Legal Journal: Parental Pension – Fundamental changes from 2025

Significant changes in social security are coming into effect on January 1, 2025. The original form of the parental pension has been abolished and will be replaced by a new system of tax allocation. Based on data from the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic, the Social Insurance Agency will make the first payments under this new system in 2026, using tax return data for 2025. This adjustment fundamentally alters the mechanism of financial support provided to parents receiving pensions.

New Tax Allocation System Replaces Parental Pension

The constitutional right guaranteed by Article 39, paragraph 5 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic will now be fulfilled through the allocation of a share of paid tax. Specifically, this means that children will be able to direct a portion of their paid tax, up to 2% for each parent separately, to their retired parents (e.g., 2% for the mother and another 2% for the father). The Social Insurance Agency will first allocate this share of paid tax in 2026 for the year 2025. This allocation applies to parents receiving an old-age pension, disability pension paid after reaching retirement age, service pension paid after reaching retirement age, and disability service pension paid after reaching retirement age.

What Applies to Claims Arising Until the End of 2024?

The Social Insurance Agency will assess parental pension claims that arose until December 31, 2024, according to the legislation in force until then. Therefore, if the agency retroactively grants a relevant pension to an insured person, it will automatically assess the parental pension claim for the corresponding period. For example, if the Social Insurance Agency grants an old-age pension to an insured person in 2025 with retroactive effect from 2023, it will simultaneously assess the parental pension claim for 2023 and 2024. For one child raised, with an assessment base of €18,000 for 2021 and €12,000 for 2022, the insured person would be paid a total parental pension of €441.60 (€261.60 for 2023 and €180 for 2024).

Administrative Simplification

With the effectiveness of the new legal regulation, it is no longer necessary to submit applications for the parental pension (with the exception of pensioners receiving pensions only from abroad), nor is it necessary to submit declarations to the Social Insurance Agency for the purpose of claiming the parental pension (i.e., disagreement with the payment of the parental pension to a parent, or its redirection).

Practical Consequences of the Change

The introduction of the new tax allocation system fundamentally changes the mechanism of support for retired parents. While the original parental pension operated on the principle of direct payment from the Social Insurance Agency derived from children's earnings, the new system shifts responsibility to the children themselves, who can choose to allocate a portion of their tax in favor of their parents.