Hungarian State Treasury

A person is entitled to a transitional annuity for miners who

• is employed underground by a mining company in Hungary
  • has completed at least 25 years' service period, or
  • has completed at least 5,000 shifts which may be taken into account as service period. (1.67 times the number of shifts in ore mining in Mecsek and 1.25 times the number of shifts in coal mining in Mecsek shall be taken into account for determining the number of shifts), and
• has not yet reached retirement age, and
• does not receive any regular cash benefits.

The transitional annuity for miners 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”.

Applications for transitional annuity for miners can be submitted in person, by post or electronically.

It may be submitted in person at the customer service of the government office of the capital or county according to the place of residence or stay.

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.

In all cases, the application must be accompanied by a certificate from the mining contractor stating the service period and the number of shifts in the underground job held by the applicant.

The claim may also be accompanied by documents relating to service period 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 for employment details can be downloaded here;
• the supplementary form for self-employment can be downloaded here.

The administrative time limit is 60 days.

The established benefit will be paid by the Pension Payment Directorate of the Hungarian State Treasury within 10 workdays of the decision being issued.

The earliest date from which the transitional annuity for miners can be established is the date of completion of 25 years of service periods and the number of underground shifts required. The claim can be made retroactively for a maximum of six months, which means that the transitional annuity for miners can be established from the first day of the sixth month before the claim is made, provided that the conditions for entitlement of 25 years' service periods and the required number of shifts are met on that day.

The amount of the transitional annuity for miners is calculated according to the rules for calculating the old age pension, based on the period of recognised service periods and the average monthly earnings taken into account.

The amount of the average earnings on which the annuity is based is determined on the basis of the earnings or income on which the pension contributions are based, from 1 January 1988 to the date on which the annuity is calculated. The calculation of the amount of the transitional annuity for miners shall also be based on the calculation of the proportionate service period. This means that 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 amount of the transitional annuity for miners shall be calculated in proportion to the service period taken into account for the calculation and the average monthly earnings, as follows.

Since the rules applicable to old age pensions apply to the calculation of the benefits prior to retirement age, i.e., the transitional annuity for miners, membership of a private pension fund also affects the amount of the transitional annuity for miners in the following cases.

The amount of the transitional annuity for miners is reduced if the applicant has paid contributions to a private pension fund for a period before 1 October 2010 and

- at the time the transitional annuity for miners is determined, 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 order to receive a full transitional annuity for miners, it is allowed to re-join the state pension scheme at the time of claiming the annuity or afterwards. In this case, after the transfer, the amount of annuity is calculated retroactively to the starting date of the establishment without reduction.

No appeal may be lodged. If the decision 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 place of residence.

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.

A person receiving transitional annuity for miners may request that the pension be terminated until the retirement age is reached. The request to terminate the annuity must be made in writing to the government office acting as the pension insurance administration body in the place of residence. In this case, no new benefits prior to retirement age may be established after the termination of the transitional annuity for miners.

The transitional annuity for miners ceases when the person in receipt of the annuity reaches the retirement age, from which date it is automatically paid as an old age pension.

The transitional annuity for miners will also cease if the recipient of an annuity is granted a women’s preferential pension.

Persons receiving  transitional annuity for miners who have completed at least 365 days of service during the period for which the benefit is paid may request that the amount of the old age pension be re-established once they reach the retirement age.

The 365 days of service periods required for the re-establishment of the amount of the old age pension must be acquired between the date on which the payment of the transitional annuity for miners starts and the day before the retirement pension age is reached, but not earlier than 1 January 2012.

The application for recalculation of the old age pension may be submitted from the date on which the retirement age is reached. The claim may be made retroactively, without time limit, regardless of whether the transitional annuity for miners is paid as an old age pension after the age limit has been reached.

Since a person receiving transitional annuity for miners is considered to be an old age pensioner as from the date of reaching the retirement age, the re-establishment of the amount of the old age pension does not require an examination of the conditions for entitlement to an old age pension.