Government “stupefied” by IRS hit on pensions, accuses previous party of artificial increase

This Monday, the government expressed itself as being “stunned” by the agreement on the withholding tax on April and May pensions, stating that this is “solely the result of the political orientation” of the previous socialist executive.

This position is contained in a statement from the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, highlighting that this situation is the result of, in January 2024, it being decided to “give an artificial idea of ​​an increase to pensioners with less IRS withholding to then come and do it”. whether this is correct, after the elections, in the transition period”.

The Social Security Institute (ISS) clarified this Monday that adjustments were made to the IRS withholding of April and May pensions to correct the withholding made in January based on a “provisional” table for 328 thousand pensioners.

This clarification came after Jornal de Negócios reported the case of pensioners who were faced with a reduction in the net value of the pension paid in May, without the receipt providing an explanation for this fact — since the gross value of the pension remained unchanged, as well as the tax withholding rate, but not the amount of the discount.

In the statement, the Ministry of Labor says that it was “with astonishment that the Government learned that the Social Security Institute made an adjustment to the value of pensions paid in April, due to the change in the IRS withholding tables” .

This measure, he adds, “processed in mid-March (after the elections) and implemented on the 11th and 12th of April, results exclusively from the political orientation of the Socialist Party Government, and of which the current Government had no prior knowledge”.

Minister Maria do Rosário Ramalho’s office emphasizes that the astonishment with the information, due to the “obvious” relevance it has in the lives of pensioners, is worsened by the fact that the issue was never transmitted to the new executive.

“The decision of the previous Government was not, at any time, mentioned during the transition meeting with the current Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, nor was it signaled at any level to the current Government before being implemented”, says the statement.

Furthermore, he adds, Maria do Rosário Ramalho and her Secretary of State for Social Security received the president of the Social Security Institute on April 22 and “she said nothing about the issue”.

In the information released today, the ISS specified that this group of 328 thousand pensioners includes the return of excess IRS withheld from 184 thousand pensioners and the adjustment of the under-withheld amount to 143,800 pensioners.