What is INSS in Brazil?

The Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS) – National Institute of Social Security – is responsible for paying retirement benefits and other benefits to Brazilian workers, with the exception of public servants.

What is the role of the INSS?

It’s a federal authority linked to the Ministry of Social Security with the mission of promoting the recognition of the right to receive benefits administered by Social Security, ensuring agility, convenience to its users and expansion of social control.

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INSS payment

The collection of the INSS is done by the companies and the non-compliance with this obligation and the transfer of values ​​to the agency is a crime. It may be appropriate to pay fines or even imprisonment of those responsible for the company.

Non-payment of INSS is criminalized by article 168-A of the Penal Code.

Art. 168-A. Failure to pass on to social security the contributions collected from taxpayers, within the deadline and in a legal or conventional manner:

Penalty – imprisonment, from two (2) to five (5) years, and fine. (Included by Law No. 9,983 of 2000).

This penalty also incurs for companies that do not pay the INSS on time, do not pay the due benefit amount to the insured or fail to collect due contributions to Social Security, as provided for in item 1 of the same article.

• 1 The same penalties apply to anyone who fails to: (Included by Law No. 9,983, of 2000)

I – collect, within the legal term, contributions or other amounts destined for social security that have been deducted from payments made to insured, third parties or collected from the public; (Included by Law No. 9,983 of 2000)

II – collect due contributions to social security which have been part of accounting expenses or costs related to the sale of products or the provision of services; (Included by Law No. 9,983 of 2000)

III – pay the benefit owed to the insured, when the respective quotas or amounts have already been reimbursed to the company by Social Security. (Included by Law No. 9,983 of 2000).

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Who is entitled to the INSS?

Beneficiaries and their dependents are insured. Insured is any person who performs remunerated activity and contributes to Social Security. Those who do not have paid work, such as students over 16 and housewives, can also contribute to Social Security, optionally.

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Contributors are classified as follows:

Employee: those who work under the CLT regime (labor agreement), in public agencies or temporary workers.

Individual contributor: who provide services to a company, but do not have an employment relationship.

Optional contributor: Anyone over 16 years old, without their own income, but who contribute to Social Security. One example relates to students.

Domestic servants: Specifically those who work in private households.

Special contributor: rural workers.

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Where to consult the INSS statement?

The INSS statement can be consulted in three ways: in the traditional way, by attending an INSS agency; digitally, through “Meu INSS” Portal; and at Caixa Econômica Federal (Caixa Federal Bank) or Banco do Brasil (Bank of Brazil) branches or home banking.

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