Brazil's INSS faces new retirement age rules and court-mandated overhaul of benefit automation

In 2026 Brazil's Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS) will apply the general retirement rule that requires women to be at least 62 years old with 15 years of contributions and men to be at least 65 with 20 years of contributions. Transitional provisions remain for workers who contributed before the 2019 pension reform, including progressive age thresholds (women 59 ½, men 64 ½) and point systems (93 points for women, 103 for men).

The Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) ordered the INSS to revise its automatic benefit‑granting system within 180 days. The court said the current system, based on the Prisma platform from the 1990s, often ignores pending employment links and fails to notify workers of needed corrections, leading to inequitable payouts. The TCU urged adoption of newer technologies, improved notification procedures, and reduction of geographic disparities in automated approvals.