STF consolidates the end of the thesis that included contributions prior to the Real Plan in the retirement calculation
The Federal Supreme Court concluded on Friday (June 19, 2026) the trial of the review of whole life at the INSS (National Social Security Institute) and rejected, by 7 votes to 3, the last appeal on the subject, presented by the CNTM (National Confederation of Metal Workers). Here’s the (PDF — 94KB).
As a result, the INSS cannot consider contributions made before July 1994, the start date of the Real Plan, when calculating pensions. The whole life review was a thesis that allowed policyholders to incorporate contribution wages prior to that date into the calculation of their benefits.
There is no possibility of new appeals against the decision.
VOTING AND DIVERGENCE
The majority of ministers followed rapporteur Nunes Marques, who voted to reject the appeal. He stated that the controversy had already been extensively analyzed by the court and that the STF had in May. Alexandre de Moraes, Cármen Lúcia, Cristiano Zanin, Gilmar Mendes, Flávio Dino and Luiz Fux followed this understanding.
The divergence was opened by Minister Dias Toffoli, who proposed maintaining the effects of the review for policyholders who entered the Court from December 16, 2019 to April 5, 2024, an interval between the consolidation of the thesis in favor of retirees in the Superior Court of Justice and its subsequent overturn by the STF.
Toffoli was accompanied by the president of the Court, Edson Fachin, and minister André Mendonça, but was defeated.
BILLIONAIRE IMPACT
If social security contributions prior to the Real Plan could be used in this recalculation, the retirement value would be increased for some Brazilians.
The Union estimated the impact of the lifetime review to be worth R$480 billion, considering an average of another 15 years for each beneficiary who applied the correction to retirements and pensions, including retroactive payments.
Lawyers for retiree entities in opinions sent to the STF during the process.
COURT’S UNDERSTANDING
In March 2024, the Supreme that retirees do not have the right to opt for the most favorable rule for benefit recalculation. The decision annulled another Court deliberation, from 2022, which was in favor of reviewing the entire life.
The Supreme Court’s final decision reaffirms the rules of a pension reform carried out in 1999, which excluded contributions prior to the Real Plan with the intention of avoiding distortions proven by the high inflation of that period.
The main point validated by the Court is the so-called social security factor, a formula used to increase the value of retirement according to contribution time. The change was created by article 3 of the .
The social security factor determines that:
- For those who contributed to Social Security until the day before the date of publication of the Social Security Benefit Law, published on November 26, 1999, the retirement amount will take into account the average of the highest contribution salaries, corresponding to at least 80% of what was contributed since July 1994.
For those who started contributing after the 1999 law and met the requirements to retire by November 12, 2019, the average is calculated based on the 80% highest salaries during the contribution period. After the 2019 pension reform, as a rule, the value began to be defined based on the simple average of all contributions made by the insured person since July 1994.
RETIREES DO NOT NEED TO RETURN
In April 2025, the Supreme Court had already that INSS policyholders who have already received amounts through court decisions based on the whole life review, until April 5, 2024, will not have to return this money.
The Court also exempted the beneficiaries from bearing the procedural costs of the actions, such as lawyer fees and expenses for accounting expertise.
