Those who are not working in any job and do not have another form of insurance coverage under the Social Security Institution—meaning they are not employees, civil servants, tradespeople or farmers—must enroll in voluntary insurance to access social security rights. However, if contributions for voluntary insurance are not paid regularly, the insured periods can be lost.
Voluntary Insurance Possibility
Before the social security reform that took effect in 2008, voluntary insurance schemes existed separately under three institutions (SSK, Emekli Sandığı and Bağkur). With the 2008 restructuring, these three institutions were merged and the voluntary insurance category was consolidated into a single form. The legal framework for voluntary insurance is now governed by Law No. 5510, specifically articles 50, 51 and 52. Today, voluntary insured persons must meet certain conditions, and failure to observe these requirements can lead to negative consequences for their voluntary insurance status.
Contributions Must Be Paid Regularly
One of the most important conditions for voluntary insurance is that contributions must be paid on time. Like other types of insurance, contributions for voluntary insurance must be paid in full by the end of the month following each insured month. Unless the insured has opted for a higher declared earnings base, the contribution amount is calculated as 32% of the gross minimum wage. Another key point is that voluntary insured persons are eligible to receive healthcare services; however, outstanding contribution debts will block access to those health services.
Under the provisions of Law No. 5510, voluntary insured persons must pay their contributions, together with the delay interest and penalties determined under Article 89, within 12 months from the month to which the contributions belong. If contributions are not paid within this period, the unpaid months are not counted toward the insured period. Consequently, any months for which more than 12 months have elapsed since the due date are removed from the insured period. In practice, people who have not paid voluntary contributions for many years and later try to pay them in a lump sum can at most pay for up to 13 months including the current month; months that exceed the allowable lapse cannot be reinstated even if they attempt to pay. Therefore, simply registering as a voluntary insured person should not create a false sense of security. If there are gaps longer than 13 months, those periods will not contribute toward retirement eligibility, and the Social Security Institution will treat them as lost time that must be completed in the normal course of contributions.
Interest Accrues on Unpaid Contributions
The Social Security Institution applies interest and penalties to unpaid voluntary insurance contributions. As with other insurance categories, if a voluntary insurance contribution for any month is not paid by the end of the following month, a late penalty of 3% per month is charged for the first three months, and from the date the payment period expires a monthly delay interest (late payment increase) is applied until the debt is cleared. The later contributions are paid, the higher the total voluntary insurance debt becomes.