Cyprus Agreement and foreign pension information 106-04011000

In Cyprus, national legislation needs the compulsory payment of social security contributions usually through deductions from paid employment. The Social Insurance Scheme covers most workers and the self-employed.

Contributions insure individuals against disability and unemployment and provides for income in the form of a pension once the person reaches retirement age.

A non-contributory benefit is in place for those who have lived in Cyprus long-term but who do not meet the requirements for a contributory pension. Social welfare benefits are also available for those with low income.

The legislation is the responsibility of the Cypriot government, but administration and payment of pensions is the responsibility of the Department of Social Insurance Services.

Widow B Pension was sunsetted in 1995 and, along with Bereavement Allowance, stopped being paid from 2020. See:

• Widow B Pension
• Bereavement Allowance

The Agreement with Cyprus started one 1 January 1993. There are no previous versions.

For Australia:

Department of Social Services (DSS)

For Cyprus:

Υπουργείο Εργασίας και Kοινωνικών Aσφαλίσεων - Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance

For Australia:

Services Australia

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for double coverage provisions.

For Cyprus:

Υπηρεσίες Κοινωνικών Ασφαλίσεων (YKA) - Department of Social Insurance Services

For Australia:

Centrelink International Services (CIS)

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for double coverage provisions.

For Cyprus:

Υπηρεσίες Κοινωνικών Ασφαλίσεων (YKA) - Department of Social Insurance Services

Under the Agreement with Cyprus, information held about customers may be exchanged between the liaison agencies to determine entitlement to payments under the Agreement and under either country's domestic legislation (Article 16.1).

For information on bulk data exchange, see International Data Exchange Program and auto indexation of foreign pensions.

The following liaison form is completed by Centrelink International Services (CIS) and sent to Cyprus:

• AUS187CY - Australia/Cyprus Agreement on Social Security

For help with creating liaison forms, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

This liaison form is completed by Cyprus and is sent to Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Liaison Form - CY/AUS2

This form is used in all communication from Cyprus.

• Purpose - 1-5
• Part I - Claimant: provides details of the person making the claim: SUR claims only: details of insured person are in Part II
• Part II - Insured Person: provides details of the insured person
• Part III - Information provided by Cyprus: provides details including insurance periods and Cypriot pensions
• Part IV - Information requested from Australia: this section specifies the Australian information needed by Cyprus
• Part V - Signature

Under the Administrative Arrangements, each country will arrange for an agreed report to be and sent with claims for invalidity/disability pensions.

Medical examinations may also be undertaken upon request for foreign pension claim purpose. Generally, the liaison agency will contact Services Australia with the request. There is no provision for reimbursement of costs to either country.

The customer should contact Services Australia if they receive a direct request from the liaison agency to undertake a medical examination. Advise the customer to go through Services Australia’s foreign pension medical assessment process. Where the customer has already undertaken a medical examination based on a direct request from the Agreement partner without consulting Services Australia, the customer should contact the liaison agency to discuss any possible reimbursement options.

If a customer is claiming reimbursement of costs based on undertaking a medical examination requested by Services Australia for foreign pension purpose, consider all evidence provided. For example, if incorrect advice was provided to the customer by Services Australia that caused them to seek an independent medical examination which caused the customer to be out of pocket.

See Customer compensation and Act of Grace.

See Agreement Country Document Catalogue (ACDC) for samples of forms, foreign documents and translations.

The Agreement with Cyprus does not include double coverage provisions but does have some provisions relating to coverage for Cyprus (Article 5) including provision for exceptions by agreement.

Any enquiries about double coverage or certificates of coverage should be directed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website.

Any queries about taxation of pensions or the requirement to lodge a tax return should be directed to:

• In the other country - the tax authority in the other country
• In Australia - the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website

See general information on taxation, including issuing Australian payment summaries.

Tax treaty

Australia does not have a double tax agreement with Cyprus.

Tax deduction

Cypriot pensions are taxed (Φόρος) at the source.

The gross rate of Cypriot pension, before any deduction, is maintained.

Cypriot tax year

Cyprus uses the calendar year (1 January - 31 December) as the tax year.

Australia does not have a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) with Cyprus.

See general information on health insurance and Medicare coverage.

Any queries about:

• Health insurance coverage in the other country - tell the customer to contact the health insurance authority in the other country
• Medicare coverage - direct them to Medicare

Pensioners in Cyprus usually have a health insurance deduction (ΑΣΘΕΝΕΙΑ/ Ασθνέvεια) taken out of their Cypriot pension.

The gross rate of Cypriot pension, before any deduction, is maintained.

Cyprus has two official languages, Greek and Turkish. Care must be taken with appropriate language and forms due to ongoing political sensitivities.

See Greek and Turkish naming conventions and pronunciations.

Refer to Mersin 10 Turkey/Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) below for brief history.

Greek names and surnames may be written in many different ways. For example, CHRISTOS may also be written as XRISTOS, KRISTOS or CRISTOS. All known forms of the name must be recorded on the Customer Personal Detail Summary (CPDS) screen.

Telephone country code is:

• +357 for Republic of Cyprus
• +90 for Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)

Addressing - Republic of Cyprus

This is the addressing format for customer in the Republic of Cyprus.

Address details differ for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). See Mersin 10 Turkey/Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) below for instructions how to code the address.

Street address

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

Sofocleous 26 [Street name + house number]

2008 STROVOLOS [Postal code + locality]

CYPRUS

Post Office Box address

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

P.O. Box 56150 [Post box + number (always 5 digits)]

3304 LIMASSOL [Postcode + locality]

CYPRUS

Customers may reside in the northern region of Cyprus commonly called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) or Mersin 10 Turkey.

TRNC declared its independence in 1983 and has received diplomatic recognition from Turkey/ Türkiye. The rest of the international community, including Australia, recognises the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the entire island.

Coding:

As region TRNC is considered as being in or from Cyprus, the following must be coded accordingly:

• Periods of residence (CRES) or presence (RSCD) in TRNC
• Code in the Country field 'CY'
• TRNC residence must not be coded as TR (Turkey/ Türkiye)
• Australian payments to customers in region TRNC:
• Turkey/ Türkiye country version of the International bank account form (AUS178TR) should be used for customers in the TRNC/Mersin 10 region
• Customers in this region will be paid in Turkish New Lira (TRY) instead of Euro (EUR)
• TRNC income and assets, including pensions:
• On the Foreign Pensions Details (FPD) and/or Foreign Income/Asset Detail (FID) screen, code:
  - Country Cyprus in the Country: field
  - Currency TRY in the Currency: field
• TRNC address:
• Customers in this region must be coded as Mersin 10 Turkey to make sure delivery of letters
• Do not include ‘Cyprus’ in the address
• Code on the Address Details (AD) screen:
  - Address Line 1: field - the customer’s street address or PO Box (for example, PO Box 30)
  - Address Line 2: field - the customer’s postcode (if provided) and locality (for example: 99320 Girne)
  - Town/Suburb/Line 3: field - Mersin 10
  - Country: field - TR (Turkey/ Türkiye)

Cyprus has recognised same-sex relationships through civil unions since 9 December 2015. There is no official recognition of same-sex marriages in Cyprus.

For Australia, the Agreement with Cyprus (Article 2.1) covers:

• Age Pension
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Carer Payment (CP)
• Parenting Payment Single (PPS)

Note:

• Only severely disabled DSP customers may be granted under the Agreement (Article 2.1(a))
• Carer Payment is limited to legally married (de jure) partners of DSP (severely disabled) or Age Pension only (Article 1.1(b))
• Only a ‘widowed person’ may be granted PPS under the Agreement. ‘Widowed person’ means a female who stops being a member of a couple because of the death of their partner and who is not currently a member of a couple. The couple must have been legally married (de jure) (Article 1.1(i))
• Partner related benefits (Article 7) referred to Carer Pension, which were only payable to partners of Australian pensioners at the time the Agreement entered into force. As Carer Payment is no longer limited to partners under domestic legislation, this provision no longer applies
• While Bereavement Allowance (BVA) cannot be claimed after 20 March 2020, claims lodged before this date may still be received. See Bereavement Allowance (BVA)

Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements use the same methods and processes as domestic claims.

Forms to claim an Australian payment in Cyprus can be obtained by:

• downloading the relevant form from the Services Australia website. See Resources
• contacting Centrelink International Services (CIS)
• contacting the Cypriot authorities

Australian forms needed

Forms are available in either bilingual English/Greek and English/Turkish.

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

All claims:

• AUS140CYG/AUS140CYT - Australian Pension Claim – Social Security Agreement between Australia and Cyprus
• Mod(iA)CYG/ Mod(iA)CYT - Income and Assets - Cyprus

DSP only:

• AUS142GR/AUS142TR - Work Capacity - Customer Information - Greek/Turkish
• AUS109 - Treating Doctor's Report - outside Australia
• AUS175 - Medical Assessment Report - Disability Support Pension (Outside Australia)

Note: Cyprus arranges for the AUS175 to be completed on a case-by-case basis.

CP only:

• AUS156 - Assessment for Carer Payment
• AUS156a - Health Professional Assessment for Carer Payment

Forms can be lodged at any Cypriot Social Security office.

Under Section 6 of the Administrative Arrangements, the Cypriot liaison agency will:

• accept all forms/documents and date stamp the AUS140 form
• when required, provide a copy of existing medical information
• verify the customer's identity and personal details, and
• send the form(s) and any supporting documentation to Services Australia with a liaison form specifying periods of coverage in Cyprus and information regarding Cypriot pensions

See the Exchange of information and liaison forms.

If a person is not an Australian resident and in Australia on the date the claim is made, they may use the Agreement to meet the residence rules for claims if, on that date, they are:

• an Australian resident, a resident of Cyprus or another Agreement country that accepts claims for Australian pension under another agreement (Article 6.1(a)), and
• physically present in Australia, Cyprus or that third country (Article 6.1(b))

Claims under the Cypriot Agreement

Claims for Australian payment under the Cypriot Agreement may be lodged in certain other Australian Agreement countries.

See the Claim lodgement matrix.

Accepting other Agreement claims

Cyprus will accept claims for Australian benefits under other Australian social security agreements.

Claim lodgement consideration

The customer must also satisfy any other rules under the other agreement and social security law provisions, including portability. For example, DSP can be claimed in a third country but has an ongoing residence requirement. Therefore, if the claimant is:

• living in the other country, DSP cannot be paid
• temporarily in the other country, DSP may generally be paid for the period it is portable under domestic legislation

The normal rules for working out the date a claim is 'made' and the start day apply to claims under the Agreement with Cyprus. However, the Agreement also allows:

• the date of lodgement of a claim for an Australian payment in Cyprus to be used as the date of lodgement in Australia (Article 13.2)
• the date of lodgement of a claim for a Cypriot pension cannot be taken to be the date of lodgement for an Australian payment (there is no FP claim equals AU claim provision in the Cypriot Agreement)

For coding help, see:

• Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements and
• Start Day (CLK)

The Agreement allows:

• totalisation of periods of qualifying Australian residence and periods of coverage in Cyprus to meet any minimum periods to qualify for an Australian pension, for example, 10 years for Age Pension (Article 8.1)
• the total of any non-continuous Cypriot periods of coverage to be considered continuous to meet any continuous residence requirement to claim an Australian pension (Article 8.2)

Note:

• Overlapping Australian residence and Cypriot periods of coverage are only counted once (Article 8.4)
• Adjoining periods of Australian qualifying residence and Cypriot periods of coverage, with a break of up to 3 months in between, can also be considered to be continuous (Policy)

See Resources in International Social Security Agreements for examples of totalisation

Cypriot periods of coverage:

• means a period of insurance, for instance a period during which contributions were paid, or any equivalent period, as defined in the Cypriot legislation
• where equivalent periods may include deemed periods, such as for child rearing or military service
• where both actual and deemed periods may be used when totalisation for Australian qualification purposes, as long as they are certified, and do not overlap
• is generally provided in weeks by the Cypriot authorities
• must be certified by the Cypriot Competent Institution

To be able to use the totalisation provisions, a person who is not an Australian resident at the date of lodgement must have at least 12 months Australian Working Life Residence (WLR) in Australia of which 6 months must be continuous (Article 8.5(a)).

Note: unlike WLR for rate, this period cannot be rounded.

No minimum WLR is needed if the person is an Australian resident at the date of lodgement (Article 8.5(b)).

CP has no qualifying residence periods but does have a Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP). Beside normal exemptions, a NARWP only applies to a person who has 'entered Australia'. See Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP) and Qualifying Residence Period.

A person who is resident and present outside Australia has not entered Australia and therefore does not have a NARWP.

To avoid granting CP to a person who has never been to Australia, the Agreement requires a person to have been an Australian resident at some time (Article 6 2).

The Agreement allows the ongoing residence requirement for DSP, PPS and CP to be met by customers who reside in Cyprus (Article 15).

For customers outside Australia, the Agreement with Cyprus (Article 9.1) refers to the overall rate calculation contained in section 12(1) of the Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999.

This means customers paid under the Agreement have:

• a proportional rate paid according to their Australian Working Life Residence (WLR)
• the Rate Limiter/Limited Rate applied
• additional child amounts (s. 14a SS(IA) 1999) included, if eligible in the proportional rate. These amounts are paid automatically as a component of the Australian pension if the customer is qualified
• their Cypriot pension proportionalised (Randisi concession) for use in the income test using denominator of 300 (Article 9.1)

Note:

• In some circumstances their partner’s WLR may be used. See Working Life Residence (WLR)
• Autonomous customers who are paid a proportional rate and receiving a Cypriot pension will also have the Randisi concession applied to their Cypriot pension (Article 9.2)

Non-proportional rate extension

Customers paid under the Agreement and temporarily outside Australia, cannot have their non-proportional portability rate extended if they are unable to return to Australia.

Returns to Australia

The inside Australia rate applies immediately if a person paid under the Agreement returns to Australia.

Customers in Australia under the Agreement are generally paid a direct deduction rate (Article 9.4).

The Agreement does not include a comparison rate in Australia.

Departures from Australia

There is no temporary departure provision in the Agreement. The outside Australia rate applies immediately on departure regardless of the length of the absence.

Payments under the Agreement

Under the Agreement, provided the customer remains qualified, Australian payments are payable indefinitely in both countries, that is, for temporary or permanent absences (Article 15.1).

Third country portability under the Agreement

Portability to third countries for a customer paid under the Agreement is the same as for an autonomous customer leaving Australia (Article 15.2). See Portability of payments.

If necessary, a customer who receives an autonomous payment that stops being payable due to portability reasons can transfer to the Agreement to continue receiving payments if:

• the payment is covered by the Agreement
• the customer meets any payment limitations, such as severely disabled, and
• the customer is able to meet the lodgement provisions of the Agreement

If transferred to the Agreement, all Agreement rules apply to the customer, including portability and rate of payment.

See Transfer to international social security agreements.

A person who would be autonomously qualified but is paid under the Agreement can transfer from the Agreement to autonomous only if they are an Australian resident and in Australia.

On return to Australia, system processing will automatically transfer to from the Agreement to autonomous if the person is an Australian resident who has only used the Agreement to extend their portability while outside Australia.

Former resident provisions may affect customers who transfer to autonomous if they leave Australia again within 2 years of becoming an Australian resident.

Australian payments may be issued to customers outside of Australia. If the customer intends to be outside of Australia:

• long-term (12 months or longer), their Australian payment may be issued to an overseas bank account. See Overseas Bank Account Details (OBAD) for payment requirements by country
• for less than 12 months, payment will generally continue to their normal Australian bank account every 2 weeks

See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia.

For Cyprus, the Agreement covers the Cypriot Social Insurance Scheme for particular payments.

Main payments

• Σύνταξη Γήρατος/ΣΎΝΤΑΞΗ ΓΉΡΑΤΟΣ - Old Age Pension (AGE)
• Σύνταξη Aνικανότητας/ΣΎΝΤΑΞΗ ΑΝΙΚΑΝΌΤΗΤΑΣ - Invalidity Pension (INV)
• includes Αναπηρία λόγω επαγγελματικής βλάβης (Disability for occupational injury)
• Survivor pensions (SUR):
• Σύνταξη Xηρείας/ΣΎΝΤΑΞΗ ΧΗΡΕΊΑΣ (Widow's Pension)
• Σπίδομα Oρφανείας/ ΕΠΊΔΟΜΑ ΟΡΦΑΝΊΑΣ (Orphan's benefit)

Supplementary payments/Allowances

• Βοήθημα Kηδείας/ΒΟΉΘΗΜΑ ΚΗΔΕΊΑΣ (Funeral grant)
• Ελάχιστο Εγγυημένο Εισόδημα (Minimum Guaranteed Income) (this has replaced Public Assistance benefit)

The following known payments are paid by the Cypriot authorities but are not covered under the Agreement:

• Κοινωνική Σύνταξη/ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΉΣ ΣΎΝΤΑΞΗΣ (Social pension)
• Παροχή Λόγω Θανάτου/ ΠΑΡΟΧΗ ΛΟΓΩ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ (Death grant)
• Επίδομα Βαριάς Κινητικής Αναπηρίας /ΕΠΙΔΟΜΑ ΒΑΡΙΑΣ ΚΙΝΗΤΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΑΠΗΡΙΑΣ (Severe mobility allowance)
• Επίδομα Διακίνησης/ΕΠΊΔΟΜΑ ΔΙΑΚΊΝΗΣΗΣ (Travel allowance)
• Σχέδιο Παροχής Επιδόματος Διακίνησης στους Αιμοκαθαιρόμενους Νεφροπαθείς/ΣΧΈΔΙΟ ΠΑΡΟΧΉΣ ΕΠΙΔΌΜΑΤΟΣ ΔΙΑΚΊΝΗΣΗΣ ΣΤΟΥΣ ΑΙΜΟΚΑΘΑΙΡΌΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΝΕΦΡΟΠΑΘΕΊΣ (Scheme for the provision of mobility allowance for haemodialysis kidney patients)
• Σχέδιο Παροχής Επιδόματος Διακίνησης σε Άτομα με Θαλασσαιμία/ ΣΧΈΔΙΟ ΠΑΡΟΧΉΣ ΕΠΙΔΌΜΑΤΟΣ ΔΙΑΚΊΝΗΣΗΣ ΣΕ ΆΤΟΜΑ ΜΕ ΘΑΛΑΣΣΑΙΜΊΑ (Mobility allowance scheme for people with thalassaemia)

For help with:

• Assessment of Cypriot pensions, see Assessment
• Coding of Cypriot pensions, see Eligibility and Coding

The requirement to claim Cypriot pensions applies to Cypriot AGE and INV.

Customers may voluntarily claim Survivor pension or Orphan Pension using the SUR claim pack

See Foreign pension claims.

Eligibility and coding of foreign pensions tab contains detailed information on Cypriot payments that are subject to CFP legislation.

Claim packs are available for AGE/SUR and INV.

Claim packs are issued through the Foreign Pension System (FPS). See Assisting customers to claim a foreign pension.

Specific requirements for Cypriot claims

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

All claims:

Note: bilingual English/Greek or English/Turkish versions are available.

• Claim for Cyprus Benefit(s) under the Agreement on Social Security between Cyprus and Australia (CY-AUS1)
• Bank declaration

AGE/INV only:

• Birth certificate

SUR only:

• Marriage/Death certificate

Requests for additional information

If information provided with the claim for Cyprus pension is incomplete, Cyprus will send requests for information in Greek or Turkish direct to customers.

Receipt of foreign pension claim by Services Australia

Under the Administrative Arrangements, Cypriot forms can be lodged in Australia at any service centre. See Processing a foreign pension claim.

• All foreign pension claims and supporting documents must be scanned, and
• The original foreign claim form and copies of supporting documents must be sent in paper form to Centrelink International Services (CIS). See Processing a foreign pension claim

Centrelink International Services (CIS) only

CIS will complete the following or arrange for the following to be completed as necessary and attach the documents to the foreign pension claim to send to the agreement country. See Agreement Liaison Detail (ALD) for method of transmission.

All claims:

• AUS187CY - Australia/Cyprus Agreement on Social Security

For help with creating and completing the liaison form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

CIS Staff do not need to sign/stamp the relevant section in the Cypriot claim form.

INV only:

• E213 - Detailed Medical Report. See Foreign pension medical assessments
• Copy of existing Australian medical information

Enquiries about claims for Cypriot payments in Cyprus or a third country should be directed to the Cypriot social security authorities.

Cypriot payments may be paid by direct deposit in Australia.

Any queries about the non-payment of Cypriot pension should be directed to the Cypriot pension authorities.

Agreement pensions are paid as 12 regular monthly payments and a thirteenth payment. The thirteenth payment is made in December.

Other benefits or private pensions are normally paid monthly or annually.

Cypriot pensions must be recorded in the source currency - Euro (EUR). Official statements provide the foreign currency amounts.

Amounts recorded in source currency on the Foreign Pensions Details (FPD) screen must not be changed to the Australian dollar amount.

For customers in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), see currency information in Mersin 10 Turkey/Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Note: payments into Australia are made in Australian dollars.

Cypriot payments are generally increased for Consumer Price Index (CPI, or cost of living) in January each year. Increases in July may also occur from time to time.

For information on bulk data exchanges and auto adjusted CPI increases, see International Data Exchange Program and auto-indexation of foreign pensions.

• directly deducted (Article 9.4) and ignored in the income test (Section 8(8)(zc) Social Security Act 1991) for customers under the Cypriot Agreement who are in Australia
• proportionalised and assessed as ordinary income (Article 9.1) for customers paid:
• under the Cypriot Agreement who are outside Australia
• autonomously who are on a long-term outside Australia rate
• ordinary income (not proportionalised) for customers paid:
• autonomously who are inside Australia
• under another agreement other than Cyprus or New Zealand who are inside or outside Australia

See Rate Calculation for when a direct deduction or proportional rate is applied.

Note: each member of a couple is deemed to receive half of the total amount received by the couple (Article 9.5).

• Κοινωνική Σύνταξη/ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΉΣ ΣΎΝΤΑΞΗΣ - Social pension
  Cypriot social pension (Κοινωνική Σύνταξη/ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΉΣ ΣΎΝΤΑΞΗΣ) is not a 'welfare benefit' or contributions based like the other Cypriot pensions. This payment is administered by the Cypriot Agreement partner and provides a basic income to people residing permanently in Cyprus who are either:
• not entitled to a Cypriot Old age pension or any other country, or
• where entitled to Old age pension from another country but is receiving less than the Social pension amount (€390 per month)
• Payments administered by Cypriot Department for Social Integration of Persons with Disabilities (Τμήματος Κοινωνικής Ενσωμάτωσης Ατόμων με Αναπηρίες (ΤΚΕΑΑ))

Payments administered by ΤΚΕΑΑ are not ‘welfare benefits’ as defined by Article 1(1)(i).

• Payments are fixed amounts and increase each year (in line with Cypriot indexation)
• Any follow up is to be done with the customer, not the Agreement partner
  Payments include:
• Επίδομα Βαριάς Κινητικής Αναπηρίας/ΕΠΙΔΟΜΑ ΒΑΡΙΑΣ ΚΙΝΗΤΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΑΠΗΡΙΑΣ - Severe mobility allowance
  Severe mobility allowance is paid to Cypriot citizens who cannot walk and need continuous or permanent use of a wheelchair
• Σχέδιο Παροχής Επιδόματος Φροντίδας σε Άτομα με Παραπληγία ή Τετραπληγία/ΣΧΈΔΙΟ ΠΑΡΟΧΉΣ ΕΠΙΔΌΜΑΤΟΣ ΦΡΟΝΤΊΔΑΣ ΣΕ ΆΤΟΜΑ ΜΕ ΠΑΡΑΠΛΗΓΊΑ Ή ΤΕΤΡΑΠΛΗΓΊΑ - Care allowance scheme for people with paraplegia or quadriplegia
  Care allowance for people with paraplegia or quadriplegia is provided to people with enhanced care needs
• Επίδομα Διακίνησης/ΕΠΊΔΟΜΑ ΔΙΑΚΊΝΗΣΗΣ – Mobility allowance
  Monthly mobility allowance for people with paraplegia, acute vision and/or blindness or quadriplegics
• Σχέδιο Παροχής Επιδόματος Διακίνησης στους Αιμοκαθαιρόμενους Νεφροπαθείς/ΣΧΈΔΙΟ ΠΑΡΟΧΉΣ ΕΠΙΔΌΜΑΤΟΣ ΔΙΑΚΊΝΗΣΗΣ ΣΤΟΥΣ ΑΙΜΟΚΑΘΑΙΡΌΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΝΕΦΡΟΠΑΘΕΊΣ - Scheme for the provision of mobility allowance to haemodialysis kidney patients

These payments are exempt income for customers paid under the Agreement or autonomously:

• Welfare benefits
  Under (Article 1(1)(i))) 'welfare benefits' are any payments under Cypriot Public Assistance Law (Νόμος περί Δημόσιας Βοήθειας) of 1991 and other similar means-tested benefits and Rent allowance (Επιδότηση ενοικίου). These are exempt for customer who are residing in Cyprus (Article 9.3):
• Minimum Guaranteed Income/Ελάχιστο Εγγυημένο Εισόδημα, or EEE, is a means tested payment administered by the Υπηρεσίας Διαχείρισης Επιδομάτων Πρόνοιας (ΥΔΕΠ)/Welfare Benefits Management Service (YDEP)

• Παροχή λόγω θανάτου/ΠΑΡΟΧΗ ΛΟΓΩ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ - Death grant

Death grant may be exempt from the income test if payable to the person who incurred expenses associated with the bereavement.

Otherwise, the amount is assessed as ordinary income for 12 months from date of receipt (s1073 Social Security Act 1991). See Treatment of lump sums.

• Βοήθημα κηδείας/ΒΟΉΘΗΜΑ ΚΗΔΕΊΑΣ - Funeral grant

Funeral grant may be exempt from the income test if payable to the person who incurred expenses associated with the bereavement.

Otherwise, the amount is assessed as ordinary income for 12 months from date of receipt (s1073 Social Security Act 1991). See Treatment of Lump Sums.

The Agreement includes embargo provisions (Article 14.5), but they are not used.

Arrears debts for customers and their partners are raised under s1228A Social Security Act 1991 are recovered by normal methods under the Act. See Comparable Foreign Payment lump sum arrears debts.

Arrears period and amount is generally provided by Cyprus. When an arrears period is not provided, the arrears period end date may be assumed to be the end of the month before the date on the notice or liaison form.

A contravention debt may also occur if the customer does not advise of the grant of their Cypriot payment within their notification period. See Foreign pension coding.

Life certificates are not used by Cyprus.

Customers in Australia are sent notices at grant and will receive an annual statement each year.