Hungarian State Treasury

When the pension is fixed, the pension determination body takes a decision establishing the amount of the old age full pension to which the applicant is entitled on reaching the age of 65. However, as a result of the determination without payment, the pension will not start to be paid and the applicant will not be considered as a pensioner from that date, so that the service period can be increased by continuing to work in the same way as in active age. When, at a later stage, the person applying for the pension to be fixed will apply for the old age pension and the benefit amount calculated might be lower than the fixed pension amount, it will be possible to apply for the payment of the fixed pension plus interim increases.

If the amount of the pension is fixed, the person concerned is not considered to be an old age pensioner and may therefore acquire additional service periods if they continue to work. The payment of the fixed pension can be requested at any time later.

If the person concerned acquires an additional 365 days of service after reaching the age of 65, they will have the option, at the time of actual retirement, to choose the amount of the fixed pension plus annual increases instead of the actual pension amount calculated by taking into account the additional service periods, if the fixed pension amount is more favourable.

This choice is not available if the person concerned has been in receipt of a widow(er)’s pension for at least half of the period between the age of 65 and the date of actual retirement.

A person is entitled to a fixed pension if they have reached the age of 65 and has completed at least 20 years of service up to that date.

The fixed pension can be claimed at any time after the age of 65, and in all cases the pension is fixed retroactively to the date of reaching the age of 65.

The fixing of the pension must be claimed from the government office acting as the pension insurance administration body of the applicant's place of residence, using the form "Claim for old age pension, women's preferential pension, fixed old age pension, benefits prior to retirement age, life annuity for dance artists, transitional annuity for miners".

The request can be submitted in person, by post or electronically.

The claim may be submitted in person at the customer service of the government office of the capital or county according to the domicile or residence.   

If it is submitted by post, the envelope must be marked with name of the government office addressed and the uniform postal address of 1916 Budapest.

Electronically, persons with electronic identification can submit their claim for the benefit using the form "Claim for old age pension, women's preferential pension, fixed old age pension, benefits prior to retirement age, life annuity for dance artists, transitional annuity for miners" available at www.magyarorszag.hu under "Nyugdíj" > "Ellátások igénylése".

The contact details of the government offices can be found at www.kormanyhivatalok.hu.

The claim may be accompanied by documents relating to service periods not previously recognised. Such proof may include:

• labour book, certificate of employment, certificate of insurance and health insurance benefits, outworker's book, membership book of agricultural or fishery cooperatives,
• college or university course book, final certificate, diploma, industrial apprenticeship labour book, vocational apprenticeship certificate, certificate of vocational school in health or agriculture, diploma or vocational school student contract for the period before 1998.

The application form may also need to be accompanied by the following additional forms:

• the supplementary form to provide information on employment and early retirement periods can be downloaded here,
• the supplementary form to provide information on self-employment can be downloaded here.

The administrative time limit is 60 days. If the fixation concerns service periods abroad, the time taken for the foreign body to reply is not included in the administrative time limit.

The fixed pension is determined in the same way as the old age pension, except that the fixed amount is always determined on the day on which the person reaches the age of 65.

As with the old age pension, the amount of the fixed pension depends on the recognised service period and the average monthly earnings on which the old age pension is based. In this case, the amount of the average earnings forming the basis of the pension is always determined on the basis of the net earnings or income achieved from 1 January 1988 until the date of reaching the age of 65.

The calculation of the amount of the fixed pension shall also be based on the calculation of the proportional service period. Only the proportionate period of contribution payment may be taken into account if the contribution payment was made for an amount lower than the minimum wage in the following cases:

• part-time employment,
• low tax-bracket entrepreneurs in full-time employment status,
• small taxpayer business status,
• small-scale agricultural producer status.

 The defined amount shall be calculated in proportion to the service period and the average monthly earnings as follows.

Membership of a private pension fund affects the fixed amount if the applicant has paid contributions to a private pension fund for the period before 1 October 2010 and

• - at the age of 65, the person is a member of a private pension fund, or
• their membership of a private pension fund has been terminated without the amount in their individual account having been transferred to the State budget.

In this case, the fixed pension is calculated at a reduced amount.

No appeal may be lodged. If the decision on fixing the pension is unlawful, a statement of claim can be lodged against the decision within 30 days to have it reviewed by the court with jurisdiction over the administrative college of the domicile.

The letter of claim must be lodged, free of charge, with the pension insurance body which took the decision or sent by registered post. After electronic identification, the claim can also be filed electronically on the https://epapir.gov.hu interface. After entry, in the subject group "Jogorvoslat" the case type "Közigazgatási szerv határozatának bírósági felülvizsgálata iránti keresetlevél benyújtása" should be selected.