The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid has confirmed that a pensioner who received non-contributory retirement since February 2020 must return 9,664.11 euros to Social Security. The reason is that her husband received an annual income of 15,333.08 euros in fiscal year 2022, a figure that far exceeded the resource accumulation limit set for that year at 10,029.32 euros for a cohabitation unit of two people.
According to the ruling STSJ M 2318/2026 (available at this link from the Judiciary), the woman received a non-contributory retirement pension, but the administration crossed the data from the pensioner’s annual declaration corresponding to 2022 with the records that were in the Tax Agency.
In this way, it was found that his spouse’s income exceeded the allowed limit by more than 5,000 euros. In this way, on June 14, 2023, the General Directorate of Integration of the Community of Madrid proceeded to extinguish the benefit and requested the obligation to return the amounts received between January 2022 and June 2023. That is, it had to pay a total of 9,664.11 euros.
The non-contributory pension is a welfare aid that depends on income
In the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, the pensioner alleged that the resolution was actually an act of review of an already recognized benefit, and that the administration should have gone to court itself to revoke the pension, not do it by administrative resolution. The TSJ did not agree with him. “We are not facing a review of a declaratory act of recognition of a benefit, but rather an ordinary management act by which the amount of the recognized benefit is adapted to a circumstance that occurs after its recognition”reasons the Court. The administration was not correcting an error of its own in granting the pension, but rather adjusting it to income that had changed.
The regulations are clear and article 11 of Royal Decree 357/1991, which regulates non-contributory pensions, says that when the beneficiary lives with another person, the requirement of lack of income is only met if the sum of income of all the members of the unit is less than the resource accumulation limit. For two cohabitants, this limit is equivalent to the annual amount of the pension multiplied by 1.70. In 2022, that was 10,029.32 euros. The plaintiff’s husband, alone, earned 15,333.08 euros.
Article 16 of the same Royal Decree obliges recipients of non-contributory pensions to communicate any variation in income within a maximum period of 30 days. “The separation of the challenges from the acts of review and the refund of what was unduly received is contrary to the principles of economy and procedural harmony”the magistrates add, citing jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. Undue collection is not a penalty, it is the direct consequence of having received a benefit without meeting the requirements for 18 months. For this reason, the TSJ establishes that the woman must return the money by collecting improperly and loses the pension, at least, until she meets the requirements again.