Pension account

The initial account credit applies to you if you were born after 1 January 1955 and acquired insurance periods before 2005 .  

From your insurance periods up to the end of 2013, an initial account credit was formed and transferred to the new pension account. For insurance periods from 2014 onwards, partial credits are entered into the pension account every year. The total credit is made up of all credit notes. This is upgraded every year. The total credit divided by 14 results in your current pension value, i.e. your monthly gross pension. This would be the amount of the pension if no further pension periods are acquired. Tax and health insurance contributions have not yet been deducted from this.

If you have any questions about the pension account, please contact the pension account hotline of the Pensionsversicherungsanstalt (PVA) on 050303-87000. 

You can register the insurance periods at any time . The initial account credit will then be recalculated. It is best to have the effects of late registration checked in advance by the Pensionsversicherungsanstalt (PVA) so that there are no disadvantages for you. 

Your child-raising periods do not appear in the insurance data extract? Get in touch with the pension insurance institution as soon as possible! Missing times means that your pension will be lower.

Yes, you can buy school and study periods at any time. This is interesting, for example, if you are missing a few months of insurance before retirement or if you want to increase your pension. 

You have to reckon with costs of € 1,292.76 per month when buying a new one. You can get some of it back through the employee assessment.

First, request your contribution bases from the Pensionsversicherungsanstalt (PVA). This can be done informally, also by phone or e-mail. 

You can also view and check your contribution bases in the electronic pension account . To do this, you need ID Austria or your access data to FinanzOnline. 

The contribution bases must correspond to your respective gross income. If this is not the case, your employer may not have registered you or has registered you incorrectly.

To check your contribution periods, you need a detailed list of insurance periods (= insurance data extract). You can request an insurance data extract from the responsible pension insurance institution in writing (= also by e-mail), by telephone or in person.

The Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) is responsible for incorrect contribution bases. Announce the facts in writing (e-mail, letter) or in person. It is also best to provide proof, for example pay slips or bank statements. 

If you are missing or have incorrectly reported, contact the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) in person or in writing.  

If your insurance periods and contribution bases are correct, you can assume that your initial account credit has also been calculated correctly. The pension insurance institutions use a tested program for the calculation. 

If you would like more detailed information about the calculation of the initial account credit, you can request the calculation bases from the Pensionsversicherungsanstalt. 

No. No real amounts of money are paid into the pension account and it does not show any balance. It shows the pension value of the pension contributions already made according to the current status.

There is no saved credit in the pension account. It only shows the pension insurance benefit that you would receive if you could already apply for a regular retirement pension.

The contributions you pay into the pension insurance are used on a pay-as-you-go basis to finance ongoing pension benefits. So those who are currently active pay for people who are currently retired. Since no capital stock is built up, no money is invested on the capital markets. The pay-as-you-go system of statutory social insurance has proven to be much more robust and crisis-proof than capital market-covered insurance systems, which have generated only low returns and thus low benefits since the financial crisis of 2008.

The pension account does not contain any savings. It only provides information about the guaranteed pension benefit. Since you pay contributions, you are entitled to a pension at the statutory level – provided you have the necessary insurance periods and are already of retirement age. 

Yes. If both employment relationships (individually or jointly) exceed the monthly marginal income threshold, pension contributions are due.

No. If you are in marginal employment, you will not earn any periods in the pension insurance and you will not earn any credits for the pension account. However, you can voluntarily insure yourself. You can get more information about this from the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK). 

For periods of child-rearing, you acquire contribution periods in the pension insurance if all conditions are met. The child-raising period benefits the parent who has predominantly raised the child. 

Even if you receive unemployment benefit or emergency assistance, you acquire insurance periods in the pension insurance.