In social insurance, there is generally a four-year time limit for claiming contributions. The statute of limitations for claims to social security contributions is based on the contribution due date. In principle, the social security institution must assert claims for contributions against the employer by the end of the fourth calendar year following the calendar year in which the contributions became due.

If the German pension insurance Deutsche Rentenversicherung has not been able to carry out an audit in a company in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19, special regulations apply: If an audit of an employer’s business had to be conducted during the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021, and the audit did not take place because of COVID-19, the statute of limitations

• for contributions that were due in 2016 is suspended until 31 December 2021 and
• for contributions that were due in 2017 is suspended until 31 December 2022 (Section 128 of the German Social Code, Book IV).

Important: The extraordinary suspension of the statute of limitations means that social security contributions due in 2016 or 2017 can be claimed subsequently for a longer period of time if the tax audit was dropped in the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021 on the occasion of COVID-19.

Photo: Adobe Stock, andranik123

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