Caution Riester pension: Reclaiming the allowance from family members?
Family penalty – lack of social security check?
Only when the benefit case occurs, as is the case with unemployment insurance, do the authorities check. Family members who are not subject to compulsory insurance do not receive unemployment benefit. In the case of the Riester contract, there is also de facto no check – employment in the family business can later lead to the finding that the Riester allowances were granted “wrongly” – they are claimed back by the state.
Family discrimination – inadequate state protection ?
“Marriage and family are under the special protection of the state order” is stated in Article 6 of the Basic Law. Then the citizen should also be able to expect that his so-called social security status is checked ex officio. After all, protection against unemployment or poverty in old age concerns existential risks.
Family advice – liability trap for tax advisors and insurance intermediaries ?
Few tax advisors are aware that social security status must be checked regularly. Few insurance brokers know that the status can change from year to year. Insurance broker Hermann Siebenhaar, Neutraubling, knows the problem “When brokering Riester contracts, the safest route must be taken. Therefore, a status determination procedure is always necessary.” The applications for Riester subsidies/permanent allowance applications even point out the punishability of false statements. But company audits do not create legal certainty in this regard. The missing examination ex officio can criminalize families concerned also unnecessarily? Who is to make the annually necessary examination with over approx. over 5 million Riester contracts? The permanent allowance application is certainly not particularly helpful. If the Riester contract was brokered on the false premise of an alleged allowance, the citizen can regularly claim damages from the broker as well as the insurance company. According to the legal regulation, the family member concerned first bears the cost risk of the reversal.
Family trap – statute of limitations cements legal wrongs?
Numerous family members have already experienced that an employment office refused the benefits of insolvency and unemployment benefits: On (further) application there were then only the contributions of the last four years refunded – the rest one could sue perhaps with the tax adviser as liability case, because usually the remainder was barred by the statute of limitations. The insurance intermediaries are also liable for Riester brokerage, but for a maximum of 10 years, after which the statute of limitations expires: If the status check takes place later, the collaborating family member will probably be left sitting on a loss, the statute-barred claim for repayment of the state allowance subsidy. The question remains whether this legal regulation “has a system, the pension damage is pre-programmed, so to speak, and what this has to do with the protection of “marriage and family?
(Taxes + Law 1/2007, 5)
Courtesy ofwww.Kolloss.de.
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Dr. Johannes FialaPhD, MBA, MM
Dr. Johannes Fiala has been working for more than 25 years as a lawyer and attorney with his own law firm in Munich. He is intensively involved in real estate, financial law, tax and insurance law. The numerous stages of his professional career enable him to provide his clients with comprehensive advice and to act as a lawyer in the event of disputes.
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