SSS retirement requirements and how to file your claim

You can claim your SSS retirement pension when you have 120 monthly contributions before the semester you retire and you are 60 and no longer working or self-employed, or 65 (RA 11199 Sec. 12-B). Employees, self-employed and voluntary members and land-based OFWs file online through My.SSS. Before filing, by any channel, you need an approved disbursement account, or a UMID card enrolled as an ATM card, because that is where the pension goes.

Documents you need

For an online claim, My.SSS asks for what applies to you as you go. Proof depends on your situation (SSS retirement page and SSS Circular 2021-021):

• Voluntary members and OFWs: no proof that you stopped working is needed.
• Employees aged 60 to 64 who paid contributions in the 12 months before retiring: SSS asks your last employer to confirm your separation date online through its own My.SSS account. With no contributions in the last 12 months, no certificate of separation is needed.
• Self-employed members aged 60 to 64: you confirm online, with an undertaking, the date you stopped your business.

For a claim filed over the counter, SSS lists:

• the Retirement Claim Application form (or the version under the Portability Law)
• the member’s photo and signature card, if you have no UMID card
• your preferred disbursement account: a bank account with a PESONet bank, or an e-wallet such as Maya or GCash
• your ID cards or documents
• for employees aged 60 to 64: a certificate of separation from your last employer, or SSS’s affidavit of separation with undertaking

If someone files for you, they bring two valid IDs each for you and them, or a letter of authority or special power of attorney signed by you. It must be dated within 6 months if signed in the Philippines, or within 1 year if signed abroad.

Filing online, step by step

1. Register in My.SSS, if you have not. See My.SSS online registration.
2. Enrol a disbursement account. In My.SSS, open the Disbursement Account Enrollment Module (DAEM) under E-Services and add a bank account, e-wallet or cash payout outlet. Wait for SSS to approve it.
3. Apply. Under the E-Services tab, in the Benefits section, choose Apply for Retirement Benefit.
4. Fill in the form and upload the documents it asks for.
5. Choose monthly or the 18-month advance, if you want it. You can only choose the advance when you first file.
6. Submit and watch your email. SSS emails you to confirm it received the claim, about your employer’s confirmation if you were employed, and when it approves or rejects the claim.

SSS publishes this only as a short description, not a screen-by-screen guide, so the screens may differ a little.

Filing from abroad

Land-based OFWs file online like everyone else, from wherever they are. The rest of SSS’s rules for overseas claims:

• Documents from another country need an English translation. Embassy or consulate authentication is not needed if an SSS foreign representative receives and signs them.
• An SSS foreign representative can accept a photocopy with translation if you do not have the original.
• SSS offers a pension account abroad for overseas Filipinos, former Filipinos with foreign citizenship and foreign nationals.

Some claims cannot be filed online and go to an SSS branch or foreign representative office, including:

• claims under a bilateral social security agreement with the country you worked in, or under the Portability Law
• claims with a dependent child under guardianship
• claims by a member who is incapacitated or under guardianship
• claims with certain old SSS loans still unpaid

Once you are a pensioner living abroad, you confirm each year that you are alive: see SSS ACOP for pensioners abroad.

After you file

• The result. SSS emails you when it approves or rejects the claim. The 2026 SSS Citizen’s Charter gives 17 working days for a claim filed over the counter. SSS gives no figure for online claims.
• Lump sum or monthly. If you chose the 18-month advance, you get that first, then the monthly pension from the 19th month. Weigh it up in lump sum or monthly pension.
• The first payment. It goes to your enrolled UMID ATM card or disbursement account. SSS takes any unpaid short-term member loans out of the benefit first, in full.
• Working again. If you go back to work or self-employment before 65, SSS suspends the pension.

How much you will receive is explained in the SSS pension guide, and the rest of SSS in the SSS guide for OFWs. We can’t file a claim for you or speed one up; only SSS handles claims. Never send your SS number or ID to anyone who offers to.