People who devote years to their workplace usually plan for a comfortable retirement. For this reason, increasing the future pension while still working is crucial for many. In some cases, even if a worker covered by SSK, Emekli Sandığı, or Bağ-Kur has reached the required age and contribution period, missing premium payments can prevent retirement or result in a low pension. To avoid this, you can increase your pension by purchasing additional contribution periods while still employed. For insured female workers, purchasing maternity (birth) contribution periods can be an effective option. In this article, we answer the question: which birth dates make purchasing maternity contributions effective in raising your pension?
What Is Maternity (Birth) Contribution Purchase?
Maternity contribution purchase allows an insured woman to pay retroactive contributions to her social security institution for periods when she could not work due to pregnancy and childbirth. By doing so, she eliminates the disadvantage caused by unpaid premiums during that time.
Who Can Purchase Maternity Contributions?
Before 2014, only women insured under SSK could buy maternity contribution periods. However, with the omnibus law numbered 6552 that took effect on September 11, 2014, women insured under Emekli Sandığı and Bağ-Kur can also purchase maternity contribution periods. The maximum purchasable period is the same for all insured persons and is up to two years.
Conditions required for a woman to be eligible for maternity contribution purchase include:
- The woman must have been employed before the birth.
- No premiums must have been paid in her name during the post-birth period being claimed.
- Her child must have been alive during the period to be purchased.
If the child dies before the entire claimed period, contributions can be purchased up to the date of the child’s death.
Note that maternity contribution purchase can be applied for only up to three children born after the insured started working.
How to Apply for Maternity Contribution Purchase?
Since insurance procedures are handled by the institution to which each employee is affiliated, maternity contribution purchase applications are submitted to different institutions depending on the insured’s coverage. The application requires a written petition requesting maternity contribution purchase and a photocopy of the identity card. No additional documents are generally required.
- Women insured under Bağ-Kur must submit the petition and identity card copy to the Social Security Center or Provincial Directorate linked to their Bağ-Kur file.
- Women insured under SSK should submit the petition and identity card copy to the Social Security Center where their most recent service was recorded.
- Women insured under Emekli Sandığı should submit the petition and identity card copy to the SGK Social Insurances General Directorate, Insured Registration and Service Department (currently at Mithatpaşa Caddesi No:7 Sıhhıye/ANKARA).
How Much Does Maternity Contribution Purchase Cost?
As of January 1, 2016, contribution purchase rates were updated. The minimum daily purchase amount rose to 17.57 TL, and the maximum daily amount to 114.19 TL.
For maternity contribution purchase, the insured may choose a base between the minimum wage and 6.5 times the minimum wage (10,705 TL as of that adjustment), and the premium is calculated according to that choice. For one child, depending on the selected base, the total payment can range from a minimum to a maximum amount defined by the chosen daily rate and period.
Between Which Dates Does Purchasing Maternity Contributions Increase Your Pension?
Because of changing factors like workforce composition and reforms, the Social Security Institution periodically updates pension calculations and criteria. As a result, three people with identical records might receive different pensions if they started working in different periods—before 2000, between 2000–2008, or after 2008—due to reforms enacted in 2000 and 2008 that altered calculation methods.
Given these changing calculation rules, purchasing maternity contributions to increase your pension is effective only for births that occurred before 2000. If you gave birth before 2000, you can apply to your social security institution to purchase the corresponding maternity periods and potentially raise your pension. For births after 2000, purchased contributions are treated like regular premiums and therefore do not have a favorable effect on the pension calculation.