Application for early retirement without pay in 2026

You’re over 60 and five more years on the job sounds impossible? Are you unable to cope due to poor health or just want your well-deserved rest? One option is to apply for early retirement. In this article, we look at when you’re eligible to retire and how early retirement works and how it’s paid.

Deciding whether an early pension without a payout is worthwhile? As part of our pension legal advice, we will review your situation, the decision of the CSSA and any errors in the calculation.

Retirement conditions

The conditions for retirement are determined by the years of service before retirement and reaching a set age, which varies according to the year of birth.

Years of pensionable service

By years of pensionable service we mean the minimum period of payment of social insurance.

In addition to the time spent working or running a business and paying contributions, the required pension insurance period may also include periods of substitute insurance. These are periods when no contributions are paid but the law recognises them for pension purposes under certain conditions (e.g. study, parental leave, etc.) . Its length therefore depends on when you reach retirement age. It is determined as follows:

Year of birth and pension

Retirement age is not determined the same for everyone in the Czech Republic. It depends mainly on the date of birth, for some older people also on gender and for women on the number of children they have raised.

Born before 1936

In the case of a man born before 1936, the retirement age was set at 60. In the case of a woman born before 1936, it still depended on how many children she had raised:

• 53 if she had raised at least 5 children
• 54 if she had raised at least 3 or 4 children
• 55 if she had raised at least 2 children
• 56 years if she raised at least 1 child
• 57 years if she had raised no children

Born between 1936 and 1973

For persons born between 1936 and 1971, pensionable age is determined by the year and month of birth. During this period, the retirement age gradually increased. For women, the number of children brought up is still taken into account.

It is therefore not possible to determine the exact retirement age for these years on the basis of the year of birth alone. The month of birth, sex and, for women, the number of children brought up must also be taken into account. To find out exactly how the retirement age is determined, see the table on the Czech Social Security Administration website.

Births after 1973

For persons born after 1973, the retirement age is already unified regardless of gender and the number of children raised.

Under the pension reform, the retirement age will gradually increase from 2025. It is to rise by one month each year, depending on the year of birth, up to the upper limit of 67 years. The retirement age of 67 is to be reached by those born in 1989 and younger. However, there can be no guarantee that the retirement age will not increase over time.

How early retirement pension works and how it is paid

Early retirement is when a person retires before the standard retirement age. This depends on everyone’s date of birth, but is currently set at a maximum of 67 (see above). Early retirement is only available to those who meet the conditions set out in the Pensions Act. These conditions include:

1. Reaching a certain age: Early retirement is possible no earlier than three years before the standard retirement age. So if you are due to retire at 65, the earliest you can retire early is 62.
2. Payment of social security: To qualify for an early retirement pension, you must have at least 40 years of pensionable service from 1 October 2024. This includes not only periods of gainful employment on which contributions have been paid, but also, under the legal conditions, alternative periods of insurance, such as childcare or certain periods of registration with the employment office

However, in the case of early retirement, a substantial reduction in the pension paid must be taken into account. This reduction applies throughout your retirement, not just for the duration of your early retirement. You should therefore think carefully about this step.

Generally, for every 90 calendar days that passes between the award of the early pension and the retirement age, the pension percentage is reduced by 1.5% of the calculation base. From 2026, a more favourable rule applies for long-term workers who have acquired at least 45 years of insurance – the reduction is half.

Early retirement without pay and conditions

If you would like to avoid a pension cut but still want to retire early, there is a solution in the form of an early pension without payout. In this case, you apply for an early pension but not for a payout. You will therefore become a pensioner, but you can continue to work without restrictions. The conditions for calculating the pension will also be fixed and the amount of the pension will then be determined when it is paid out.

The conditions are the same as for an early retirement pension with payout – attaining a certain age and a minimum period of social insurance payments. The advantage is that the period of early retirement without payout counts towards your total period of social security payments. This is because the total period of social insurance is only added when you request the release of your pension payment.

How to apply for an early pension (without pay)

You can apply for a pension in two basic ways: in person at the Social Security Office or online via the CSSA ePortal. The online application is made using electronic identification, such as a bank identity, eCitizen or data box. The application can be submitted at the earliest four months before the desired date of pension award.

The application is usually accompanied by an ID card, or in the case of foreigners, a passport or residence permit, as well as documents that the CSSA does not have in its records – for example, documents on studies, documents on raising children, military service, employment abroad or replacement periods of insurance. If the pension is to be paid into a bank account, the relevant form certified by the bank must also be attached.

Example from our law practice

Our law firm was contacted by a client who wanted to apply for an early pension without payout because he was less than three years away from his regular pension but planned to continue working. However, he discovered from his personal pension certificate that he was missing several years from the 1990s when he worked for an employer that no longer exists. Because of this, it was uncertain whether he would meet the required period of insurance.

First, we went through his pension record, old employment contracts, a credit sheet and a certificate from his former employer. We then helped him prepare his documents for the CSSA and explained how the outcome would be different if he applied for an early pension with payout, without payout, or postponed the application for the time being.

Not sure if you have all the periods of insurance or if the Czech Social Security Agency calculated your pension differently than you expected? As part of our pension legal advice, we will go through the decision, the recording of insurance periods and the options for defence. We can also help with objections to the CSSA’s decision if the calculation is incorrect or missing important periods.

Summary

An early pension without payout can be a useful solution for people who already meet the conditions for an early retirement pension but do not yet want to stop working. It allows you to have your pension vested but defer payment until later. This allows you to continue paying social security contributions and in some cases to influence the final pension amount.

However, particular attention needs to be paid to the length of the pension, the rules on curtailment and the correct timing of the claim. It is also important to check whether the Social Security Agency has all your working periods, substitute periods of insurance or work abroad. If any periods are missing, this can affect not only your pension entitlement but also the amount of your pension.

Before you apply, it is worth checking your personal pension certificate, the necessary documents and whether it is better for you to take an early pension with or without pay, or to continue working without applying for a pension. In cases that are disputed or unclear, we recommend that you have the CSSA’s decision legally checked.