The mechanisms for paying in Voluntary Social Security Savings continue to be Voluntary Contributions and Agreed Deposits. The concept of "APV Deposits" has been included, and these can be made in authorized institutions and are equivalent to the voluntary contribution paid in the AFPs.

Workers may pay voluntary contributions into their individual capitalization account in any of the AFP' s funds or make voluntary social security savings deposits in the savings plans offered by banks, life insurance companies and managers of mutual funds, investment funds and housing funds.

The voluntary social security savings deposits may be made directly in the authorized institutions or in the AFP. In this latter case, the worker must instruct the AFP as to the institutions to which the aforementioned deposits are to be transferred. If they are made directly in the authorized institution then that institution shall be responsible for collection.

Workers may transfer part or all of the resources that they keep in the voluntary social security savings plans to an authorized institution or the AFP, as also those originating in agreed deposits and voluntary contributions. The worker may keep money from voluntary savings in more than one AFP.

Pension Reform

The Pension Reform contains several changes concerning voluntary pension saving. One of the most important is the bonus that will be given by the government to encourage saving in sectors of the population with middle-to-low incomes, whose wages are either not subject to income tax or have a low rate.

The government bonus will be equivalent to 15% of everything saved voluntarily by the member in a calendar year, provided that those funds are earmarked for pensions.

The 15% bonus includes two limits: it cannot exceed six Unidades Tributarias Mensuales (6 UTM) in each calendar year, a sum currently equivalent to $217,000.

In order to aspire to receive the maximum bonus, the member must save, voluntarily, an annual amount of $1,450,000.

Another condition is that these voluntary savings cannot be more than ten times the mandatory contributions paid by the worker within the calendar year.