What is the Social Protection Fund?

The Social Protection Fund is a significant state body that supports citizens in various life situations. The Fund is formed from the funds of employers and taxpayers unrelated to employers. In the rapidly developing IT sector, understanding the functions and capabilities of this Fund becomes particularly relevant. In this article, we will look at the critical aspects related to the activities of the Social Protection Fund and offer information that will be useful for employees of IT companies and IT specialists-freelancers in their professional activities and in planning personal finances.

What kind of organization is the Social Protection Fund, and what does it do?

The Social Protection Fund belongs to Belarus’s Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The Fund is a separate legal entity that budgetary funds support. In some instances, the Fund combines mandatory contributions from companies and individuals and some other funds for subsequent support of individuals.

What kind of money is the Social Protection Fund formed from?

The Social Protection Fund combines the funds of the state social insurance fund. These funds include mandatory payments made by Belarusian companies, individual entrepreneurs, and self-employed professional income taxpayers:
Mandatory insurance premiums include those currently included in the professional income tax.
Company contributions to professional pension insurance.
The Fund also includes money that it can collect from companies and other entities. This applies to:

• Pensions and benefits that the Foundation paid to individuals (their heirs) who were harmed in the workplace due to the employer’s or other persons’ fault.
• Non-paid amounts of mandatory insurance premiums within the established period.

State social insurance funds are the property of the State and cannot be confiscated or seized. Money held in the Social Protection Fund’s bank account is not subject to taxes.

What payments does the Social Protection Fund make?

From the money that employers and professional income taxpayers transfer to the Social Protection Fund, as well as from those that the Fund collects from non-payers of mandatory contributions and those who cause harm in the workplace, the Fund makes various payments in favor of individuals who are entitled to financial support from the State. 

For example, state pensions and various benefits are paid out of the money that is in the Social Protection Fund.

Pensions

The following payments are made at the expense of the Social Protection Fund:

• Labor and professional pensions. Let’s explain that professional pensions are pensions for work with exceptional working conditions: dangerous, harmful, the list of such works is defined). Labour pensions are awarded when the retirement age has come, and there is a certain length of work experience – insurance experience (these are the periods for which contributions to the Social Protection Fund were paid for a specific individual).
• Pensions for special services to the State to the extent that such pensions correspond to the size of a regular retirement.
• Survivor’s pensions, disability pensions, and social pensions.

Benefits

State benefits are paid from the Fund for illness (temporary disability allowance), pregnancy and childbirth care, children up to three, and funeral allowances.

If an IT employee has a native or adopted disabled child under the age of 18 or is a guardian (trustee) of such a child, he/she is entitled to one day off work per week, paid at the expense of the Social Protection Fund. Such a day can be obtained by applying to the employer.

Health benefits

The Fund, wholly or partially (for the population affected by the Chernobyl disaster), finances the rehabilitation of the population. To receive funding, employees apply to their own company or the territorial branch of the Republican Center for Health Improvement and Spa Treatment, while self-employed professional income taxpayers and individual entrepreneurs who are not employed apply to the territorial branch of the Republican Center.

Assistance to citizens in need

The Social Protection Fund can provide financial assistance to disabled people in need, including old-age pensioners and disabled people who cannot work and receive state pensions.

How much do we pay?

It is helpful to know how the payment of mandatory insurance premiums is distributed between the employer (employer) and the employee, as well as how individual entrepreneurs and professional income taxpayers pay contributions to the Social Protection Fund. 

Separately defined is the percentage of income deducted from pension and social insurance contributions, although contributions are paid in one payment. The total percentage of contributions to the Fund is 35% of income.

Who is not required to pay contributions to the Social Protection Fund?

Persons who receive pensions and child care benefits until they reach the age of three or receive full-time education are not required to pay contributions but can do so at will.

Hiring and freelancing

Mandatory contributions to pension insurance companies pay at the rate of 28% of the salary fund, and companies deduct 1% from the income of employees and individuals who are attracted under civil law contracts.
Companies pay 6% for social insurance.

Independent contribution payers

Individual entrepreneurs must pay 29% of their income to the Social Protection Fund and 6% to social insurance. IT specialists who belong to individual entrepreneurs and simultaneously work for hire should also contribute to the Social Protection Fund from their income from business activities.

There is still a special feature for individual entrepreneurs: they can pay contributions in advance based on the minimum wage for the year and then recalculate based on the periods of actual work. 

Individual entrepreneurs must register in the personal account of the payer of contributions on the Social Protection Fund website and submit an electronic report PU-3 by March 31, 2025, to confirm the periods in which they received and did not receive income.

Professional income taxpayers contribute to the Social Protection Fund for pension insurance as part of the amount of this tax. They do not need to submit reports to the Federal Tax Service.

How to get an allowance, pension, or assistance

The primary condition for receiving money is that an individual pay contributions to this Fund. It does not matter who paid the contributions—the company or the specialist himself, as an individual entrepreneur or a professional income taxpayer, or at his request.

The main rule for receiving financial assistance is to write an appropriate application and submit it to the territorial branch of the Fund at the place of residence. This rule applies to IT professionals who do not have an employer and pay NAPS or work as freelancers (under contract agreements and similar civil law contracts). 

To receive a funeral allowance, the recipient’s employment does not matter, but it is important that the deceased loved one was employed in the economy and received a salary or pension.

Working IT professionals can consult with the company’s accountant. To receive payments for temporary disability, pregnancy and childbirth, and child care fees, working professionals apply to the employer with appropriate supporting documents. The employer makes payments from the Fund to such employees.

How to find out information about your contributions to the Social Protection Fund

The payment of insurance premiums and the time they are paid directly affect the possibility of receiving benefits and an old-age pension.

Suppose you are not sure that the employer or employer will pay contributions to the Social Protection Fund. In that case, you can contact the territorial department at your residence and write an application with a corresponding request about the period of payment of insurance premiums.

You can also download the mobile app to learn about your insurance experience and contributions to the Social Protection Fund. This requires personal data. The app lets you know the details of your insurance certificate and the amount of mandatory insurance premiums paid for specific periods. The caveat is that these amounts are displayed from January 1, 2013. However, information about the insurance experience (the period for which contributions to the Fund were paid for a specialist) can be found starting from January 1, 2003.

What insurance experience is needed for retirement

In 2024, the insurance experience will be 19 years and six months; from 2025 onwards, it will be 20 years. The insurance record includes urgent military service after January 1, 2020, and military service before 01.01.2020 is not included in the insurance record. Also, the insurance period does not include time spent studying in full-time departments of educational institutions, caring for children, or receiving unemployment benefits.
Of course, you cannot retire before the specialist has reached the general retirement age: 63 for men and 58 for women. But it is important to understand that by this age, you need a certain insurance experience.

What happens when you either don’t pay your social security contributions for yourself

If the IT specialist has periods when income was earned but mandatory insurance premiums were not paid, the Social Protection Fund can collect these amounts. The Fund will calculate the amounts to be collected, and penalties will be charged to them. The debts can be collected undisputed, without trial, with the help of an executive inscription of a notary.
Suppose the amount of unpaid contributions is more than 20 basic units (400 Belarusian rubles). In that case, the fine for employers—heads of companies and individual entrepreneurs—is from 2 to 20 basic units (from 80 to 400 Belarusian rubles). An entrepreneur who has not paid contributions to the Fund for himself will not be fined.
There is also a fine for late submission of necessary reports to the Fund – up to 20 basic units.
Unfortunately, fines will not restore your insurance experience. Still, the collected contribution amounts may restore your insurance experience if you were employed. The employer did not pay the insurance premiums collected by the Social Protection Fund.