Ministry of Health and Welfare proposes amendment to National Pension Act enforcement decree; unintentional late filers to receive lower interest rate

[123RF]
[123RF]

People caught fraudulently collecting survivors' pension benefits will face higher interest rates on clawback amounts, while those who filed late without intent to deceive will be subject to a lower rate under a proposed rule change.

According to a proposed amendment to the National Pension Act enforcement decree announced Tuesday, the interest rate applied to clawbacks will be strengthened for those who continued to receive survivors' pension benefits through false or fraudulent means after losing inheritance rights.

Cases of fraudulent collection include concealing the death of a pension recipient while family members continue to receive payments, hiding a remarriage — including a common-law union — by a surviving spouse receiving survivors' pension benefits, and filing false documents or misrepresenting dependent relationships to claim pension payments.

For such cases, the clawback amount will be calculated using whichever is higher between the average one-year and three-year fixed deposit interest rates at commercial banks.

Previously, the three-year fixed deposit rate was applied uniformly across all cases. The change allows the higher of the two rates to be used, strengthening sanctions against fraudulent recipients.

By contrast, a lower interest rate will apply when a recipient collected excess pension payments simply because they failed to report a loss of inheritance rights on time.

In cases without intent — such as late reporting of a loss of inheritance rights — the lower of the one-year and three-year fixed deposit rates will apply. Overdue interest accruing after the clawback payment deadline will also be calculated at the lower rate to ease the financial burden on such recipients.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the amendment aims to clarify rules on interest surcharges when survivors' pension payments are clawed back following a confirmed loss of inheritance rights, and to prevent interest rate inversions depending on the reason for the clawback.

Meanwhile, the amendment also expands the list of institutions from which the National Pension Service can request benefit-eligibility data to carry out payment processing and entitlement verification.

The National Pension Service will be able to request relevant data from Korea Electric Power Corp. on electricity users, Korea Water Resources Corp. on water consumption, and city gas providers on gas users. It will also be able to request litigation records related to court rulings on loss of inheritance rights under the Family Litigation Act.


thlee@heraldcorp.com