In the email sent to the Legal Consulting section of Lao Dong Newspaper, a reader Tranvanminhxxx@gmail asked: I am male, born in June 1964, and retirement age in September 2025. I have paid social insurance for 10 years and 10 months and have been unemployed since 2023. Can I pay social insurance at one time for the remaining years to receive a pension?
This is not the only case of asking about this issue. At the business dialogue conference in May 2025 on new points and changes in social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance policies organized by Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance (now Social Insurance of Region XXVII), there were also cases of questioning, if employees are old enough to retire but have only paid social insurance for 9 years, can they pay social insurance at one time for the remaining years to receive pension immediately?
According to the provisions of the Social Insurance Law 2014 (effective until June 30, 2025) and related legal documents, people who are old enough to retire but still have a maximum of no more than 10 years of social insurance contributions can pay voluntary social insurance one time for the remaining years to meet the conditions for the minimum number of years of social insurance contributions (20 years) to receive pension immediately.
With this regulation, the first case will be eligible to pay social insurance at one time for the remaining years to receive pension immediately, while the second case will not be eligible.
However, from July 1, 2025, when the Social Insurance Law 2024 takes effect, the minimum social insurance payment period to receive pension has been reduced to only 15 years. Thus, if the regulation allows people who are old enough to retire to pay social insurance one time for the remaining years (maximum 10 years) to meet the conditions for the minimum number of years of social insurance contributions (15 years) to receive pension immediately, both cases can be applied.
Although the Social Insurance Law 2024 has stipulated that employees can pay one-time social insurance for the remaining social insurance payment period to be eligible for pension, up to now, there has not been a guiding decree, so the Social Insurance agency does not know how to implement it.
Lawyer Le Trong San - Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association - said that in practice, when applying the above regulation, tens of thousands of people have received pensions, contributing to ensuring social security.
"It is necessary to soon have instructions on allowing people of retirement age to pay social insurance at one time for the remaining years to meet the conditions for the minimum number of years of social insurance contributions (15 years) to receive immediate pension" - lawyer San suggested.
According to Point m, Clause 1, Article 2 of the Social Insurance Law 2024, business owners of business households registered to participate in business according to Government regulations are subjects that must participate in compulsory social insurance.
According to the Social Insurance of the XXVII region, currently, Ho Chi Minh City alone has over 200,000 business households, which is a very large number. However, these business households belong to many types (paying taxes according to the declaration method, paying contract tax...). Although from June 1, there have been regulations to remove contract tax for business households with large annual revenue (from 1 billion VND or more - PV), there are no instructions on which types of business owners must pay compulsory social insurance and the social insurance agency must also wait for specific instructions.
