Slovenia Agreement and foreign pension information 106-04031000

In Slovenia, national legislation requires the compulsory payment of social security contributions .The pension insurance covers most workers and the self-employed.

Contributions insure individuals against disability and death and provides for income in the form of a pension once the person reaches retirement age. Minimum and maximum pensions apply as well as a social welfare scheme for those with low income. Separate legislation covers unemployment and health insurance and family and maternity benefits.

The legislation is the responsibility of the Slovenian government but administration and payment of pensions is the responsibility of the central pension insurance institute.

The Agreement with Slovenia started one 1 January 2004. There are no previous versions.

For Australia:

Department of Social Services (DSS)

For Slovenia:

Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities - Ministrstva za Delo, Družino, Socialne Zadeve in Enake Možnosti (MDDSZ)

For Australia:

Services Australia

For Slovenia:

Pension and Disability Insurance Institute - Zavod za Pokojninsko in Invalidsko Zavarovanje (ZPIZ)

For Australia:

International Services (CIS)

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for anything relating to double coverage. See Double coverage/Taxation and Healthcare.

For Slovenia:

See Competent Institutions

Under the Agreement with Slovenia, 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 14.1).

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

The following liaison form is completed by International Services (CIS) and sent to Slovenia.

Australia/Slovenia Agreement on Social Security (AUS187SI)

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

The following liaison form is completed by Slovenia and is sent to International Services (CIS).

Liaison form - OBRAZEC ZA ZVEZO (SI/AUS1)

• Section 1: Reference numbers
• Section 2 - Purpose: specifies whether requesting or information including transmission of claims
• Section 3 - Insured: provides information about the contributor
• Section 4 - Spouse: SUR only: provides information about the person claiming
• Section 5 - Information provided by Slovenia: provides confirmation of Slovenian information including insurance periods and Slovenian pension details
• Section 6 - Information requested from Australia: specifies the Australian information required by Slovenia
• Section 7 - Signature: certification by the Slovenian competent institution

Note: a covering letter is sent with Notices of Grant (NOGs) which provides additional information required for calculating Slovenian holiday allowance. See Payment method and Indexation (CPI) on the Slovenian payments tab.

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

Medical examinations may also be undertaken upon request. There is no provision for reimbursement of costs.

Forms

For Slovenian invalidity claims, International Services (CIS) arrange for a variant of the European medical form E213 to be completed and sent to Slovenia. See Foreign pension medical assessments.

For Australian DSP claims, Slovenia arrange for the Detailed Medical Report AUS175 to be completed and sent to Australia.

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

The Agreement with Slovenia does not include double coverage provisions.

See Double coverage/certificates of coverage information in International Social Security Agreements.

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 directly
• In Australia - The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website

For general information on taxation, including issuing Australian Payment Summaries, see the Taxation information in International Social Security Agreements.

Note: customers are required to provide their Slovenian Tax Number (Davčne številke) to the Slovenian pension fund to be able to be paid a Slovenian pension. See Slovenian Tax Numbers below.

Tax treaty

Australia does not have a double tax agreement with Slovenia.

Tax deductions

Slovenian pensions over a certain level may be taxed at source (dohodnine).

The gross rate of Slovenian pension (before deductions) is maintained.

Slovenian tax year

Slovenia generally uses the calendar year (1 Jan - 31 Dec) as the tax year.

Customers are required to provide details of their Slovenian Tax Number - Davčne številke - to the Slovenian pension fund (ZPIZ) before their pension can be paid.

ZPIZ may send a claim form to customers with the annual Slovenian Life Certificate. Customers who do not have a Slovenian Tax Number will need to apply directly to the Slovenian tax authority (see below).

Customers may advise ZPIZ of their Slovenian Tax Number or confirm that they have applied for it by writing on the Life certificate, see Life certificates on the Slovenian payments tab.

To apply for a Slovenian Tax Number, customers must complete the form provided and attach a certified copy of their current Australian or Slovenian passport or Slovenian Identity Card.

If the customer does not have these documents they may provide a certified copy of:

• Medicare card
• expired passport showing citizenship
• Australian citizenship document
• Australian driver's licence

Copies of documents can be certified by an officer of Services Australia but we cannot assist with sending applications for Slovenian Tax Numbers.

Davčna uprava Republike Slovenije

Šmartinska cesta 55, PO Box 631

SI-1001 Ljubljana

Slovenia

Any queries about:

• Health insurance coverage in the other country - the customer should be directed to contact the health insurance authority in the other country, and
• Medicare coverage - should be directed to Medicare, see Medicare Consumers Program Support - Medicare Consumers Section - Medicare Branch

Australia has a reciprocal health agreement with Slovenia.

Pensioners in Slovenia usually have a health insurance deduction taken out of their Slovenian pension.

The gross rate of Slovenian pension (before deductions) is maintained.

The official language of Slovenia is Slovenian, which is a Slavic language written in the Roman alphabet.

Note: documents may show the name of the country as The Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia or The Republic of Slovenia.

Naming conventions and pronunciation.

Telephone country code is +386.

Street address:

FirstName Surname [name]

Presemoval ul. 16 [street + number]

4000 Kranj [postcode + locality]

SLOVENIA [country]

Postal codes are coded to the left of the locality and are 4 digits long. Postal code example 4000 = 4 is the sub-division (region) and 000 is the post office.

Slovenia has recognised same-sex relationships since 23 July 2006. There is no official recognition of same-sex marriages in Slovenia.

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

• Age Pension
• Disability Support Pension (DSP) for severely disabled

Note: additional child amounts, also known as Overseas Child Component and Additional Child Payment, are included in the proportional rate calculation.

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

Forms to claim an Australian payment in Slovenia can be obtained by contacting the Slovenian authorities or International Services (CIS). Forms can also be downloaded from the Services Australia website. See the Resources page for a link.

Forms required:

For all payments:

• AUS140SI - Australian pension claim - Agreement with Slovenia
• Mod(iA)SI - Income and assets - Slovenian

Additional medical forms:

• DSP:
• AUS142SI - Work Capacity - Customer Information - Slovenian
• AUS109SI - Treating Doctor's Report, outside Australia - Slovenian
• AUS175 - Medical Assessment Report - Disability Support Pension (Outside Australia)

Forms can be lodged at any Slovenian Social Security office.

Under the Administrative Arrangements, the Slovenian Liaison Agency will verify the customer's identity and send the claim to CIS with a completed Liaison Form including periods of coverage in Slovenia and Slovenian pension details. See Exchange of information and liaison forms on the General information tab for the Slovenian liaison form.

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 Slovenia or a third agreement country that accepts claims under other agreements (Article 7(a)), and
• physically present in Australia, Slovenia or that third country (Article 7(b))

Australian claims under the Slovenian Agreement may be lodged in some other Australian social security agreement countries.

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

Note: the customer must also satisfy any other rules under the other agreement and other 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

See Claim Lodgement Matrix (CLM).

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

• the date of lodgement of a claim for an Australian payment in Slovenia to be used as the date of lodgement in Australia (Article 12.2)

Note: the date of lodgement of a claim for a Slovenian pension cannot be taken to be the date of lodgement for an Australian payment (there is no FP claim = AU claim provision in the Slovenian Agreement).

See Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements and Start Day (CLK) for coding purposes.

The Agreement allows:

• totalisation of periods of qualifying Australian residence and Slovenian periods of coverage 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 Slovenian periods of coverage to be considered to be continuous to meet any continuous residence requirement to claim an Australian pension (Policy)

Notes:

• Overlapping Australian residence and Slovenian periods of coverage are only counted once (Article 8.2)
• Policy advice is that adjoining periods of Australian qualifying residence and Slovenian periods of coverage, with a break of up to 3 months in between, can also be considered to be continuous

Slovenian periods of coverage is defined as periods of contribution paid by employers on behalf of employees, or any other period that is taken into account by the Institute of Pension and Disability Insurance for Slovenian pension purposes, as certified by the Slovenian authorities. May also include deemed periods for child rearing and military service.

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 8.3(a)). Note: unlike WLR for rate, this period cannot be rounded.

No minimum WLR is required if the person is an Australian resident at the date of lodgement (Article 8.3(b)).

The Agreement allows the ongoing residence requirement for DSP to be met if the customer continues to reside in Slovenia (Article 5).

The Agreement with Slovenia (Article 9.1) refers to the overall rate calculation contained in the Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999 (S12(1)).

This means:

• customers paid under the Agreement who are outside Australia are paid a proportional rate according to their Australian Working Life Residence (WLR)
• the Rate Limiter/Limited Rate applies, and
• additional child amounts are included in the proportional rate. These amounts are paid automatically as a component of the Australian pension if the customer is qualified (S14A SS(IA)A 1999)

The Agreement with Slovenia does not include the proportionalisation of any Slovenian pension in the income test (Randisi concession)

Although a person may be qualified for an Australian payment or portable outside Australia, if the customer has no WLR the rate of payment outside Australia will be nil.

Note: in some circumstances their partner's WLR may be used. See Working Life Residence (WLR).

When a person is paid a proportional rate under an agreement, Rent Assistance (RA) cannot be paid. Other add-ons such as Energy Supplement and Pension Supplement are payable under normal add-ons portability rules. See Portability of Add-ons.

Examples of when a customer is paid a proportional rate includes (but not limited to):

• permanently overseas
• temporarily overseas longer than 26 weeks for age pension
• former resident transferring to the agreement for portability

Returns to Australia

The proportional rate continues to apply for the first 26 weeks of a temporary return to Australia (Article 9.2).

If there is no change to the country of residence, any movement is considered temporary and a review is set to automatically change the rate after a continuous period of 26 weeks. If a delegate determines that a person has changed their country of residence, coding the Country of Residence (CRES) screen will automatically apply the correct rate calculation.

For returns to Australia before 9 June 2018, manually code the Temporary Return to Aust Ind on the Residence Savings (RSS) screen.

Customers in Australia under the Agreement are paid a direct deduction rate (Article 9.3). That is, all Slovenian payments covered by the Agreement, including social welfare payments, are not assessed as income but will be deducted dollar-for-dollar from the maximum rate of the Australian payment before the application of the income or assets test.

Departures from Australia

The inside Australia rate continues to be paid for the first 26 weeks of a temporary departure from Australia (Article 9.4).

Payments exempt under the Agreement are generally exempt for autonomous customers (section 8(8) (zc) Social Security Act 1991).

See Assessment and exempt payments on the Belgian payments tab.

Under the Agreement, provided the customer remains qualified, Australian payments are payable indefinitely in both countries, that is, for temporary or permanent absences (Article 5.1).

Portability to third countries for a customer paid under the Agreement is the same as for an autonomous customer leaving Australia (Article 5.3 and 5.5). See Portability of payments.

If necessary, a customer in receipt of an autonomous payment covered by the Agreement may be able to transfer to the Agreement if they are in Slovenia when their normal portability period expires. The portability under the Agreement then applies, see Portability.

Note: the customer must meet the transfer requirements and satisfy any payment specific requirements under the Agreement, for example, being severely disabled for DSP.

Once a customer transfers to the Agreement, they are then considered to be paid by virtue of the Agreement and all provisions of the agreement apply, including rate of payment. See Rate Calculation.

See Transfers to international social security agreements.

A person who has sufficient Australian qualifying residence (or an exemption) can only transfer from the Agreement to autonomous 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.

Customers who transfer to autonomous may be affected by the former resident provisions if they leave Australia again within 2 years of becoming an Australian resident. See Former resident provisions.

For Australian payments made into bank accounts outside Australia. See Overseas Bank Account Details (OBAD).

• Starostna Pokojnina - Old Age Pension (AGE)
• Delna Pokojnina - Partial Pension
• Državna Pokojnina - State Pension
• Invalidska Pokojnina - Disability Pension (INV)
• Družinska pokojnina - Survivor Pension (SUR)
• Vdovska (Widow/er)
• Otroci (Orphan)
• Starši (Parent)
• Bratje/sestre (Brother/sister)

• Letni Dodatek - Holiday allowance
• Varstveni dodatek/Varstvenega dodatka - Supplementary allowance
• Odpravnina/Oskrbnina - Severance/Maintenance
• Dodatka/Dodatek za pomoč in postrežbo - Attendance allowance
• Invalidnina/e - Disability allowance

Notes:

• Minimum (Najnižja) and maximum (Najvišja) pensions apply.
• Proportional Slovenian pensions are paid to customers who cannot qualify under autonomous Slovenian rules. In this case, the numerator used represents their Slovenian insurance periods of coverage and the denominator the combined total of Slovenian insurance periods of coverage and Australian Working Life Residence
• The holiday allowance (Letni Dodatek) is an annual amount which is determined by the total income of the customer and which may be proportionalised. The holiday allowance amount may not be provided on the Slovenian Notice of Grant, liaison or pension certificate. Additional information on the annual amounts of Slovenian holiday allowance is available for staff in International Services through International Services (CIS). See Resources for a link

The requirement to claim Slovenian pensions applies to Slovenian AGE, INV and SUR.

Note: the requirement to claim SUR only applies to widows/ers.

Customers may voluntarily claim SUR for other family members using the SUR claim pack. See Claim forms and processes on the Australian payments tab.

The Eligibility and coding tab contains detailed information on Slovenian payments that are subject to CFP legislation.

Claim packs available: AGE, INV and SUR.

Claim packs for Slovenian payments can be issued through the Foreign Pension System (FPS).

Specific requirements for Slovenian claims

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

All claims:

• proof of birth
• proof of citizenship, for example, passport
• Slovenian Tax Number (Davčne številke), see the Double coverage/Taxation and Healthcare on the General information tab for Slovenian Tax Numbers

AGE only

• SLOVENIAN OLD-AGE PENSION CLAIM - ZAHTEVEK ZA SLOVENSKO STAROSTNO POKOJNINO (AUS/SI2)

INV only

• SLOVENIAN DISABILITY PENSION CLAIM - ZAHTEVEK ΖΑ SLOVENSKO INV ALIDSKO POKOJNINO (AUS/SI3)

SUR only

• SLOVENIAN WIDOW'S/WIDOWER'S - SURVIVOR'S PENSION CLAIM - ZAHTEVEK ZA SLOVENSKO VDOVSKO - DRUŽINSKO POKOJNINO (AUS/SI4)
• Marriage/Death certificate
• Birth Certificate for dependent children (if applicable)

Requests for Additional Information

Where information provided with the claim for Slovenian pension is incomplete, Slovenia will send requests for information in Slovenian direct to customers.

Return of foreign pension claim

Under the Administrative Arrangements, Slovenian forms can be lodged in Australia at any service centre.

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

International Services (CIS) only

CIS will complete the following and attach to the foreign pension claim to send to the agreement country. See Agreement Liaison Detail (ALD) for method of transmission.

All claims

Australia/Slovenia Agreement on Social Security - Liaison Form (AUS187SL)

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

INV only:

• Detailed Medical Report (E213), see Foreign pension medical assessments
• Copy of existing Australian medical information

Enquiries regarding claims for Slovenian payments in Slovenia or a third country should be directed to the Slovenian social security authorities. See the Authorities, Institutions and Liaison Agencies on the General information tab.

Slovenian payments may be paid by direct deposit in Australia.

Any queries about the non-payment of Slovenian pension should be directed to the Slovenian pension authorities, see the Authorities, Institutions and Liaison Agencies on the General information tab.

Customers receive 12 regular monthly payments and an annual holiday allowance (Letni Dodatek) which is received as an additional lump sum amount, generally in July.

Coded as Freq: 'MTH'. See Coding - General information for more information.

Payments are made in AU dollars. However, foreign income must be recorded in source currency (Euro). Official statements provide the foreign currency amounts.

Note: amounts recorded in source currency on the Foreign Pension Details (FPD) screen must not be changed to the AU dollar amount.

Slovenian payments are generally increased (usklajevanja/uskladitev pokojnin) for cost of living (CPI) on or after January and September each year.

Note: increases may be paid in the months following January and September.

For more information on bulk exchanges of information with other countries, see International Data Exchange Program and auto-indexation of foreign pensions.

Slovenian AGE/INV/SUR are:

• ordinary income in all cases except direct deduction if paid under the Agreement in Australia (Article 9.3)

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

Note: the 26 week temporary departure and return provisions apply (Article 9.2 and 9.4)

See Other known payments.

Amounts that are treated as a direct deduction under an agreement are exempt from the income test (section 8(8)(zc) Social Security Act 1991).

Note: payments that are exempt from the income test are included in a direct deduction rate, for example, under an agreement rate calculation or for Special Benefit.

There are no exempt payments under the Agreement with Slovenia, however, payments may be exempt under the Social Security Act. See Other known payments.

The Eligibility and coding tab contains detailed information on the coding of Slovenian payments covered by the Agreement that are subject to CFP legislation.

The holiday allowance must be calculated before being coded. To calculate the holiday allowance:

• Combine all income, including Slovenian, Australian and third country pensions, plus any other income amounts
• Using this value, determine the ‘base’ rate of Slovenian holiday allowance that is payable using the Slovenian Holiday Allowance Summary (see Resources for instructions on accessing the Summary)
• Proportionalise the holiday allowance amount using the same proportion as Slovenia apply to the base rate of payment, where the base rate of payment is proportionalised
• Divide this proportionalised amount by 12

The Agreement includes embargo provisions (Article 13.2) but they are not used.

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

Note: where an arrears period is not provided, the arrears period end date can be assumed to be the end of the month prior to the date on the notice.

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

Life Certificates (POTRDILO O ŽIVETJU) are issued by Slovenia each year.

Slovenian Life Certificates can be certified by an officer of Services Australia.

For general information about helping customers with life certificates, see Assisting customers to maintain an existing foreign pension.

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

Payments into Australia are paid in AU dollars, however, all foreign pensions must be recorded in the source currency (Euro). Official statements provide the foreign currency amounts.

Note: amounts recorded in source currency on the FPD screen must not be changed to the AU dollar amount.

Slovenia may pay compensation (odškodnina) for National Socialist (Nazi) persecution under:

• Zakona o popravi krivic (ZPKri-UPB2), or
• Zakon o plačilu odškodnine žrtvam vojnega in povojnega nasilja (ZSPOZ-UPB2)

Note: this payment may be paid for reasons other than Nazi persecution.

Assessment

Compensation (odškodnina) for:

• Nazi persecution is exempt from the income test for all purposes under s8(8)(n) Social Security Act 1991
• other reasons are assessed as ordinary income

Coding: ongoing payments are coded as Type: 'RSP' on the FPD screen in the Exempt restitution: or Assessable restitution: fields as appropriate.

For assistance with coding other generic benefits paid by the Slovenian Government (including by funds not covered by the Agreement), see Foreign pension coding.

For assistance with any other income received from Slovenia, see Foreign income and assets.