200px, Example SNILS card with account number highlighted. These cards are no longer issued since 4 April 2019.
Individual insurance account number (SNILS) is a number issued and used by the
Pension Fund of the Russian Federation
The Pension Fund of the Russian Federation (PFR) (russian: Пенсионный фонд Российской Федерации (ПФР)) is the principal national pension fund in Russia. It is the largest organization of Russia to provide soci ...
to residents of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
for the purpose of tracking their
social security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
accounts. SNILS is required for the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation to organize personal information about an employee and the amounts contributed by an employer to an employee's
individual retirement account
An individual retirement account (IRA) in the United States is a form of pension provided by many financial institutions that provides tax advantages for retirement savings. It is a trust that holds investment assets purchased with a taxpayer's ear ...
in respect of a future pension. SNILS is used universally as a primary personal number within the
Government of Russia
The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...
. Anyone residing in Russia on a permanent basis may apply for a number and an application can also be filed on behalf of a child at birth.
SNILS format is "123-456-789 12" where the first 9 characters can be any digits and the final two are a
checksum
A checksum is a small-sized block of data derived from another block of digital data for the purpose of detecting errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage. By themselves, checksums are often used to verify data ...
. The number is unique to each person. An individual's personal account contains all the data on insurance contributions accrued and paid by employers throughout a person's active employment. This is subsequently taken into consideration when pension benefits are first determined or adjusted. An insurance number is assigned automatically to simplify and expedite the process for determining an insurance retirement benefit.
The number used to be issued on a green plastic card, but since 4 April 2019 cards issuance was suspended and nowadays it is issued in electronic form only, while cards issued before this date are still valid. Anyone looking to get legal employment in Russia or to apply for
welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
must have one.
Law enforcement in Russia
National identity cards by country
Government of Russia
National identification numbers
Unique identifiers
Social security in Russia
{{Russia-gov-stub
