Insured persons may request a refund of contributions

September 14, 2021

Law No. 1392 provides that insured persons may request the refund of contributions from their personal pension accounts of the SIP (Sistema Integral de Pensiones – Integral Pension System) to cover their needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. How much can be refunded?

The refund in favor of the insured persons of the Integral Pension System will be carried out as follows:

  1. Partial refund of up to 15% of their accumulated balance for those who have in their Personal Pension Account an amount less than or equal to Bs 100,000.- (One Hundred Thousand 00/100 Bolivianos), regardless of their age.
  2. Partial refund of up to Bs 15,000.- (Fifteen Thousand 00/100 Bolivianos) of their accrued balance for those who have in their Personal Pension Account an amount greater than Bs 100,000.- (One Hundred Thousand 00/100 Bolivianos), regardless of their age.
  3. Total refund of 100% of their accumulated balance for those who have in their Personal Pension Account an amount less than or equal to Bs10,000.- (Ten Thousand 00/100 Bolivianos) and are fifty (50) years of age or older.

2. What is the procedure to request the refund?

The partial or total refund of contributions will be requested voluntarily and performed in a single disbursement upon request of the insured person to the AFP (Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones – Pension Fund Administrator) he/she is registered.

The deadline for the refund request will be established in the corresponding Regulation, published in 10 working days, i. e., it should already be published in the aforementioned regulation for the last week of September.

3. Are there exclusions?

Yes, there are. The regulations have considered that those insured persons who, as of August 31st, are excluded from the refund:

  1. Had accessed or proceeded to acquire an Old Age Pension, Solidarity Old Age Pension, Disability Payment, or Benefit of the Integral Pension System.
  2. Are receiving remuneration from the public or private sector;
  3. Have contributed since December 2019, as dependents of the public sector.

4. Validity?

We consider that it will have to wait for the publication of the Regulation for the provisions to be fully effective.

Source: Gaceta Oficial 09/09/21