Top up your pension with lump-sum contributions

Ever reflected about your retirement and wonder if you have made enough contributions? Do you worry that your future pension amount might be too limited? Do you have contribution gaps that you would like to fill? With lump-sum contributions, you can make payments to cover periods for which you haven’t paid contributions and ensure that your pension amount reflects your entire career.

An expat career can resemble a patchwork: a collection of work periods, both inside and outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

You may have paid into foreign social security systems in some countries, while in other work periods you paid Overseas Social Security (OSS) contributions. This can make your pension calculation complex.

Did you work outside the EEA, Switzerland or the UK, but paid no OSS contributions for the period?

As long as you are not yet receiving a pension, it isn’t too late to take action. Lump-sum contributions fill gaps retroactively: you can strengthen your pension provision by paying the contributions you didn’t make in the course of your career.

The process is simple.

Complete the application form on our website(.pdf-New window), filling in the contribution amounts you want to make, your professional activity and the relevant country of employment. You can even request an estimate of your future pension amount based on regularised periods.
Once your application is submitted, the calculations are done using a coefficient to capture the capitalisation.
You will then receive a payment plan proposal, after which you can pay the lump-sum contribution.

You feel that the contributions you have already paid were too low and you want to increase the amount of your future pension? In this case, too, you can make lump-sum contributions to top it up.

Note ! It is important to note that the pension granted by the OSS is separate to any other Belgian, statutory or non-statutory pension. However the years or months during which you participated in the OSZ scheme count towards meeting the career requirements for early Belgian statutory pension as a self-employed person or employee.

Want to know more about how this lump-sum contribution can take your pension to the next level? Please contact the Frontline at overseas@rsz.fgov.be or on +32 2 509 90 99. We have experts available and happy to answer any questions you may have to help you make informed decisions for a worry-free retirement.

You will find more information about the lump-sum contributions on the page Retroactive affiliation.

Would you like to share your travel experiences?

Are you an expat or do you know someone with an inspiring experience abroad? Please don't hesitate to contact us at overseas-expat@onssrszlss.fgov.be. And who knows, you might inspire future expats with your story.