International Programs
Totalization Agreement with Czech Republic
Introduction
For Czech Republic, the Agreement covers old-age, disability and survivors (OASDI) benefits and taxes for OASDI, sickness and unemployment insurance.
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Eliminating dual coverage for self-employment
Self-employed workers who work only in the United States are assigned U.S. coverage. Self-employed workers who work only in Czech Republic are assigned Czech coverage. Workers normally self-employed in one country who transfer their trade or business to the other country for five years or fewer will remain covered under the country from which the worker transferred the self-employment activity.
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Czech Republic certificates for employees and self-employed workers
Employers and self-employed workers must request a certificate of coverage to establish an exemption from U.S. Social Security contributions.
Please mail your request to:
Česká správa sociálního zabezpečení
(Czech Social Security Administration)
Křížová 25
225 08 Praha 5
CZECH REPUBLIC
Please provide the following information:
- Worker's full name (including maiden name);
- Worker's date of birth;
- Worker's place of birth;
- Worker's country of citizenship;
- Worker's country of permanent residence;
- Worker’s U.S. Social Security number;
- Worker's Czech birth certificate number, if applicable;
- Date of hire, if employed;
- Country of hire, if employed;
- Nature of self-employment activity, if applicable;
- Name and address of the employer in the United States and the Agreement country (if self-employed, address of trade or business in both countries); and
- Date of transfer and anticipated date of return of employment or self-employment in the Agreement country.
U.S. employers should retain certificates of coverage in case of an audit by the IRS. Employers should not send a copy to the IRS unless the IRS specifically requests the certificate of coverage.
Self-employed workers should attach a copy of the certificate of coverage to their U.S. tax return every year as proof of the exemption.
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Monthly benefits
Under the U.S. Social Security system, you can earn up to four work credits each year depending on the amount of your covered earnings. For example, in 2022, you receive one credit for each $1,410 of your covered annual earnings up to a maximum of four credits per year. The amount needed to earn a work credit goes up slightly each year. For more information, see How You Earn Credits (Publication No. 05-10072).
Under the Czech system, credits are measured in days. To simplify the information in the table, requirements are shown in years of credits.
|
Retirement or old-age benefits |
|
United States |
Czech Republic |
Worker—Full benefit at full retirement age.* Reduced benefit as early as age 62. Required work credits range from 1½–10 years (10 years if age 62 in 1991 or later). |
Worker—Full benefit at full retirement age.** At least 25 years of coverage is required. Age 65 for men and women with 15 years of coverage. Reduced benefit up to three years prior to normal retirement age with at least 25 years of coverage and not employed. |
*Full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to age 67 for people born in 1960 or later.
**The retirement age under the Czech system is being increased by two calendar months per year for men and four calendar months per year for women from January 1, 1996 to December 2012. After 2012, the retirement age will be 63 years for men and from 59 to 62 years for women, depending on the number of children raised.
Disability benefits |
|
United States |
Czech Republic |
Worker—Under full retirement age* can get benefits if unable to do any substantial gainful work for at least a year. 1½–10 years credit needed, depending on age at date of onset. Some recent work credits also needed unless worker is blind. |
Worker—Full disability for workers with reduced capacity of at least 66 percent for any economic activity. Partial disability for workers with at least 33 percent disability. Workers age 28 or older must have at least five years of coverage out of the 10 years immediately preceding disability onset or coverage in any 10-year period after disability onset. |
*Full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to age 67 for people born in 1960 or later.
|
Family benefits to dependents of retired or disabled people |
|
United States |
Czech Repubic |
Spouse—Full benefit at full retirement age* or at any age if caring for the worker’s entitled child under age 16 (or dis- abled before age 22). Reduced benefit as early as age 62 if not caring for a child. |
Spouse—No provision. |
Divorced spouse—Full benefit at full retirement age.* Reduced benefit as early as age 62. Must be unmarried and have been married to worker for at least 10 years. |
Divorced spouse—No provision. |
Children—If unmarried, up to age 18 (age 19 if in an elementary or secondary school full time) or any age if dis- abled before age 22. |
Children—Full disability if it began before age 18 (no Czech coverage required). |
*Full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to age 67 for people born in 1960 or later.
|
Survivors benefits |
|
United States |
Czech Republic |
Surviving Spouse—Full benefit at full retirement age* or at any age if caring for deceased’s entitled child under age 16 (or disabled before age 22). Reduced benefit as early as age 60 (or age 50 if disabled) if not caring for a child. Benefits may be continued if remarriage occurs after age 60 (or age 50 if disabled). |
Surviving Spouse—Worker must have met coverage requirements for entitlement to either retirement or disability benefit at time of death. Must have been married to the deceased. Eligible to receive benefits for one year. After the first year, benefits are only paid to a surviving spouse who is disabled or who has attained age 55 or older for women and age 58 or older for men. May continue to receive benefits if caring for a dependent child, a parent of the deceased worker or their own partially disabled parent over age 80. |
Divorced Surviving Spouse—Same as surviving spouse if marriage lasted at least 10 years. |
Divorced Surviving Spouse—No Provision. |
Children—Same as children of retired or disabled worker. |
Orphan children—Eligible if deceased parent met the minimum contribution requirements for retirement or disability on date of death (or was receiving a pension), or the parent died due to a work accident. Payable until child completes compulsory school attendance or up to age 26. |
Lump-sum death benefit—A onetime payment not to exceed $255 payable on the death of an insured worker. |
Lump-sum death benefit—No provision. |
*The full retirement age for survivors is age 66 for people born in 1945-1956 and gradually increases to age 67 for people born in 1962 or later.
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How benefits can be paid
If you have social security credits in both the United States and the Czech Republic, you may be eligible for benefits from one or both countries. If you meet all the basic requirements under one country’s system, you will get a regular benefit from that country. If you do not meet the basic requirements, the Agreement may help you qualify for a benefit as explained below.
- Benefits from the United States—If you do not have enough work credits under the U.S. system to qualify for regular benefits, you may be able to qualify for a partial benefit from the United States based on both United States and Czech credits. However, to be eligible to have your Czech credits counted, you must have earned at least six credits (generally one and one-half years of work) under the U.S. system. If you already have enough credits under the U.S. system to qualify for a benefit, the United States cannot count your Czech credits.
- Benefits from Czech Republic—Social security credits from both countries can also be counted, when necessary, to meet the eligibility requirements for Czech benefits. To be eligible to have your United States and Czech credits counted, you must have at least one year of coverage credited under the Czech system.
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Claims for benefits
If you live in the United States and wish to apply for United States or Czech benefits:
- Visit or write any U.S. Social Security office.
- Phone our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday-Friday. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.
- Apply for Czech benefits at any U.S. Social Security office by completing application Form CZ/USA 202, or mail the completed Form to your local Social Security Administration office.
If you live in the Czech Republic and wish to apply for U.S. or Czech benefits, contact:
Federal Benefits Unit
United States Embassy
ul. Piekna 12
00-539 Warsaw
POLAND - Any Czech social security office to file for U.S. or Czech benefits.
You can apply with one country and ask to have your application considered as a claim for benefits from the other country. Information from your application will then be sent to the other country. Each country will process the claim under its own laws— counting credits from the other country when appropriate—and notify you of its decision.
If you have not applied for benefits before, you may need to provide certain information and documents when you apply. This includes:
- The worker’s U.S. Social Security number.
- The worker’s Czech Birth Certificate number.
- Proof of age for all claimants.
- Evidence of the worker’s U.S. earnings in the past 24 months and information about the worker’s coverage under the Czech system.
You may wish to call the social security office before you go there to see if you need any other information.
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Payment of benefits
Each country pays its own benefit. U.S. payments are made by the U.S. Department of Treasury each month and cover benefits for the preceding month. Czech payments are made by the Czech National Bank four times a year (in March, June, September and December) and cover benefits for the previous three months. For more information, contact the Czech Republic authorities at the address in the section titled, “For more information.”
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For more information about Czech Republic's social security programs
- Contact any social security office in the Czech Republic.
- If you do not live in the Czech Republic, write to:
Česká správa sociálního zabezpečení
(Czech social security administration)
Křížová 25
225 08 Praha 5
CZECH REPUBLIC