English
Lífeyrissjóður Rangæinga is a pension fund with approximately 12 thousand fund members. It‘s main role is to guarantee a lifelong pension in retirement and disability pension, spouse‘s pension and children‘s pension.
It is an occupational fund based on regional agreements of the labour unions Verkalýðsfélag Suðurlands and Félag iðn- og tæknigreina with SA Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise. The fund is also open to everyone.
Under Icelandic law all workers between the ages of 16 and 70 need to pay into a pension fund.
Workers pay 4% of their salaries into a pension fund and their employer makes an additional contribution of 11.5% Normally, the employer is responsible for paying into the pension fund, so that the employee does not need to worry about it.
You can stay up to date with you pension savings at any time in the Arion app.
Can I get contributions reimbursed if I move away from Iceland?
Foreign nationals can apply for reimbursement of premiums when they move away from Iceland provided that this is not prohibited under international agreements to which Iceland is party. Iceland currently has international agreements with more than 30 countries which here will be called contracting states. The contracting states are the United States and members of the EEA, plus Switzerland, i.e. all EFTA and EU states.
- The EFTA member states are Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Please note that Switzerland is considered a contracting state despite not being party to the EEA agreement with the EU states and the other EFTA states. Switzerland is considered a contracting state here by virtue of its being a party to the Vaduz convention of the EFTA states.
- The EU member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus (Greek Cypriot administered area), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
- A fund member who is a national of a contracting state: it is not permitted to reimburse the fund member their pension savings when moving away from Iceland. In the case of dual nationality, it is not permitted to reimburse the fund member if one nationality is a contracting state and the other is not. The nationalities both need to be non-contracting states for reimbursement to be permitted.
- A fund member who is not a national of a contracting state and who is not moving to a contracting state: it is possible to reimburse the fund member their pension savings when moving away from Iceland. In such case, the contribution of fund members and employers will be reimbursed with inflation compensation, but without interest. Income tax is payable on payouts.
- Information for British nationals post Brexit: special rules apply to British nationals who had citizenship in a contracting nation until 1 January 2021, i.e. while the United Kingdom was still a member of the EU. It is permitted to reimburse premiums for January 2021 and later to British citizens who have moved to Iceland and started working in Iceland on 1 January 2021 or later, cf. exit agreement between EFTA nations and the United Kingdom of 1 January 2021.