In March 2017, real incomes of the population jumped by 8% at once. This news could please economists, if not for one fact - the growth occurred against the backdrop of a one-time payment to pensioners of 5,000 rubles. It is not yet known whether lump-sum payments will be made in 2017/2018. However, already in April, the figure of real incomes of the population decreased by 7.6% compared to last year. These data are provided by Rosstat in a monthly report.

Lump sum payment to pensioners in 2018: is it worth the wait

If we consider the possibilities of the government, then pensioners should hardly expect an increase in 2018. The budget deficit is approaching 3%, oil prices are unwilling to rise, and another decline in industry by 2.7% reduces tax revenue.

The reserve fund is almost over, the National Wealth Fund in the current conditions will last for a maximum of 2 years. However, there is another important nuance. Elections will take place on March 18, 2018, and the votes of 37,083,000 people are very important for respecting the principle of legitimacy.

Therefore, the government will go to any lengths to ensure that the lump sum payment to pensioners in 2018 is made under any conditions, even if for this you have to get into reserves or simply print the necessary amount of money.

After the freezing of pension savings and the practical abolition of the funded part of the pension, the state is relatively successfully coping with its obligations, although it does not have the ability to create reserves for future generations.

What to expect after 2018

According to the head of the PFRF, the average amount of payments per pensioner in 2017 will be 164,400 rubles. That is, with official inflation of 4.13%, each would have to receive 6,789 rubles. A simple calculation says that the state managed to save by replacing indexation with a one-time payment of about 65 billion. Since the elderly and the disabled reacted calmly to such an initiative for the first time, there is a high probability of repeating the already run-in scenario.

There are 37 million pensioners in the country for 78 million workers, the ratio is approaching 2:1. The deficit of the pension fund is 182 billion rubles, its income is 8.23 ​​trillion rubles, expenses - 8.5 trillion rubles. A year earlier, the deficit was 7 billion less, and if not for the replacement maneuver, the difference would have been 72 billion. Moreover, in 2018 the gap would have increased even more, since two years of inflation would have to be taken into account.

Now there are disputes in the government over the budget, the head of the Ministry of Finance demands that the fixed part, which now stands at 4,800 rubles, be paid directly from the budget. The Ministry of Labor categorically objects to this. At the same time, all parties agree on the need to raise the retirement age, only such a step will balance the PFRF.

But no innovations can be expected before the elections; social tension is already growing. The President will not allow to aggravate the situation on the eve of an important event.

Therefore, whether the payment to pensioners in 2018 in the amount of 5,000 rubles, or the amount will have to be changed, will be seen closer to the elections. Those 220 billion that will be required for a one-time payment are not such an unbearable amount. 638 billion allocated for preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

This question about the possibility of receiving a lump sum payment in the current year arises among pensioners due to the fact that as soon as 2017 came, each recipient of pension payments was paid the amount of 5,000 rubles. At the same time, the conditions for receiving it did not differ from the basis on which the citizen is the recipient of the pension, and whether he is currently working or not. The right to receive this payment was not granted only to those who do not have the right to claim any type of pension, or are its recipient, but currently live outside the Russian Federation.

In order to understand how the additional payment will be made, you need to know what was the reason for receiving it in 2017. And the basis for its accrual was inflation. Prior to that, in 2016, its size was officially 6%. In 2017, its level reached 12.9%. The state budget was negative, so the government simply could not make such an increase in pensions, since there were enough funds for this. Therefore, it was decided to average the increase for all pensioners at the same level and establish an additional payment of 5 thousand rubles.

Moreover, it is calculated for the entire year and paid once in January. At its core, it is an indexed addition to the pension for the entire 2017. And the pensions themselves remained the same throughout the year.

Expectation in 2019

After further calculations, the 5,000 rubles paid did not cover the inflationary surge that occurred last year. And this year, taking into account the interests of pensioners, the government decided that the payment will be extended for the entire calendar year. And the calculation of this payment will be carried out throughout the year.

What is more profitable?

Many pensioners argue about what is still more profitable for them, to receive a lump sum payment of 5 thousand rubles or to receive a monthly supplement to their pension, taking into account calculated inflation. In order to understand which option and to whom is more profitable, you need to make the necessary calculations. It is important to calculate the total amount received by the pensioner during the year plus the defined benefits.

According to statistics, on average, pension payments in Russia for pensioners are 9-15 thousand rubles. And the calculated average inflation rate in the country was 4%. In any case, it was by 4.1% that the increase in pension payments occurred. With this in mind, we make the following calculation:

1. We take as a basis the size of the pension of 9000 rubles.
2. We index this payment by the 4.1% established by the government, and it turns out that the amount of monthly amounts received by the pensioner becomes 9369 rubles.
3. The amount of the additional payment for each month is equal to 369 rubles in this case.
4. In terms of a calendar year, which consists of 12 months, the total amount of the surcharge will be 4428 rubles.

For such a pensioner, of course, a lump sum payment, which amounted to 5,000 rubles, would be more profitable.

But now consider another pensioner who receives 15,000 rubles a month:

• after indexation, his pension will be 15,615 rubles, which is 615 rubles more;
• the resulting monthly difference after indexation of 615 rubles is multiplied by the number of months in the calendar year and we get the amount of 7380 rubles.

That is, in the current year, such a pensioner will receive 2,380 rubles more than if he received just a one-time payment of 5,000 rubles.

Accordingly, we can conclude that the larger the amount of payments, the more profitable the usual indexing for the inflation rate. And equating everyone to one amount is beneficial only to those who have the minimum pension.

Therefore, in 2019, such a payment will not be made, and every eligible citizen will receive a monthly surcharge in the form of established interest.

Nuances

When considering the profitability of the two options, one must also take into account the factor that receiving a one-time payment enables pensioners to make a large purchase or pay for expensive treatment. In another case, a citizen has to set aside savings every month, and this is much more difficult. At the same time, the opportunity to purchase the necessary goods or services will come only at the end of the year.

The right to receive pension payments in Russia is granted to the following categories of citizens:

• people who have reached the established retirement age of 55 and 60 years for women and men, respectively;
• citizens who have a disability from birth, as well as those who acquired it during their lifetime;
• persons who have lost their breadwinner and cannot provide for themselves;
• military personnel who have served their time.

Initially, former servicemen were not included in this list, since they receive payments not from the Pension Fund, but from the budget of the Ministry of Defense. But by presidential decree, they were also added to this list.

The basis for receiving this payment is the presence of Russian citizenship and residence in the country. If a Russian citizen is currently residing outside its borders, then payments to him are suspended until he returns to permanent residence in the country again.

Citizens of other countries who have been living in Russia for more than 15 years recently are also entitled to receive pension payments, and, accordingly, additional payments.

How to receive

In order to formalize the possibility of receiving additional payments to pensions, citizens did not need to write any applications. It was enough that they were recipients of pensions at the time of making payments. To become its recipient, you must meet the requirements established by law. A person must have one or more grounds for receiving a pension. The order of registration will be as follows:

1. It is necessary to prepare all the necessary documents confirming the right of a citizen to apply for a pension.
2. Next, you need to write a statement in which you also need to indicate how the person wants to receive payments. This can be a transfer to a bank account, receipt through a postal order, or delivery through a social worker.
3. After submitting all the documents and the application, the PFR employees consider it within 10 days, and then notify the applicant in writing of the decision made.
4. If it is positive, then the citizen begins to receive payments in the manner indicated by him.
5. In case of refusal, the reasons will be indicated in the document.

You can apply in several ways:

• direct personal visit to the FIU;
• do this through a representative who will be previously issued a power of attorney certified by a notary;
• send by mail, but copies of documents must be certified by a notary;
• fill out an application form on the official website of the FIU, for this you will need to first register there.

Knowing these options, each citizen can apply in a convenient way. In any case, you will need to collect the necessary package of documents. These include:

• directly the passport of the applicant, as well as the representative, if the application is submitted through it;
• a power of attorney to a representative, duly executed;
• birth certificate of the child, if he is the recipient of the payment;
• other documents confirming the basis for representing the interests of a person;
• SNILS.

In addition to these basic papers, you must also present those that will confirm the grounds:

• work book, employment contracts, if a person applies for a labor pension payment;
• documents on the death of the breadwinner, as well as confirming family ties with him;
• medical conclusion of the commission on the establishment of disability.

Other documents may also be required depending on certain circumstances. Once the pension is assigned to a person, he will be entitled to receive inflation allowances.

While the country is waiting for the next government maneuver with pensions, we will try to analyze the likely developments of the event and the consequences of being elected officials or a lump sum payment.

In the outgoing 2017, pensioners were delighted when they received a one-time receipt from the government in the amount of 5,000 rubles. Against this background, the growth in the purchasing power of the population until March was a record 8%. However, soon the old people ran out of money and with them the jubilation ended, which, by the way, was far from everyone.

Pensions were not indexed, and with rising prices, pensioners faced a difficult life task - to survive with the prices of 2017, and with the pensions of the previous one.

In this table, you can clearly see the subsidence of payments with an aggressive rise in prices.

YEAR	The ratio of the pension to the subsistence minimum in the country
2014	0.73
2016	0.61
2018	0.48

So far, the Russian government is being assured that pension payments will be indexed at the level of 3.8% and for social payments - 1.2%.

Nevertheless, there is no clear answer to the question: will there be a lump sum payment of 5,000 rubles to pensioners in 2018? Analysts of left and right views are contradictory in assessing such prospects. Therefore, let's think about the scenario in which the Cabinet of Ministers will still take this step.

About 78 million working people and 37 million pensioners live in the country. Thus, the ratio of the able-bodied to the disabled is in an insignificant twofold excess.

The deficit of the Russian Pension Fund this year is 182 billion rubles, taking into account the difference between income of 8.23 ​​trillion rubles and expenses of 8.5 trillion. The maneuver with a one-time payment of 5,000 rubles was conceived to force this hole in the budget.

Thus, in 2017, about 65 billion rubles were saved. This made it possible to reallocate funds to other areas that are in desperate need of funding. Do not forget that social policy takes more than 30% of the treasury's expenditures.

In 2018, according to the news agency Lenta.ru, the cost of pensions from the funds will increase by 279 billion rubles and thus amount to more than 7 trillion rubles. It is planned to index benefits for the elderly and other eligible persons by 3.7%. Thus, it is assumed that the average annual level of social pension will be 9,045 rubles, and the average pension in the country will reach 13.7 thousand rubles.

Not everyone is entitled to a lump sum pension. It will be deprived of persons who have reached but live outside the Russian Federation.

The list of persons entitled to receive a lump-sum allowance includes:

• pensioners receiving under the provision program;
• pensioners;
• beneficiaries of survivor benefits;
• persons with disabilities, including children;
• military working and non-working pensioners (at first this category was deprived of payment, but over time they managed to defend their right).

Advantages of a lump sum payment for pensioners

Like any phenomenon in the world, a one-time payment to pensioners has both positive aspects and disadvantages. Let's take a closer look at them.

Advantages	Flaws
Reducing the budget burden	The amount does not cover the natural decrease in pension caused by inflation
The obligation to pay tax interest on the amount of the payment has been removed. The budget will pay for it.	For pensioners who receive an increased pension, the lump sum will be negligible compared to the indexation allowance.
A one-time payment allows you to spend it on more substantial purchases.	The lump-sum payment is a means of supporting the population and is not included in the total amount of the pension, which will be indexed in subsequent years

Despite government assurances about the planned indexation of pensions, a number of analysts are inclined to believe that the successful experiment with a lump sum payment in 2017 may be repeated in 2018. A number of factors support this:

• the government failed to level the budget deficit and, as a result, it will still be difficult for it to carry out indexation;
• continued low prices for energy resources such as gas and oil;
• a decline in production and trade, and therefore a decrease in the tax flow to the budget.

It is worth considering the fact that in the future 2018 will take place. It is possible that indexation will take place, but in addition, as a gesture of goodwill, the government and the president can give the people a one-time bonus to enlist the support of voters.

Now let's talk about the estimated amount of the lump sum.

In the context of continuing instability, it is impossible to predict a variation in the reduction or increase in budget subsidy payments for 2018. Let's take last year.

It was not in vain that the authorities chose the amount of 5 thousand rubles. It is known that the indexation of pensions, although it seems to be an insignificant increase in pensions, usually ranging from 200 to 350 rubles per month, in the total annual amount forms an aggregate increase of several thousand rubles. In 2017, in case of failed indexation, the amount of the pension should have increased by 7 thousand rubles in the total annual amount.

Thus, by choosing an amount of 5,000 thousand rubles, the government partly solved the problem of reducing the purchasing power of pensioners due to inflation. At the same time, it saved a lot of money.

The question is what to change in budget construction for next year. I believe that in 2018, working pensioners should not count on a one-time payment of more than 5,000 rubles.

In 2017, Russian pensioners received 5,000 rubles as a lump sum in addition to their January pension. Then all pensioners, without exception, received the payment, whether they were unemployed or employed. Before the start of 2018 and even during it, rumors about the exact same payout this year again began to circulate on the Internet. Whether there will be a lump sum payment for pensioners in 2018, when exactly and how much it can amount to - we understand the rumors and information existing on the Internet.

Why was there a lump sum payment for pensioners in 2017

The reason for paying all pensioners 5,000 rubles in January 2017 is the situation with pensions in 2016. Then, after the hardest year for the economy in 2015, the budget continued to be in a fever, and the government of the country, especially its economic bloc, had to remember what it was like to draw up a deficit budget and look for ways to reduce its deficit.

The economy did not make ends meet very well, and almost all spending had to be cut. Including had to save even on such a seemingly inviolable item of expenditure of the treasury as pensions. It was then that pensions for working pensioners were frozen (they have not been thawed so far). And then, for the first time in many years, the government was unable to cope with the indexation of pensions in accordance with all the rules.

The pension indexation rule in Russia says that once a year the amount of benefits must be revised at least by the percentage of inflation. If inflation in the previous year was 10%, then pension payments at the beginning of the year should also be increased by the same 10% or more.

Pensions have always increased in February, after full statistics were received by the end of January regarding the rise in the cost of living across the country in the year ended.

In 2016, pensions were raised in February, but not enough. Annual inflation at the end of 2015 amounted to almost 13%, and pensions in February 2016 were increased by only 4%. There was simply no money for more. The pensioners of the country have lost quite noticeably in the standard of living. The already poor elderly Russians could not afford even that small set of goods and services that was available to them quite recently.

The lump sum payment for pensioners in January 2017 became compensation for the situation in 2016 and for those money that was not received at the end of the year due to an insufficient percentage increase in February. Five thousand rubles is not God knows what amount against the backdrop of a difficult 2016 year, but it is definitely better than nothing.

The 2017 payout was exceptional and the government had no plans to repeat this practice.

Is it worth waiting for a lump sum payment for pensioners in 2018

There is no such payment and never will be. In the same 2017, after pensioners received such a payment, their pensions were increased by 5.8% (against 5.4% inflation in 2016). The increase was expected in 2018, when ahead of schedule, already from January, pensions were increased by 3.7% with inflation in 2017 of 2.5%.

There is no reason for the lump-sum payment, and against the background of rumors and outright fictions, even the Pension Fund of Russia had to specifically declare this.

Articles on some Internet sites about such payments still appear, their authors vaguely say that nothing is known about payments yet, but it is very likely that by the end of the year pensioners will be given 10,000 rubles each, etc. . The task of such sites is not to inform people, but to make money on advertising, attracting gullible users with loud headlines. If a website does not provide specific links to authoritative sources (the same Pension Fund of the Russian Federation), one should treat what is written on it with healthy distrust. No matter how much pensioners would like to receive in 2018 another one-time payment, similar to last year.

Will there be a one-time payment to pensioners of 5,000 rubles in 2018

5000 rubles to pensioners in January 2018: will they pay a lump sum

Five thousand rubles each as a lump sum payment at the beginning of 2017 were paid to all pensioners. People with a pleasant surprise received this money.

Quite reasonable questions are now being asked: will there be something similar in 2018? Let's try to understand the current situation.

Immediately it is necessary to explain to pensioners that next year they will not pay 5 thousand rubles to pensioners. It was a one-time measure taken to compensate the population for inflation and rising prices.
However, there is no need to worry too much for working and non-working pensioners in 2018, since a certain increase in their pensions will still take place.

Unemployed pensioners will increase pensions on January 1

From January 1, 2018, indexation of insurance pensions will take place, the growth will be 3.7 percent. In monetary terms, this is approximately 300-500 rubles. Social pensions, they are received by those who do not have a day of work experience (disabled people, disabled children, those who have lost their breadwinner, etc.), will increase by 4.1 percent from April 1. Depending on the disability group, this is from 175 to 500 rubles.

The unemployed will receive a raise in 2018

Working pensioners who work officially will not be able to count on regular indexation. The government assures that there is no money in the budget, therefore, in the foreseeable future, the return of the indexation process for this category of those in need is not expected. The only support measure is the recalculation of pensions in August. It is calculated based on the value of the pension point, in 2018 it is 81 rubles 49 kopecks. The increase can be a maximum of 3 such points or 245 rubles.

When will the lump sum be paid in 2018

It should be noted that this payment will be implemented without application. In addition, payments will be made according to a special schedule in January 2018.
All pensioners will have to receive 5,000 rubles each (approximately from January 9 to January 27) on the day they receive their pension, if the lump sum payment cannot be paid on time, for objective reasons (for example, the absence of a pensioner), then it will definitely be paid but later.

Withholding from payment

It was envisaged that deductions based on executive documents, decisions of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, court decisions on the recovery of pensions and other social payments due to abuses by a pensioner, established in court, are not made from the lump sum payment.

Thus, out of 5,000 rubles in 2017, no one was entitled to withhold alimony, tax arrears, overpayments of pensions, etc. In 2018, such a question does not arise at all, since there simply will not be a lump sum payment.

Problems with pension indexation

Over the past 2015, the inflation rate in Russia amounted to 12.9%. According to the legislation, it was necessary to increase pensions for all categories of citizens in 2018 by the same amount, who receive these payments for old age, insurance, disability or loss of a breadwinner.
However, in reality, pensions were indexed in February 2016, only by 4%, while the promised 2nd indexation in the fall of 2018 did not take place, the reason for this, according to the Government of the Russian Federation, was the difficult economic situation in the country, as well as the lack of sufficient amount of funds in the Pension Fund.

Therefore, it was decided to replace the 2nd indexation of pensions in 2018. for a lump sum payment of 5,000 rubles (see whether Russia plans to index pensions for 2018).