President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sanctioned, with vetoes, the law that extinguishes automatic discounts on retirement and pensions paid by the National Social Security Institute (INSS).
The rule was published in the Official Gazette of the Union this Wednesday (7) and structurally changes the relationship between Social Security beneficiaries and associations, unions or entities that, until then, could receive monthly payments directly on the payroll.
The new legislation revokes provisions of the Social Security Benefit Plans Law and now prohibits any automatic discount, including in cases where there was prior authorization from the retiree or pensioner.
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The change comes after the identification of recurring fraud schemes and abusive practices involving charges not recognized by beneficiaries.
In addition to prohibiting debts, the text creates an active search mechanism to locate people who have been harmed. The INSS may use audits by control bodies, complaint records, administrative complaints, legal actions and formal requests for exclusion of discounts as a basis for identifying irregularities.
When an undue discount is found, the responsible entity or financial institution will have up to 30 days to fully return the amount to the beneficiary. If this does not happen, the INSS will be responsible for making direct reimbursement and, subsequently, legally charging the amount from the association or bank involved.
The law also tightens the rules for payroll loans. Hiring now requires biometric authentication or qualified electronic signature, eliminating the possibility of agreements signed exclusively over the phone. After the credit is formalized, the social security benefit will be automatically blocked for new operations, requiring a specific unblocking procedure for any future contracting.
The new legal framework comes after the advancement of investigations by the Federal Police and the General Comptroller of the Union, which in April 2025 launched Operation Without Discount. The investigation investigates a scheme of irregular discounts on social security benefits that would have caused an estimated loss of R$6.3 billion between 2019 and 2024.
With the sanction, the government seeks to reinforce the protection of retirees and pensioners, reduce gaps for fraud in the social security system and increase the accountability of entities that act irregularly on the income of INSS beneficiaries.
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