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Self-employed Spouses the procedures for implementing the specific mechanism for the purchase, within the framework of the basic old-age insurance for the self-employed, of periods of activity exercised as collaborating spouses of craftsmen, industrialists and traders as well as of liberal professions, including lawyers, have been clarified by decree no. 2012-1034 dated September 7, 2012 .
Clarification of the procedures for purchasing periods of activity under the old-age insurance for the self-employed: –
This buy-back mechanism had been opened to the spouses of corporate officers by law no. employee, employee spouse or partner spouse) but also, in the event of an option for the status of employee spouse, their compulsory and personal affiliation to the autonomous body old-age insurance to which the business manager was affiliated. The rules for buying back contributions applicable to the collaborating spouse, then voluntarily insured, were repealed on this occasion. They were therefore offered to buy back, subject to participation in the company’s activity, within the limit of 6 years of activity and until December 31, 2020,
However, the effective implementation of this repurchase option remained subject to the publication of the expected regulatory measures. The decree of September 7, 2012, which now allows its effective application, provides for the same procedures for submitting the request, calculating the amount of contributions due, payment and taking them into account by the old-age insurance as for the purchase of years of incomplete activity, subject to the following specificities: – the applicant, whether or not he/she has the status of collaborating spouse on the date of presentation of his/her application, must be at least 20 years old and less than 67 years old ;
– he must not have liquidated his retirement pension from the old-age insurance scheme, as the case may be, for craft, industrial and commercial professions, liberal professions or lawyers;
– the law limiting redemption to 6 years, he must not have already obtained compensation for previous claims of 24 quarters of insurance;
– the redemption request must be submitted by December 31, 2020 at the latest.
For collaborating spouses of lawyers, the request must be sent to the CNBF, which rules on the request within 2 months. In the absence of a response within this period of receipt of the request, it is deemed to be rejected.
In the event of an admission decision by the faculty of payment, this is then notified to the candidate; it indicates the number of quarters for which it is authorized to contribute during each calendar year where the periods for which it requests to be taken into account fall, the amount of the payment corresponding to 1 quarter and the total amount of the payment corresponding to the number of semesters selected.
Implications and benefits for collaborating spouses in various professions:-
If the payment is made in principle in one go, the applicant can also request the monthly staggering of the payments, subject to an increased amount of the contributions.
Finally, it should be noted that the possibility is open, for the collaborating spouse of the head of a craft or commercial business, to calculate his contributions, with the agreement of the head of the business, on a fraction of the professional income of the latter, which is then deducted from its contribution base. In this case, the income serving as the basis for calculating the pension is determined by taking into account only the contributions paid during these years.
