Voluntary insurance

What are the terms of voluntary insurance?

Slovak legislation allows legal entities to qualify for voluntary insurance under specific conditions, as a voluntarily insured person that is covered by sickness insurance, old-age insurance, and/or unemployment insurance. The period of voluntary insurance in which the voluntarily insured person pays the insurance premiums properly and on time, shall be appreciated as a period of insurance when assessing entitlement to benefits from the Slovak social insurance system.

Slovak legislation sets certain conditions for entry into individual types of the voluntary insurance.

Natural persons who have reached the age of 16 and have permanent residence in the Slovak Republic, or a temporary residence permit, or a permanent residence permit, may be voluntarily insured for sickness, old-age, and unemployment insurances. In the case of nationals of any Member State of the European Union (EU), and/or of any EEA State (Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland) or Switzerland the condition of residence in Slovakia is deemed to be fulfilled if they were previously insured in Slovakia as employees or self-employed persons (SZCO).

What are the terms for the voluntary sickness insurance?

The following conditions should be met order for a person to be a covered by the voluntary sickness insurance:

• such person should not be simultaneously covered by compulsory sickness insurance in Slovakia or in any EU Member State, in any EEA state or in Switzerland, either as an employee, or as a self-employed person (SZCO);
• such person should not benefit from old-age pension, early old-age pension, or invalidity pension (due to decrease in capacity to perform gainful activity by more than 70%);
• such person should not benefit from invalidity pension after the old-age age; and
• such person should be registered at the same time for voluntary old-age insurance.

What are the terms for the voluntary old-age insurance?

The following conditions should be met order for a person to be a covered by the voluntary old-age insurance:

• such person should not benefit from early old-age pension.

What are the terms for the voluntary unemployment insurance?

The following conditions should be met order for a person to be a covered by the voluntary unemployment insurance:

• such person should be registered at the same time for voluntary old-age insurance and voluntary sickness insurance (subject to the above conditions);
• such person should not be simultaneously covered by compulsory sickness insurance in any EU Member State, in any EEA state or in Switzerland, either as an employee, or as a self-employed person (SZCO);
• such person may not benefit from old-age pension, early old-age pension, or invalidity pension (due to decrease in capacity to perform gainful activity by more than 70%), or invalidity pension after the retirement age;
• such person should be neither accused in custody, nor condemned serving a sentence of imprisonment.

When does voluntary insurance arise?

Provided that a person fulfils all the conditions for voluntary insurance and signs up for voluntary insurance by filing the form Natural Person Registration Sheet – Registration, such person shall be insured as of the day that is indicated in the registration form, in any case not sooner than from the date of submission of the registration form by post or personally at a branch of the Social Insurance Agency at the place of residence. The local branch office of the Social Insurance Agency can be found in the part Contacts – Branches. Together with the registration form, the claimant shall also submit a Declaration of a Voluntary Insured Person stating, inter alia, that he or she is not covered with compulsory insurance in any other EU Member State, any EEA State, and/or Switzerland at the time of registration and stating that the claimant takes note of all the conditions of the voluntary insurance. From the date of the commencement of the voluntary insurance, the person shall be obliged to pay the insurance premiums for the voluntary insurance. Registration for voluntary insurance with retrospective force is not allowed.

When does voluntary insurance cease?

If the voluntarily insured person ceases to be interested in paying the premiums for the voluntary insurance, he or she may be excluded from the insurance at any time. The voluntary insurance shall cease on the day of deregistration of the natural person from the voluntary insurance by filing the form Natural Person Registration Sheet – Deregistration, by post or personally at a branch of the Social Insurance Agency at the place of residence. The voluntary insurance shall cease not sooner than from the day of submission of the deregistration form. Deregistration from the voluntary insurance with retrospective force is not allowed.

When does the voluntary insurance cease in law?

The voluntary insurance shall cease in law without the submission of the deregistration form as from the day when any of the statutory conditions underlying the existence of the voluntary insurance cease to be fulfilled. These conditions are the following ones: the existence of a Slovak permanent or temporary residence permit; failure to grant or to receive any of the above mentioned benefits, insurance for a particular type of voluntary insurance, and in the case of voluntary unemployment insurance, the person should be neither accused in custody, nor condemned by a sentence to imprisonment.

The voluntary insurance shall cease in law without the submission of the deregistration form also if the person does not pay the insurance premiums for at least two consecutive calendar months at the latest by the end of the third calendar month following the month for which the premium has been paid last time. In such a case the voluntary insurance lasts until the end of the calendar month for which the premium has been paid last time.

In this case, the voluntary insurance as a result of failure to pay insurance premiums shall not cease only if the persons fails to pay the insurance premium on the grounds that his or her obligation to pay the insurance premiums has been excluded. Such exclusion of the obligation to pay insurance premiums of the voluntary insurance applies in the following periods: a period of receiving sickness and/or maternity benefits, and for 10 calendar days of the need for personal and full-time nursing, or for nursing for a physical person determined by law.

If the person wishes to be voluntarily insured again and he or she meets the conditions for the voluntary insurance, the registration form should be submitted again.

When does voluntary insurance not last under the EU legislation?

If a person is voluntarily insured in Slovakia and his or her obligation of compulsory insurance arises in any of the EU Member States, in any EEA state or in Switzerland, he or she has the option of deregistration from the voluntary insurance in Slovakia. If such person fails to do so, his or her voluntary insurance during shall be deemed “suspended” during the period of such compulsory insurance in any of the EU Member States, in any EEA state or in Switzerland. However, this applies only to the voluntary sickness insurance and voluntary unemployment insurance. During the period of such “suspension” the person shall not be obliged to pay insurance premiums of the voluntary insurance and after the termination of the compulsory insurance in any of the EU Member States, in any EEA state or in Switzerland as a result of termination of such person’s activity as an employee or a self-employed person (SZCO), his or her voluntary insurance shall automatically resume. Such person may continue in his or her voluntary old-age insurance in Slovakia, even after arising of his or her compulsory insurance in any of the EU Member States, in any EEA state or in Switzerland. In any case, the condition is that such a person had been insured in Slovakia in the past, as an employee or as a self-employed person (SZCO).

How should be paid insurance premiums of the voluntary insurance?

Persons covered by voluntary sickness insurance shall pay insurance premiums of the sickness insurance.

Persons covered by voluntary old-age insurance shall pay insurance premiums of the old-age insurance, invalidity insurance, and insurance premiums to the Solidarity Reserve Fund. Beneficiaries of old-age pension or old-age pension after the retirement age do not pay insurance premiums of the invalidity insurance.

Persons covered by voluntary unemployment insurance shall pay insurance premiums of the unemployment insurance.

Voluntarily insured persons should pay the insurance premiums for the previous calendar month to the account of the Social Insurance Agency. Numbers of accounts of branches of the Social Insurance Agency are included in the part Numbers of Accounts of Branches of the Social Insurance Agency. When paying the insurance premiums, the person shall be obliged to identify the respective payments and to indicate the corresponding variable symbol and specific symbol.

The variable symbol will be assigned to the voluntarily insured person by the Social Insurance Agency. The specific symbol is a numerical designation of the relevant calendar month and year.

The insurance premium shall be due on the eighth day of the calendar month following the month for which the premium is paid.

Specific contribution rates of voluntary insurance premiums paid by the voluntarily insured person and the specific amounts of premiums for individual types of insurance determined from the minimum and maximum assessment basis can be found in the section: Social Insurance Premium Contribution Rates valid as of January 1 2017.

How will be determined the assessment basis for the payment of insurance premiums and when can it be changed?

The assessment basis (i.e., the amount from which the insurance premiums of the voluntary insurance shall be paid) shall by determined by the voluntarily insured person himself or herself. The assessment basis should be at least the amount of the minimum assessment basis valid for that year and it should not exceed the amount of the maximum assessment basis valid for that year. The voluntarily insured person should determine the same assessment basis for all kinds of the chosen voluntary insurance. For 2018, the minimum monthly assessment basis is EUR 456 and a maximum monthly assessment basis is EUR 6 384.

A person with voluntary insurance may change the assessment basis not sooner than after six months after the last establishment of the assessment basis. If the person changes the assessment basis, the insurance premiums from the changed assessment basis should be paid from the first day of the calendar month following the month in which the change in which written notification of the change of the assessment basis was delivered to the Social Insurance Agency.