIC or SWIFT depending on the country of residence.

Once the pensioner has completed and signed the form, it can be sent by ordinary mail or presented at any of the Social Security Assistance and Information Centres (CAISS).

The death must be notified in any case, providing the pensioner's death certificate, through the Social Security E-Office ( for which you must have a digital certificate, electronic ID card or cl@ve) or in person at any of the Social Security Attention and Information Centres (CAISS).

If the pensioner resides abroad, the Provincial Directorate of the INSS that manages his or her pension must be notified of the death, or failing that,  to the Labour Council of the Spanish Embassy of the place of residence.

• If you have a digital certificate, electronic ID or cl@ve, you can directly obtain the certificate certifying that you receive a pension or, if applicable, that you are not a holder of a public pension through the e-Office service called "Benefit certificates" or through the Your Social Security Portal.

• If you have none of these, in order to request the certificate proving whether or not they are receiving the Social Security pension, they can use the form known as the "Certificate Application". Once the form is completed and signed, it can be sent by ordinary mail or submitted to any of the Social Security Assistance and Information Centres (CAISS).

• If you live abroad and do not have a digital certificate, you can obtain the certificate directly from the Provincial Directorate of the INSS that manages your pension.

• If you have a digital certificate, electronic ID or cl@ve, you can obtain information directly on the status of your benefit application through the e-Office service called "How is my benefit going?" or through the Your Social Security Portal, in the "Your Details – Formalities" section.

• If you do not have any of these means, you should contact any of the Social Security Assistance and Information Centres (CAISS) to obtain this information.

The right to receive benefits expires five years from the day following the date on which the causal event took place, not withstanding the fact that the conditions that gave rise to the right to the benefits occur within three months prior to the date on which the corresponding application was submitted.

Retirement, widowhood, orphanage and family pensions do not expire.

The right to receive benefits expires a year after not being collected:

• If they are lump sum pension payments, they expire one year after the day the interested party was notified of the award.
  
  
• If they are recurrent pension payments, the right to collect each monthly payment expires one year after their respective expiry dates.
  

When pensions result from work-related injuries or occupational disease, the two extra payments in June and November will be distributed in the ordinary monthly payments as these pensions are paid in 12 instalments.

The due periods will be between:

• The 1 December and 31 May of the following year, inclusive, for the extra payment in June.
• Between the 1 June and 30 November, also inclusive, for the extra payment in November.

A single day of pension payment will be enough to calculate a sixth of the full amount of the relevant extra payment.

In the event of cancellation, termination or suspension of a benefit, regardless of the reason, the extra payment will be deemed due on the 1st day of the month in which the termination or suspension is agreed or the reason for the cancellation occurs. 

It will be paid in an amount equal to a sixth for each of the months included between December (extra payment from June) or June (extra payment from November), and the month when the suspension or termination of the pension occurs. Each sixth will be calculated taking the amount of the ordinary pension for the month in which the suspension or cancellation is agreed.

Only in those cases where the recipient of the benefit in question does not have any other form or method of collection in their place of residence.

The pension can be paid, at the request of the pension holder, every calendar quarter or six months in arrears, even if it is due monthly and without, in any case whatsoever, generating any interest for the recipient.

The request for the pension due and not received will be required whenever a recipient of Social Security benefits dies. The pension will be paid in a different way to the system of paying into a current account or savings book or this if cancelled.

The request will be produced at the request of the lawful party and will be paid, if appropriate, on behalf of the beneficiaries.

The amount of the benefit according to the number of corresponding payments, including extra payments, up until the end of the year, will be taken into account to calculate the pension's annual base, a determinant of the IRPF tax rate.

When the same individual receives benefits abroad and in Spain, both of these will be added together applying the tax regulation relating to the person's residence for tax purposes to the joint annual base.

Yes, so long as the voluntary rate requested is always greater than the one according to their economic, personal and family situation. You can apply for it through the Social Security e-Office or the Your Social Security Portal, in the "Manage your benefit" section. To do so, you must have a digital certificate, electronic ID or cl@ve.

If you do not have any of these means, there is a form called "Voluntary increase of personal income tax withholding". Once the form is completed and signed, it can be sent by ordinary mail or submitted to any of the Social Security Assistance and Information Centres(CAISS).

The voluntary rate requested will at least be applied until the end of the financial year and so long as the right to this percentage is not given up through communication in writing or a higher rate requested for subsequent years, unless there is a variation in the circumstances that determine a higher rate for the applicant voluntarily.

Recipients of benefits living abroad must not indicate their personal and family circumstances, as these will not be taken into consideration for IRPF deduction purposes.

In addition, any bilateral agreement signed by Spain to avoid double taxation will be taken into account. If there is an agreement, no personal income tax deduction will be made and the regulations provided in each agreement will be in force.

Social Security system pensions can be confiscated according to the scale set out in art. 607 of the Code of Civil Procedure, if the amount of the benefit is higher than the SMI  at any time. 

If the salaries, wages, pensions or payments were taxed with permanent or temporary discounts of a public nature according to fiscal, tax or Social Security law, the net amount received by the entitlement holder, having deducted the above, will be used to govern the amount confiscated.

The general rule will exclude those cases where the sentence orders the payment of maintenance allowances whenever the obligation for paying them comes directly from the law, including rulings given in annulment, separation or divorce processes on maintenance allowances due to the spouse or children. In these cases, as well as relevant precautionary measure cases, the legal body will determine the amount that can be confiscated.

Generally, it is not possible to confiscate the amount of the pension that does not exceed the current SMI , applying the relevant percentages to be deducted from the amounts that exceed this SMI.

Deductions will be made by applying the scale set out in art. 607 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

The general procedure will be followed, as a result of which it will have to be declared by a decision or agreement with the competent body, reviewing any acts in which this might have been previously declared, communicating the return to those people obliged to pay and other interested parties.

When the decision is final having exhausted administrative procedures, the TGSS will then take charge urging the persons responsible to pay the amount to be returned through the relevant debt claim.

Claims not to be referred to the TGSS are final decisions being dealt with administratively in which the legitimacy of returns that do not exceed 20% of the monthly IPREM  is declared, as a result of being a "donatio mortis causa" (gift caused by death).

The obligation to return pensions amounts unduly received will expire after 4 years, starting from when the money was received, or from the time it became possible to carry out an action to demand its return, regardless of the cause of the wrongful receipt, including cases of benefit reviews due to errors made by the Management Body.

If it is not possible to apply the special procedure, by means of which the management body applies discounts to benefits it pays, as well as when, having applied the procedure, it is not possible to make the necessary deductions to cancel the debt in the maximum time frame expected due to the death of the debtor, cancellation of the benefit that they were receiving or for any other cause.

• The SOVI pension will totally or partially absorb any minimum supplement the system's widow's pension might have.

• The widow's pension and the SOVI pension total cannot be more than double the current minimum widow's pension of recipients aged 65 or over, when calculated annually. Should the aforementioned limit be exceeded, the SOVI pension will be reduced accordingly.
  

For the purposes of applying the maximum limit  of the pension established in the General State Budgets Act, the following will not be calculated:

• Pensions resulting from acts of terrorism.
• The 50% increase in the serious disability pension. 
  

As a general rule, it is necessary to prove the real age established in each case. However, in those groups that have reduction coefficients of the retirement age according to the activity carried out, the age of 65, for the purposes of determining entitlement to minimum supplements, will understood to be completed when, as a result of applying these coefficients, the resulting age is either equal to or greater than 65 years old. This rule will be applied in special retirement cases at 64 years old.

For permanent disability pensions, in relation to minimum supplements, the age requirement will be applied as follows:

• Calculation of 65 years old for total PD pensions: the theoretical age will be considered.
• Calculation of 60 years old for qualified total PD pensions: the real age will be considered.
  

Yes, when opting for unemployment benefit, as well as a non-contributory pension for a degree of disability equal to or greater than 75%.

If there is concurrence with a contributory pension in the system, the cancellation of the economic effects of the minimum supplements recognized will occur from the first day of the month after the date of the determination of the concurrent benefit or, where appropriate, the determination resulting in the increase of the amount of the other pension.

In cases where the pension is not dealt with by the management bodies (INSS and ISM), the economic effects will occur from the first day of the month after the date of the determination of the unrelated benefit that features in the Register of Public Services.

Income relating to net profits, excluding expenses deductible from these activities in accordance with tax law, will be calculated.

Only 60% of the capital received, where appropriate, will be calculated in cases where there are profits resulting from pension funds, and so long as more than two years have passed since the first contribution to the fund.