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Nearly 20 years ago, the then red-green federal government reformed the statutory pension, cut future pensions and introduced the Riester pension. Employees and civil servants were to provide with the Riester pension privately for old age - with state support. Every quarter, the Federal Ministry of Labor publishes the number of Riester contracts that have not yet been terminated, the most recent being 16.6 million.
But how many Riester pensioners are there already?
A statistic on the basis of reliable data is only under construction, it said this week from the Ministry of Labor. By the end of last year, providers had notified a total of 268,000 Riester pensioners, to whom they regularly paid pensions. There will be a lot more in the meantime. One can therefore assume that already today more people receive a Riester pension than Magdeburg or Erfurt residents have. Maybe even the 300,000 who live in Bonn or Münster today.
But that is not all who have already received money from the state-subsidized system. Several hundred thousand Riester pensioners had saved sums of money until retirement that were small enough to pay off in one fell swoop.
The legislature has set a monthly maximum pension in the Social Security Code (§ 18 SGB IV), which is raised a little each year. If you do not exceed this maximum pension at the beginning of your retirement, you can choose the one-time payment instead of paying a small amount pension. In 2019, this monthly small amount limit is 31.15 euros.
- The largest Riester provider Union Investment with 1.8 million contracts get around 30,000 savers a pension, just as many have paid off the money so far.
- With the Aachen Munich insurance (1.4 million contracts) get 27,300 Riester savers already a pension, 35,500 have come to terms with the small amount pension.
- Even with the R & V insurance and the Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS have so far more Riester pensioners pulled the small amount variant than the monthly pension.
The question about the tax
If there is only one question: what about the taxes? Because the payments into the Riester pension contracts were tax-free, payout at retirement age are therefore taxable. And who in his last year of gainful employment, for example, earns 40,000 euros and then gets another 10,000 euros one-off amount for the Riester pension, tax would be very nice to checkout.
However, the legislature has found the possibility of a soft landing. Since early 2018, Riester savers can push their small amount pension with the blessing of the tax office into the first full retirement year; in other words, the year in which you no longer have to pay tax on the € 40,000 income, but perhaps only € 18,000 in statutory pensions, part of which is also paid tax-free.
In addition, the Riester taxpayer may also fifth his compensation, so pretend for the determination of the tax rate, as if he would have received only one-fifth of the payment. The tax is then calculated for this fifth and then simply multiplied by five for the whole sum. If a little more than 300 euros of tax are payable for the first 2,000 euros, there will be no more than 1,500 to 1,600 euros for 10,000 euros. The effect of tax progression is hampered by this fifth rule.
Important for all budding Riester pensioners: If the small pension for you in question, agree with your Riester provider that the sum will be paid only in the year after retirement - and save a lot of taxes.
Even more important is such an agreement for a second group of Riester pensioners. Namely for those who get a higher pension, but still want to pay off a part of it right at the beginning.
Even that works: Who goes into retirement, may withdraw 30 percent of the sum that he has saved in his Riester contract, all at once. Only the remainder is then paid out as a monthly pension. If, for example, 40,000 euros have arrived in the Riester treaty, then you should take 12,000 euros. The remaining 28,000 euros would then use the provider to calculate a monthly pension until the end of life.
Both the € 12,000 one-time payment and the then slightly lower monthly Riester pension payments, the personal tax rate is due. Finally, Riester savers benefited during the Ansparphase of government allowances and possibly higher special expenses. Also in this case, it is better to postpone the payment of the first large installment and thus the start of the Riester pension in the year after retirement.
It is even more important in this case. The 30-percent-removal is not allowed to fifth, so it is a higher tax rate than the small amount pension. Who in the year of retirement instead of the 40,000 euros then 52,000 euros would have to pay, as a single loses quickly 3000 euros or more in taxes. This could be significantly reduced in the following year, the first full year with a pension and no salary.
Take the providers at their word
Up to 20 percent of Riester pensioners are currently making use of the option of a one-off payment for the insurance customers of R & V, Provinzial or Aachen München, while the investment company Union Investment owns 30 percent and the fund company DWS even 62 percent.
The chance to get their pension paid by a shift only a few months as little as possible, but many Riester savers is not yet clear. Most companies have written me this week that you make this possible for your customers.
Dear Readers, If you soon get paid a Riester contract, take the providers at their word.