Sending a question to the Social Insurance agency, reader T.K asked: "I would like to ask, what is the difference between compulsory social insurance (BHXH) and voluntary social insurance? If I pay voluntary social insurance, am I entitled to payment for compulsory social insurance that I participated in 1 year before?".
Vietnam Social Security answers this question as follows:
According to the provisions of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance, social insurance is a type of social insurance organized by the State (including both compulsory and voluntary social insurance), however, compulsory social insurance and voluntary social insurance have different regulations as follows:
Participants
- Subjects participating in compulsory social insurance are specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3, Article 2 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance and employees and employers who are subject to compulsory social insurance must participate.
- Subjects participating in voluntary social insurance are Vietnamese citizens aged 15 and over, not subject to compulsory social insurance participation, not people who are receiving pensions, social insurance allowances, monthly allowances and are specified in Clause 4, Article 2 of the 2024 Social Insurance Law.
Social insurance regimes
- According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 4 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance, compulsory social insurance has the following regimes: sickness; maternity; pension; death; occupational accident and disease insurance according to the provisions of the Law on Occupational Safety and Health.
- According to Clause 3, Article 4 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance, voluntary social insurance has the following regimes: maternity allowance; pension; death benefits; occupational accident insurance according to the provisions of the Law on Occupational Safety and Health.
Base for social insurance contributions
- According to Clause 1, Article 31 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance, the salary used as a basis for compulsory social insurance contributions is regulated as follows:
Employees who are subject to the state-regulated salary regime, the salary used as a basis for social insurance contributions is the monthly salary according to position, title, rank, grade, military rank and position allowances, seniority allowances beyond the frame, professional seniority allowances, salary reserve difference coefficients (if any);
Employees who are subject to the salary regime decided by the employer, the salary used as a basis for compulsory social insurance contributions is the monthly salary, including the salary level according to the job or title, salary allowances and other supplements agreed to be paid regularly and stably in each salary payment period.
The salary used as a basis for compulsory social insurance contributions is at least equal to the reference level and at most equal to 20 times the reference level at the time of contribution.
According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 31 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance, the income used as a basis for voluntary social insurance contributions is at least equal to the poverty line standard of rural areas and at most equal to 20 times the reference level at the time of contribution.
Social insurance contribution rate
According to the provisions of Article 32 of the 2024 Social Insurance Law, the specific social insurance contribution rate is as follows:
- The compulsory social insurance contribution rate includes: 3% of salary as the basis for social insurance contributions to the sickness and maternity fund; 22% of salary as the basis for social insurance contributions to the pension and survivorship fund.
- The voluntary social insurance contribution rate is equal to 22% of the income used as the basis for contributing social insurance to the pension and survivorship fund.
Mr. T.K can find and study the 2024 Law on Social Insurance; Law on Occupational Safety and Health, Law on Employment, Law on Health Insurance and guiding documents for more details.
Period of compulsory and voluntary social insurance participation
Clause 6, Article 3 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance stipulates that the social insurance contribution period is the total period of compulsory social insurance and voluntary social insurance contributions according to the provisions of this Law, except for cases where international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member have other regulations.
Based on the above regulations, in case Mr. T.K has time participating in social insurance (compulsory social insurance or voluntary social insurance), the time he has participated in social insurance (being preserved for social insurance contribution time) will be added to the time he is participating in social insurance to calculate social insurance benefits when he meets the conditions and has requirements according to the provisions of the 2024 Social Insurance Law.
