Under Icelandic law all workers between the ages of 16 and 70 need to pay into a pension fund. This guarantees a lifelong pension in retirement and disability pension, spouse’s pension and children’s pension.

All workers between the ages of 16 and 70 pay 4% of their salaries into a pension fund and their employer makes an additional contribution of 11.5% Normally, the employer is responsible for paying into the pension fund, so that the employee does not need to worry about it. The pension fund you should pay into is stipulated in your employment and union agreement. Some people can choose their pension fund, and if so, you should choose carefully as the funds differ in structure.

A contribution paid into a pension fund represents at least 15.5% of salaries and is divided into 4% contribution from the employee and 11.5% from the employer. Contributions are tax deductible which means that less tax is paid than otherwise would be the case. Contributions are therefore deducted from the employee’s salary before income tax is calculated. However, when payments from the pension fund commence, they are taxed as earnings. The amount of pension payments depends on how much has been paid during the fund member’s working life.

Co-insurance means that fund members guarantee each other a pension and other types of pensions in the event of disability or death. This guarantees a lifelong pension in retirement and disability pension, spouse’s pension and children’s pension.

If certain conditions are met, the fund member can receive a disability pension if they lose the capacity to work, and a children’s pension due to disability. In the event of death, the spouse of the fund member receives a spouse’s pension, and their children receive a children’s pension until the age of 18 if certain conditions are met. It takes three years to gain projected rights, which are the rights which the fund member would have gained had they continued to pay into the fund.

By paying into a pension, we acquire rights. These are rights to a retirement pension, disability pension, spouse’s pension and children’s pension. How many rights you earn depends on how much you paid into the fund during your working life and how the fund has invested over the long term. In addition, certain demographic factors have an effect, such as the gender composition and how much a fund is paying out in disability pensions.

No, pension funds can vary greatly. Some funds have mandatory membership, which means you have to pay into a specific fund, but this depends on the employment and union agreement. Funds are also structured differently. Some funds place all the mandatory contributions into co-insurance, while others put some of the mandatory contributions into a private pension which is inheritable and offers greater flexibility when it comes to paying out the pension.

Private pension is a type of pension which is inheritable and offers greater flexibility when it comes to paying out the pension. There are several types of private pension:

• Supplementary private pension
• Open private pension from mandatory savings
• Restricted private pension
• Specified private pension
• Inheritable private pension

Supplementary private pension is one of the most cost-effective types of savings available. You put aside 2-4% of your salary into your savings and your employer pays another 2%. This is like getting a 2% pay rise! You can withdraw supplementary savings from the age of 60 and you can also use it tax free to help buy a house. Supplementary private pension is inheritable.

You can stay on top of your pension at any time by using the Arion app. You can also view the status of your pension on the fund’s My Pages section for a selected period, and 18-month statements are also published there twice a year. If you want a paper statement sent to your home address you can request this in My Pages or by sending an e-mail to frjalsi@frjalsi.is. It is important to closely monitor whether contributions have been paid and match the information in pay slips to ensure that valuable pension rights have not been lost. If contributions have not been paid, please contact the fund immediately.

Foreign nationals can apply for reimbursement of premiums when they move away from Iceland provided that this is not prohibited under international agreements to which Iceland is party. Iceland currently has international agreements with more than 30 countries which here will be called contracting states. The contracting states are the United States and members of the EEA, plus Switzerland, i.e. all EFTA and EU states.

• The EFTA member states are Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Please note that Switzerland is considered a contracting state despite not being party to the EEA agreement with the EU states and the other EFTA states. Switzerland is considered a contracting state here by virtue of its being a party to the Vaduz convention of the EFTA states.
   
• The EU member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus (Greek Cypriot administered area), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
   
• A fund member who is a national of a contracting state: it is not permitted to reimburse the fund member their pension savings when moving away from Iceland. In the case of dual nationality, it is not permitted to reimburse the fund member if one nationality is a contracting state and the other is not. The nationalities both need to be non-contracting states for reimbursement to be permitted.
   
• A fund member who is not a national of a contracting state and who is not moving to a contracting state: it is possible to reimburse the fund member their pension savings when moving away from Iceland. In such case, the contribution of fund members and employers will be reimbursed with inflation compensation, but without interest. Income tax is payable on payouts.
   
• Information for British nationals post Brexit: special rules apply to British nationals who had citizenship in a contracting nation until 1 January 2021, i.e. while the United Kingdom was still a member of the EU. It is permitted to reimburse premiums for January 2021 and later to British citizens who have moved to Iceland and started working in Iceland on 1 January 2021 or later, cf. exit agreement between EFTA nations and the United Kingdom of 1 January 2021.