Warning for Croatian Pension Recipients Abroad

The Croatian Institute for Pension Insurance will cease making pension payments from November to those pensioners who do not submit their national identification number (OIB), Croatia’s Minister of Labour and Pension System Mirando Mrsić announced on Wednesday.

The Tax Authority issued personal identification number recently replaced the old Unique Master Citizen Number (JMBG), and the Ministry claim that thousands of pensioners will have their pensions stopped because of a refusal to supply OIB details, despite notifications of the new rule. So far 5,400 pensioners who have a registered address in Croatia have failed to supply their OIB, whilst 48,000 pensioners living abroad are also yet to submit their details. Of the pensioners living abroad who at this stage will have their payments stopped, 18,000 are from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, whilst the remaining 30,000 live in the US, Austria, Canada, Australia and other countries around the world, reports daily Vecernji list. OIB numbers are given to all Croatia citizens and can be obtained by those living abroad who receive pension payments from Croatia.

Also on Wednesday, the Minister of Labour and Pension System announced that those pensioners who received their payments in the post would now have to pay for the service. The Ministry will cease paying pensions via the postal service, which they claim costs around 13 million euro a year, and the 190,000 pensioners who receive their payments this way will now have to open up an account at the bank which the payments can be paid into. If someone refuses to provide an account then they will cover the costs of the postal delivery.