Legal Means to Prevent Unjustified Payment of Pensions to Citizens Living Abroad

Abstract

Introduction. The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of paying most types of pensions to those citizens whose place of permanent residence is a foreign state. At the same time, permanent residence of a pensioner abroad increases the risk of unjustified payment of pensions and creates the need to use additional legal means aimed at preventing such consequences. Purpose. The purpose of the study is to describe the system of legal means that are aimed at preventing unjustified payment of Russian pensions to citizens living abroad, and to analyze the provisions of Russian and international legal acts that establish these legal means. Methodology. To achieve these goals, formal legal (dogmatic) method and comparative legal method were mainly used. Results. The system of legal means to prevent unjustified payments to those Russian citizens who permanently reside abroad includes legal means provided for by national legislation and the norms of international treaties concluded by the Russian Federation. The first group is represented mainly by additional obligations of the beneficiary to inform the pension agency about maintaining the grounds for payment of pensions (especially the duty to confirm being alive), failure to which, as a general rule, constitute grounds for the suspension of payment of pension. The legal means stipulated in international legal acts are based on the interaction of the competent institutions of the Contracting parties and are implemented, as a rule, without the participation of the pension recipient. Conclusion. The expansion of the list of States with which Russia has concluded international agreements on cooperation in the field of social security and the improvement of national legislation in this area should help reduce the number of cases of excessive payment of pensions to citizens living abroad.