If the Government’s proposal to amend the Pension Insurance Act is accepted in the Parliament, new legal provisions will apply to all those who submit an application for early retirement later than September 30, under which each year of early retirement will be penalized with a 4.08 percent reduction in pension, writes glas-slavonije.hr
The penalty for one year of shorter service has so far been 1.8 percent, and the early retirement pension could be a maximum of 9 percent lower than the full pension, while under the new law, retirees with five years less service will be penalized with a 20.4 percent reduced pension. The Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) emphasizes that these amendments to the law are currently only a Government proposal and that it is necessary to wait for them to pass through parliamentary procedure. However, if the Parliament accepts the Government’s solution to apply the new provisions starting from October 1 of this year instead of January 1 of next year, as the Government initially announced, those who want to ensure that their earlier pension is less “cut down” must submit their applications for early retirement to HZMO no later than the last day of September. They therefore have 30 days left to decide and gather all the necessary documents.
