How Overpayments Arise
The Social Fund of Russia (SFR) is obliged to pay pensions in the correct amount. But errors occur:
- Accounting errors — the software incorrectly calculated coefficients, work history, or the calculation base.
- Legislative changes not applied — the pension continued to be calculated under old rules.
- Documentary error — the Fund incorrectly recorded employment periods or salary data.
- Employment not reported — for working pensioners, indexation is suspended, but if the Fund was not aware of the employment, it paid the full indexed pension.
When Repayment Is Obligatory
Article 28 of Federal Law No. 400-FZ “On Insurance Pensions” requires a pensioner to repay overpayments in two situations:
-
The pensioner provided inaccurate information — for example, concealed the fact of employment, or the death of a dependent for whom they were receiving a supplement.
-
The pensioner did not report changes in a timely manner that they were legally required to report.
In these cases, repayment is a lawful demand and difficult to avoid.
When the Demand Can Be Contested
If the overpayment arose through the Fund’s own fault (an accounting error, an incorrect calculation), the situation is different.
The Supreme Court and Constitutional Court’s position: a good-faith citizen who did not provide false information is not required to bear the adverse consequences of a government authority’s errors.
Courts generally refuse the Fund’s repayment claims where:
- the pensioner did not know and could not have known about the overpayment,
- the error arose exclusively through the Fund’s fault,
- a significant period of time has elapsed since the overpayment (the Fund missed a reasonable timeframe for making the demand).
Practical Steps When You Receive a Demand
Step 1. Establish the basis for the demand. Ask the Fund for a written explanation: why did the overpayment arise, for what period, and in what amount.
Step 2. Determine whether the error was yours or the Fund’s. If you provided all required information on time, you have grounds to contest the demand.
Step 3. Do not pay until you have received a written demand and taken advice. A verbal demand from a Fund employee does not create an obligation to pay. Only an official SFR decision or a court order triggers the obligation.
Step 4. File an objection with the Fund. Contest the demand through the Fund’s own administrative process, attaching documents confirming you provided all required information on time.
Step 5. Go to court. If the Fund does not uphold the objection, the courts are the principal means of protection.
Read Also
- 673,000 Rubles in Frozen Pension Savings: What Is Happening and What You Can Do
- Child Support as ‘Virtual Income’: How It Affects Child Benefits in 2026
Have you received a demand to repay pension or social security payments? Contact us for a consultation — we will examine the basis for the demand and help you contest it if the overpayment was the Fund’s fault.