Conditions for Paying out of Pension Benefits to Persons with a Permanent Place of Residence Outside the Czech Republic

All payments of pension benefits are made through the Czech National Bank in Prague (hereinafter as CNB) and its contractual partners – its correspondent banks.

Paying out pension benefits by cheque to an address in a foreign country

The payments of pension benefits by cheque to an address of a pensioner are made 4x in a year, each time as a part payment for a respective quarter – in March, June, September and December of each calendar year.

The conditions for eligibility to pension benefits are verified 1x per year according to the information provided in the form “Certificate of living” which the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSA) automatically sends to the address of a pensioner in the respective foreign country in December of each calendar year. The period for returning the filled-in form signed by a beneficiary is 30 calendar days from the day of its delivery to the beneficiary.

SPECIFIC ACTIONS:

A specific action applies only for paying out of pensions to the addresses in Canada, where it is necessary to specify also a telephone number of a pension beneficiary required by the correspondent bank Royal Bank of Canada.

Paying out pension benefits directly to an account of a beneficiary at a financial institution (bank) in a foreign country

The payments of pension benefits to accounts at financial institutions (banks) in a foreign country are made through non-cash payment system.

The conditions for eligibility to pension benefits are verified according to the information provided in the form “Certificate of living”. A payment of pension to the account of a beneficiary is always made only after the filled-in “Certificate of living” had been received, always for a particular past period and only until the end of the month in which the “Certificate of living” had been filled-in, dated and signed by the beneficiary (his/her signature must be certified in this case).

A beneficiary submits the “Certificate of living” without notice of CSSA and in time intervals determined by him/her. The frequency of sending is not limited and a quarterly, biannual or other frequency can be accepted; we recommend sending it 1 x yearly at least.

For the bank accounts in EUR in the EU states it is necessary to specify a beneficiary’s account number in the international standard IBAN as well as BIC code for SWIFT
for the states outside EU the following must be specified – an account number of a beneficiary, name of the bank and its full address, and currency of the account
for payments of pension benefits to Bulgaria we recommend transferring the benefits directly to a beneficiary’s account, because when cashing a cheque, the Bulgarian banks charge fees that might in many cases be higher than the pension benefits
in many states there are problems with crediting the pension benefits, because a client does not specify a name of the account, i.e. a name of the owner

SPECIFIC ACTIONS – requirement of CNB or our experience based on practice for a trouble-free transfer of pension benefits to accounts in specific countries:

Australia – an account number of a pension beneficiary, AU – Australan Bank State Branch (BSB) Code, name of the bank and its full address
Canada – an account number of a pension beneficiary, CC – Canadian Payments Association Payment Routing Number, Branch, bank code – BANK, name of the bank and its full address
Cuba – the clients have to specify an account number of a beneficiary for accounts in EUR only
Romania – not possible to make a payment to an account in a different currency than EUR (returned payments)
Ukraine in EUR – an account number of a pension beneficiary, BIC, name of the bank and its address
Ukraine in USD – a correspondent bank in USA has no problems with placement of payments
Iran – it is not possible to transfer payments to a bank account in Iran (will be not performed by any correspondent bank), the clients have to open an account outside the country
USA – an account number of a pension beneficiary, FW – Ferdwire or ABA Code (Routing Number), name of the bank and its full address

Paying out pension benefits to an account of a beneficiary (an account of a spouse) in the Czech Republic

The payments of pension benefits to an account maintained at a financial institution (bank) in the Czech Republic are made in the Czech currency (CZK) with a beneficiary being obliged to submit the “Certificate of living”. The procedure for making payments and submitting the “Certificate of living” is the same as with paying out pension benefits to accounts maintained at financial institutions abroad.

Paying out pension benefits to addresses in Poland

The payments of pension benefits to Poland are made monthly by an international money order in zloty through the Polish Post. Monthly payments of pension benefits are delivered always in the first half of a respective calendar month for which the benefits shall be paid out.

It is not necessary to submit the “Certificate of living” for this method of paying out pension benefits.

Paying out pension benefits to on account in the Slovak Republic maintained in EUR

The payments of pensions to the Slovak Republic are made regularly once in a month, remitted between the 22^nd and 26^th day of a month to CNB and credited to accounts of the clients within 5 working days.

The conditions for eligibility to pension benefits are verified 4x yearly according to the information provided in the form “Certificate of living” which CSSA automatically sends to the address of a pension beneficiary in February, May, August, and November of a calendar year. The period for returning the filled-in form signed by a beneficiary is 30 calendar days from the day of its delivery to the beneficiary.

If a beneficiary stays at a different place than at his/her permanent residence address, he/she is obliged to send the certified form “Certificate of living” without notification and in the respective months specified above.

Paying out pension benefits to an account of a beneficiary maintained by a financial institution (bank) in the Republic of Bulgaria

In the application for payments of pension benefits to a bank account in Bulgaria, it is necessary to specify an account number in the international standard IBAN, BIC code of the bank for SWIFT and a full name of the account owner.

The conditions for eligibility to pension benefits are verified according to the information provided in the form “Certificate of living” which CSSA automatically sends to the address of a pension beneficiary at the beginning of March, June, September, and December. And a certified “Certificate of living” must be returned in these specified months as well.

Pension benefits are paid out regularly once in a quarter of a year during April, July, October, and January of the following year.

Czech social security administration

Conditions for Paying out of Pension Benefits to Persons with a Permanent Place of Residence Outside the Czech Republic