Money with ZUS - what happens to it when I leave Poland and come back home?

Hey People,
I have been living in Poland for a while now, and supposedly paying quite a bit to ZUS.

What happens to the money when I change country, say in Asia from where I am coming from?
Is there a way to get the money(or part of it) back during moving out?

Thanks in advance for replying.

ZUStasking

Short answer: no.
Long answer: no, sorry.

Some of us would like to know what happens to ZUS money when it stays in the country.

The money you pay in into ZUS is used to run hospitals, pay pensions and pay people on benefits.
There is insufficient money being paid into ZUS each week to satisfy the demand, so the Government has to borrow money just to keep still.

Thanks a lot for the replies guys.


...terri wouldn't this imply that Govt should return the borrowed money :)?

I was under the impression that at least the pension money could be transferred/cashed at the time of leaving the country...

>>>>>>>I was under the impression that at least the pension money could be transferred/cashed at the time of leaving the country...

I cannot, for the life of me think of WHO would have given you that impression....

The Government cannot return ANY money, because it has already been spent on other people.
Same thing happens in the UK - you cannot ever get any National Insurance payments back - they have already been spent as well. That's why anyone prior to pension age hopes that youngsters have good jobs - because otherwise there will be no money to pay their old-age-pensions.

Not true. A few years ago I explored the possibilty but decided to defer my decision. As for getting ZUS back, forget it.

>>>>>>Not true. A few years ago I explored the possibility but decided to defer my decision.
Could you please tell me how I go about getting my NI contributions back. PLEASE....

Thanks again. It's clear.

Now I could only hope that my money was/is well spent :).

cheers,

terri, I wrote to the National Insurance people (this must be seven or eight years ago). They dug out my record of working in the UK, and calculated what my pension would be (not much). I decided to let it be at the time, but one option would have been to take a lump sum and give up my right to a pension. Now I'm thinking about it again, but I'm too busy at the moment. Why not contact the authorities and see what your options are?

Better to pay it than get it back. Could be useful one day.

The same with ZUS.

>>>>>>They dug out my record of working in the UK, and calculated what my pension would be (not much). I decided to let it be at the time, but one option would have been to take a lump sum and give up my right to a pension.

...I don't think that you are talking about the compulsory National Insurance contributions (towards the Government Old Age Pension) as I don't believe such option exists, but I will check.

Hi,
Has anyone already checked with ZUS authorities about option to take a lump sum and give up right to a pension at the time of leaving the country?

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

This has already been answered. You have to pay into the system for 20 years before you are entitled to anything. And that ZUS pro rata contribution is only payable monthly after pension age. And yes, it is transferable, pittance though it be, to any country that has a reciprocal agreement as to pension payments.

Isn't ZUS one big Ponzi scheme which is destined to implode sonner or later ...?

I can give some advice based on my personal experience. I worked in Poland September 1994 to June 1996, that is 2 years. They have recently calculated my pension (as I am of pension age for Poland) and will pay me some money after confirming with NI in England that I no longer work.

Anyone paying into ZUS will be entitled to an old age pension when they reach pension age. The amount will depend on your contributions to ZUS. You cannot get any money back in the form of a lump sum from ZUS, the only way is through monthly pension until you die.

You were earning in the old zloty days Terri so that means you can say you are a retired millionaire:))

Well of course it is. A job creation scheme - nothing more, nothing less. Most of the work could be done digitally, with one main office. But, like everyone has a doctor in the extended family, everyone has a relative who works for ZUS.

Probably criminal in point of fact, but of course it's public money being wasted - so it's "political largesse". If it were a PLC or S.A. the Financial Services Agency (Its Polish equivalent) would break its doors down, and quite right too.

Scum of the highest order.

>>>You were earning in the old zloty days Terri so that means you can say you are a retired millionaire:))
If only. It was the old zloty in 1994, then in 1995 it changed into the new pln, but there was a time when both currencies were being used.

I've been trying with ZUS since last year, filled out forms, but there was always a new one to complete. Then original documents from my old firm, then a form showing my working career, although I only worked 2 years in Poland, the rest in the UK. The best one however, was that as I don't have a Pesel, at first they said that they couldn't enter me into the system. I handed my British passport over and the lady said 'but this is not a Polish passport' to which I replied 'but I am not Polish' and she looked at me in disbelief, 'but you speak Polish'....but 6 months down the line they relented and calculated something. I am now in the system by Passport number. I believe that one hand doesn't know what the other one is doing and anything unusual throws them into confusion. They were probably stretching my patience till I gave up. I haven't, but as yet not a grosz has gone into my bank.

The thing is, when you are working they take as much as they can get away with, but when you want some of it back, they argue about every grosz.

Sums up the way things work in Poland , even receipts magically lose their print in three months just to be sure you can never provide evidence of anything.

Dolno, don't you ever miss certain aspects of the UK? You're always so critical of it but I mean it's so easy to find out your rights and entitlements and generally if you're owed money by the government you'll get it with no quibble. I know somebody about your age. He's Irish but lives in Spain now. Anyway he lived and worked in England for about 10 years in the 1960s/70s and had no problem getting a UK pension, just by applying online. And he didn't need all the names and addresses of his employers etc. It's all on file and they look it up. Surely you must get frustrated in Poland sometimes with the clumsy, unwieldy way of conducting simple business and the onus always being on the member of the public, never on the authorities.

Ah well yes there are plenty of good aspects in the UK, and maybe when I reach proper retirement age I will return, I still have property and financial interests and family in the UK.

As for always critical , too right Atch, lets start with brexit, move to gun crime, knife crime acid attacks, paedophile rape gangs, acts of terrorism, judicial system that is too soft, lack of freedom to speak ones mind, millennial's, lefties.

But if I move deep into the English (Or Irish maybe i have been looking) countryside, then I wont have to deal with the above nonsense, Poland does not have these issues which more than makes up for as you say clumsy and unwieldy ways of Poland.

What if I'm a foreigner moving from Poland to Germany, can I transfer ZUS money into german pension system?