A worker who took advantage of the second chance mechanism and had deferred debts with Social Security has managed to have the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia recognize his right to a retirement pension with a regulatory base of 2,240.48 euros per month and a percentage of 100%. Social Security had denied him the pension, arguing that the installments included in his payment plan with the General Treasury of Social Security were not “effectively made” and, therefore, did not count towards calculating the minimum deficiency. The court rejects the Security’s argument, explaining that a payment plan derived from the exoneration of unsatisfied liabilities is assimilated to the deferral of installments and produces exactly the same effects.
As explained by the ruling STSJ CAT 4657/2025 (available at this link from the Judiciary), everything begins in November 2022, when this worker requests his pension from Social Security, recognizing an initial pension with a regulatory base of 2,240.48 euros corresponding to 100%. But two months later, Social Security backs down and denies it, considering that it did not meet the requirements on the date of the causative event (October 31, 2022).
The problem, according to the Administration, was that part of his contributions were pending within a judicially approved payment plan, that is, that the worker owed money to Social Security and was paying it in installments through the second chance (the mechanism of the Bankruptcy Law that allows insolvent people to exonerate their debts under certain conditions).
The payment plan was not minor, since the Commercial Court number 2 of Barcelona had approved the provisional exoneration of unsatisfied credits and a payment schedule for privileged credits with the TGSS at a rate of 7,650.29 euros per year for 5 years. The worker was complying. He paid on time. But the INSS maintained that these contributions, since they were not paid all at once but rather deferred, could not be counted towards access to the benefit.
Deferred installments count as quoted
The Chamber rejected all the arguments of Social Security, explaining that article 31.3 of Royal Decree 1415/2004 (General Regulations for Social Security Collection) and article 17 of Ministerial Order TAS/1562/2005, which establish that the deferral of contributions produces the same effects as if they had been paid on time. This means that the deferred contributions count towards the minimum grace period, the regulatory base and the percentage of the pension, provided that the deferral was granted before the causative event occurred.
The court explains that if the worker complied with the approved payment plan before the date of the causative event (something that the INSS does not dispute), the deferred contributions should be counted as actually made. The granting of exoneration of unsatisfied liabilities, when it includes a payment plan that the debtor complies with, is assimilated to the cases of deferral of installments included in the Regulation. It cannot be treated differently.