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


ZUStasking
30 Apr 2015 #1
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
Harry
1 May 2015 #2
Short answer: no.
Long answer: no, sorry.
Roger5 1 | 1,448
1 May 2015 #3
Some of us would like to know what happens to ZUS money when it stays in the country.
terri 1 | 1,663
1 May 2015 #4
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.
OP ZUStasking
1 May 2015 #5
Thanks a lot for the replies guys.

so the Government has to borrow money just to keep still.

...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...
terri 1 | 1,663
1 May 2015 #6
>>>>>>>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.
Roger5 1 | 1,448
1 May 2015 #7
Same thing happens in the UK - you cannot ever get any National Insurance payments back

Not true. A few years ago I explored the possibilty but decided to defer my decision. As for getting ZUS back, forget it.
terri 1 | 1,663
1 May 2015 #8
>>>>>>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....
OP ZUStasking
1 May 2015 #9
Thanks again. It's clear.

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

cheers,
Roger5 1 | 1,448
1 May 2015 #10
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?
jon357 74 | 21,763
1 May 2015 #11
Better to pay it than get it back. Could be useful one day.

The same with ZUS.
terri 1 | 1,663
1 May 2015 #12
>>>>>>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.
vserkga
7 Aug 2018 #13
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.
Dougpol1 31 | 2,640
7 Aug 2018 #14
Thank you in advance

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.
Ziemowit 14 | 4,278
7 Aug 2018 #15
ZUS

Isn't ZUS one big Ponzi scheme which is destined to implode sonner or later ...?
terri 1 | 1,663
7 Aug 2018 #16
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.
cms neuf 1 | 1,704
7 Aug 2018 #17
You were earning in the old zloty days Terri so that means you can say you are a retired millionaire:))
Dougpol1 31 | 2,640
7 Aug 2018 #18
Isn't ZUS one big Ponzi scheme

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.
terri 1 | 1,663
8 Aug 2018 #19
>>>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.
dolnoslask 6 | 2,934
8 Aug 2018 #20
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.
Atch 22 | 4,096
8 Aug 2018 #21
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.
dolnoslask 6 | 2,934
8 Aug 2018 #22
ever miss certain aspects of the UK? You're always so critical

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.
traktorist2
28 Aug 2018 #23
What if I'm a foreigner moving from Poland to Germany, can I transfer ZUS money into german pension system?


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