Three Legal Ways to Increase Your Pension: Which Periods Can Be Excluded from the Calculation

Three Legal Ways to Increase Your Pension: Which Periods Can Be Excluded from the Calculation

This text discusses three legal ways that allow Ukrainians to increase their pension payments, particularly by excluding unfavorable periods from the calculation. According to Ukrainian legislation, there are several options that can help optimize the calculation of pension payments.

Ways to Increase Your Pension

• Method #1: 'Optimization' of work history (the 60-month rule) allows for the exclusion of up to 60 consecutive calendar months from the total work history. This means that if you have periods when you were not working or worked in conditions that negatively affected your work history, you can disregard them when calculating your pension.

  Dmytro Korsun, a lawyer at the 'Legal Network' law firm, notes that the law allows significantly reducing periods unfavorable for pensions.

• Method #2: The elimination of 'zero' periods is also an important element in the process of increasing pension payments. You have the opportunity to exclude periods that do not exceed 10% of the total insurance history. This helps to reduce the negative impact of short-term absences on the pension calculation.
• Method #3: Salary before 2000 is another option that can affect the size of the pension. Until July 1, 2000, the Pension Fund takes data from the personalized accounting, allowing submitting to the Pension Fund a certificate of salary for any 60 consecutive calendar months (5 years) before the specified date. This can significantly improve the financial situation of retirees.

Therefore, using these three legal ways allows Ukrainians to significantly influence the size of their pension payments. It is important to be aware of the opportunities provided by law and to take advantage of them to optimize one's pension history.

Knowledge about the opportunities for pension optimization is an important aspect for many Ukrainians who aspire to ensure a comfortable living standard in retirement. Utilizing legal methods to exclude unfavorable periods can significantly impact the financial situation of pensioners, especially in conditions of economic instability. As the pension system is subject to changes, it is essential to keep track of new legislative initiatives that may affect pension payments in the future.