Retiring in Slovakia: Residence, Pension Taxation, the S1 Form and Cost of Living

French nationals stay less than 90 days in Slovakia with a valid passport or a national identity card valid at least for the length of the stay (France Diplomatie). Beyond that, they register in person with the foreign police of the place of residence, with a valid passport and proof of address. Your Europe sums up the conditions for a retiree: full health insurance and sufficient income to live without financial assistance.

• Deadline and no charge: official Slovak sources give a deadline of 30 days after the three months of stay, and registration is free; a receipt is issued on the day a complete file is submitted (slovensko.sk, IOM).
• Proof of address: a notarised lease in the applicant’s name, or a hotel or hostel certificate; failing that, the municipality of stay is entered as the address (slovensko.sk).
• Amount of resources: the official pages consulted set no figure; the administration assesses each situation, and a pension statement eases the file.
• Optional residence card: an EU citizen is not required to apply for one; a card valid for ten years is possible, at a fee of €10 or €39 depending on the processing speed (IOM).
• Permanent residence: after five years of legal and uninterrupted residence (IOM, europa.eu).

The page on living in Slovakia details the documents and registration with the consular register.

France applies to Slovakia the convention signed in Paris with Czechoslovakia on 1 June 1973, in force since 25 January 1975 and maintained with respect to Slovakia by an exchange of letters in 1996 (BOFiP, impots.gouv.fr). A consolidated version, which incorporates the multilateral BEPS convention, is published on impots.gouv.fr.

• Private pensions and social security pensions (Article 19): subject to paragraph 1 of Article 20, pensions, including social security pensions, and other similar remuneration paid to a person domiciled in a State in respect of past employment are taxable only in that State. For a retiree domiciled in Slovakia, the French social security pension therefore falls to Slovakia according to the text of the convention. The return to be filed should be confirmed with the French and Slovak administrations.
• Public pensions (Article 20): remuneration, including pensions, paid by a State for services rendered to that State in the exercise of functions of a public nature is taxable in that State, except for people domiciled in the other State who hold its nationality. A former French civil servant domiciled in Slovakia therefore remains taxed in France.
• Slovak scale: income tax follows a progressive scale; the rates, thresholds and the rules applicable to a foreign pension should be checked with the Slovak financial administration.
• French levies: with tax residence outside France, the health contribution of 3.2% (basic pension) and 4.2% (supplementary pension) applies to general scheme pensions, and 7.1% to those of the self-employed; with tax residence in France, the CSG, CRDS and CASA apply (CLEISS).

The guide on receiving your pension abroad details the payment of pensions outside France. Individual advice lets you check the returns to be filed in each country.

A retiree who receives only a French pension, settles permanently or for more than six months a year in Slovakia and does not work there requests the S1 from their pension fund (the CNAV, the national old-age insurance fund, for the general scheme; the public finance directorate for foreign residents for State pensioners), preferably before leaving (CLEISS). They register it on arrival with a Slovak health insurance company of their choice and receive a card bearing the mention “EU”, which opens the same range of care as a Slovak insured person (slovensko.sk). VšZP specifies that the company checks residence and decides on registration, and that actual residence is decisive for this document.

• No local contribution: CLEISS indicates that no contribution to the local scheme is withheld, as the French pension already bears levies.
• Care in France: the holder stays covered in France and can be treated there for any reason, under French rules (CLEISS).
• Care pathway: GP of free choice, can be changed every six months, referral to specialists except gynaecologist, dentist, ophthalmologist, dermatovenereologist and psychiatrist (CLEISS); see the Slovak healthcare system and the page on healthcare reimbursement.
• Dental and medicines: some dental care and part of the medicines remain at the patient’s expense; supplementary cover can fill the gap.

To complement this with first-euro cover or wider access to the private sector, Expavy helps you compare the options; see also the page on retirement insurance abroad.

CLEISS indicates that the Slovak minimum pension, introduced in 2015 for insured people who have contributed for at least 30 years, reaches 136% of the poverty threshold for 30 years of contributions: this figure shows the level of local retirees’ incomes, without setting a budget for a French retiree.

• Housing: rents and prices vary between Bratislava, Košice and small towns; the Slovak statistics office publishes the reference statistics. A notarised lease serves as proof of address.
• Health: an average patient share of 10% to 14% on certain prescribed medicines and partly paid dental care (CLEISS) justify setting aside a budget; the guide on budgeting for health abroad helps put a figure on it.
• Currency: the euro, with no exchange-rate risk for a pension paid in euros.
• Heating: the winters at altitude justify an energy budget, to be asked about with the landlord.

Bratislava concentrates health services, the French embassy and the French school; Košice offers a calmer setting and a hospital and university hub in the east. France Diplomatie flags regular pickpocketing on public transport and at the capital’s tourist sites, and recommends leaving identity documents in the hotel safe and carrying photocopies.

In the mountain national parks, France Diplomatie reminds that some 1,200 bears live in Slovakia, that attacks have been reported, including in inhabited areas, and that warning signs should be respected and marked paths followed; tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease concern stays in rural or wooded areas. A trial stay of a full season, winter included, before signing a long lease limits unpleasant surprises; learning Slovak eases social life.

Periods completed in France and Slovakia are added together to open entitlement: the guide on quarters worked abroad explains the aggregation. According to CLEISS, the statutory age is 63 years and 4 months for childless insured people born in 1962, rising to 64 for the 1966 cohort and then linked to life expectancy: 64 years and 1 month for the 1967 cohort.

• Minimum period: 15 years of insurance for the first-pillar pension (CLEISS).
• Early retirement: at the earliest two years before the statutory age, with a reduction of 0.5% per 30-day period of anticipation (CLEISS).
• Minimum pension: introduced in 2015, it is for insured people who have reached the statutory age and contributed for at least 30 years; it reaches 136% of the poverty threshold for 30 years of contributions (CLEISS).
• Second pillar: funded, managed by private funds, with voluntary membership up to age 35 (CLEISS).

• Request the S1 from your pension fund, for yourself and for each family member concerned, and notify the French funds of the change of address and payment account.
• Register with the foreign police within 30 days after the three months of stay, with proof of address.
• Register the S1 with the chosen health insurance company, then register with a general practitioner.
• Register on the register of French nationals living abroad with the embassy in Bratislava.
• Declare the social security pension under the tax convention, after checking which State taxes it.

In the event of a return to France, the insured person contacts the last health insurance fund they came under: the page on returning to France details the steps.