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Determine initial capital for your retirement

You wish to calculate the amount of your old-age pension? Determine your initial capital first. Find out how to do this.

AT AN OFFICE OR BY POST

What initial capital is

It is the recreated amount of social insurance contributions paid by you or by your contribution payer until 1 January 1999. Initial capital is not a benefit paid by the ZUS. It is taken into account when calculating a ‘new old-age pension’.

Who may have their initial capital determined

Anyone:

  • who was born after 31 December 1948,

  • who worked before 1 January 1999 and whose social insurance contributions were paid, for example, by the employer.

The ZUS will determine the initial capital also for persons who were born before 1949, if they meet ALL the following conditions:

  • submitted an application for an old-age pension after reaching the general retirement age after 31 December 2008 and requested that the old-age pension be calculated according to new rules,

  • have completed contributory and non-contributory periods – at least 20 years (women) or at least 25 years (men),

  • were covered by pension insurance after reaching the general retirement age.

You may submit the application in person or through a plenipotentiary.

What you need to prepare

  • identity card or passport – if you take the application to a ZUS branch,

  • an application for initial capital – download it and complete it or do this at a ZUS branch. You may also request a ZUS official to write it. You will give the necessary information and sign a report prepared by the official,

  • information on contributory and non-contributory periods – download it and complete it or do this at a ZUS branch,

  • documents confirming the contributory and non-contributory periods completed before 1 January 1999, for example periods of employment and military service, periods during which unemployment benefit was received, and periods of childcare leave and education at a higher education institution. Prepare the originals or copies certified as true to the original by a notary or plenipotentiary who is an attorney-at-law, legal adviser, patent attorney or tax adviser,

  • a certificate of employment and remuneration before 1 January 1999 – issued by the employer or the employer’s successor,

  • an insurance card – if the employer has entered information on your employment and remuneration into that insurance card,

  • a written power (commission) of plenipotentiary – if a plenipotentiary submits the application on your behalf. There is no single model document. You must provide data that will allow a ZUS official to verify the plenipotentiary’s identity, for example that person’s full name and the series and number of the identity card. Sign the power of attorney.

By way of exception, you may prepare photocopies of the following documents – if they have been certified as true to the original by the employer or a ZUS official:

  • a military identity card,

  • a diploma from a higher education institution,

  • excerpts from certificates issued by registry offices,

  • data from an ID book, for example entries on employment or children.

What you need to do

Prepare all the necessary documents. See What you need to prepare for details.

Submit them to the ZUS. See Where to submit the application for details.

Wait for the decision. See How long you will wait for details.

When to submit the application

The sooner you submit the application, the better. As many enterprises are closed down or converted, you may have problems with obtaining documents confirming your employment and remuneration.

Where to submit the application

At any ZUS branch. The decision, however, will be issued by the ZUS branch having jurisdiction over your place of residence. If you have an account on the ZUS Electronic Services Platform (PUE ZUS), you may book a date for a visit.

Enter your postal code to find out where your ZUS branch is located.

You may submit the application in two ways:

  • take it to a ZUS branch,

  • send it by post.

How much you will pay

The service is free of charge.

How long you will wait

You will receive the decision together with the decision determining the right to an old-age pension at the latest.

If it turns out that you must supplement the application because, for example, there is no document confirming the period of employment, the ZUS will set the deadline by which the document must be submitted.

What you can do if you do not agree with the ZUS’s decision

You may appeal against the decision to a regional court – labour and social security court – within one month from the date on which the decision is served. The appeal should be addressed to the court, but submitted at the ZUS branch that issued the decision. 

Additional information

If you have any doubts, contact the ZUS:

  • call 22 5601600,

  • send an email to cot@zus.pl,

  • go to the nearest ZUS branch.

If you decide to contact the ZUS by phone or by email, ZUS consultants will be available on working days, Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Legal basis:

Act of 17 December 1998 on old-age pensions and disability pensions from the Social Insurance Fund (consolidated text, Journal of Laws from 2020, item 53) 

Regulation of the Minister for Labour and Social Policy of 11 October 2011 on proceedings for pension benefits (Journal of Laws from 2011, No 237, item 1412)

 

VIA THE PUE ZUS PORTAL

If you wish to submit the application via the PUE ZUS portal, you will need an account. Find out how to create an account on the PUE portal. You may submit only the application via the PUE ZUS portal. Other documents must be taken or sent to a ZUS branch.

What initial capital is

It is the recreated amount of social insurance contributions paid by you or by your contribution payer until 1 January 1999. Initial capital is not a benefit paid by the ZUS. It is taken into account when calculating a ‘new old-age pension’.

Who may have their initial capital determined

Anyone:

  • who was born after 31 December 1948,

  • who worked before 1 January 1999 and whose social insurance contributions were paid, for example, by the employer.

The ZUS will determine the initial capital also for persons who were born before 1949, if they meet ALL the following conditions:

  • submitted an application for an old-age pension after reaching the general retirement age after 31 December 2008 and requested that the old-age pension be calculated according to new rules,

  • have completed contributory and non-contributory periods – at least 20 years (women) or at least 25 years (men),

  • were covered by pension insurance after reaching the general retirement age.

What you need to prepare

identity card or passport – if you take the documents to a ZUS branch,

  • information on contributory and non-contributory periods – download it and complete it or do this at a ZUS branch,

  • documents confirming the contributory and non-contributory periods completed before 1 January 1999, for example periods of employment and military service, periods during which unemployment benefit was received, and periods of childcare leave and education at a higher education institution. Prepare the originals or copies certified as true to the original by a notary or attorney-at-law, legal adviser, patent attorney or tax adviser,

  • a certificate of employment and remuneration before 1 January 1999 – issued by the employer or the employer’s successor,

  • an insurance card – if the employer has entered information on your employment and remuneration into that insurance card.

By way of exception, you may prepare photocopies of the following documents – if they have been certified as true to the original by the employer or a ZUS official:

  • a military identity card,

  • a diploma from a higher education institution,

  • excerpts from certificates issued by registry offices,

  • data from an ID book, for example entries on employment or children.

What you need to do

  1. Log on to your profile on the PUE ZUS portal as the ‘Insured person’ or ‘Recipient of benefits’.

  2. Select the ‘Documents and messages’ tab and then click ‘Working documents’ and ‘Create a new document’.

  3. Select or find ‘ZUS Kp-1 application: Application for the determination of initial capital’.

  4. Click ‘Create a document’.

  5. Complete the application. Your identification and address details that have been entered into the ZUS database will load automatically.

  6. Click ‘Check’ to verify the data entered.

  7. Add annexes.

  8. Click ‘Save’, and then ‘Close’ and ‘Send’.

  9. Select how you wish to receive the reply from the ZUS from the list – electronically via the PUE ZUS portal, by post or at a ZUS branch – and click ‘OK’.

  10. The message ‘Submission of ZUS Kp-1 document’ will appear. 

  11. Sign the application. You may sign it in two ways:

  • use a trusted profile,

  • use a qualified certificate.

  1. The message ‘Summary of the tasks’ will appear, followed by the message that the document has been sent.

  2. Wait for information on whether your application has been accepted by the ZUS system. You will receive it via SMS or email.

  3. Prepare the necessary documents. See What you need to prepare for details.

  4. Take or send the documents to the ZUS. See Where to submit the documents for details.

  5. Wait for the ZUS’s decision. See How long you will wait for details.

When to submit the application

The sooner you submit the application, the better. As many enterprises are closed down or converted, you may have problems with obtaining documents confirming your employment and remuneration.

Where to submit the documents

At any ZUS branch. The decision, however, will be issued by the ZUS branch having jurisdiction over your place of residence. You may book a date for a visit via the PUE ZUS portal.

Enter your postal code to find out where your ZUS branch is located.

You may submit the documents in two ways:

  • take it to a ZUS branch,

  • send it by post.

How much you will pay

The service is free of charge.

How long you will wait

You will receive the decision together with the decision determining the right to an old-age pension at the latest. If you have chosen to receive the reply electronically, a scan of the decision will be sent to your PUE account, and the original by post.

If it turns out that you must supplement the application because, for example, there is no document confirming the period of employment, the ZUS will set the deadline by which such a document must be submitted.

What to do if you do not agree with the ZUS’s decision

You may appeal against the decision to a regional court – labour and social security court – within one month from the date on which the decision is served. The appeal should be addressed to the court, but submitted at the ZUS branch that issued the decision.

 

Additional information

If you have any doubts, contact the ZUS:

  • call 22 5601600,

  • send an email to cot@zus.pl,

  • go to the nearest ZUS branch.

If you decide to contact the ZUS by phone or by email, ZUS consultants will be available on working days, Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Legal basis:

Act of 17 December 1998 on old-age pensions and disability pensions from the Social Insurance Fund (consolidated text, Journal of Laws from 2020, item 53) 

Regulation of the Minister for Labour and Social Policy of 11 October 2011 on proceedings for pension benefits (Journal of Laws from 2011, No 237, item 1412)
 

NAME OF THE ENTITY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OF THE INFORMATION

Ministry of Family and Social Policy

Department of Social Insurance

email: info@mrips.gov.pl

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