As of: February 17, 2024, 11:53 a.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
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Retirees with low pensions should benefit from the basic pension.
If couples get married, this could have a negative impact on their basic pension payments.
Bremen – According to the Federal Statistical Office, more than seven million pensioners in Germany have less than 1,250 euros net per month for living expenses.
In total, that is more than 42 percent of all pension recipients in the country, as shown by the survey at the request of the left-wing MP Dietmar Bartsch.
The Tagesschau
and the
Editorial Network Germany (RND)
first reported on this in January 2024
.
In order to enable pensioners with particularly low pension benefits to retire in dignity, the basic pension was introduced in 2021.
It is intended to subsidize low pensions with a surcharge that the pension insurance calculates individually.
According to the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, around 1.1 million retirees in Germany received basic pensions in 2022.
On average, they are paid around 86 euros per month.
To be eligible for the basic pension, employees must have paid into the pension fund for at least 33 years.
In addition, their regular old-age pension must be below the subsistence level.
However, the basic pension supplement is not set as a flat rate, but is determined individually by the pension insurance company after an examination of the insurance biography.
There are allowances: up to a creditable income of currently 1,317 euros for single people and 2,055 euros for couples (in 2023), no income test is carried out.
Plenty of criticism of the annual recalculation of the basic pension
The income check is carried out annually at the beginning of the year based on data that the pension insurance company receives from the tax offices.
But the annual recalculation is controversial.
To the annoyance of many consumers, it can also have a negative impact on pension benefits.
For example, when unmarried couples decide to get married.
Pension expert and lawyer Peter Knöppel reported to the
Gegen-Hartz.de
platform about a case in which an affected person had her monthly pension reduced by 60 euros as of January 1, 2024.
The reason is that her spouse's income was counted towards her own basic pension.
Knöppel considers this crediting to be unconstitutional because it encroaches on the rights of the spouse affected by the income crediting according to Article 14 of the Basic Law.
In addition, such a calculation is “contrary to the system,” says Knöppel, when it comes to the general pension model.
The statutory pension does not allow the income or additional earnings of one spouse to be taken into account against the statutory pension entitlements of the other spouse.
Such credits are provided for in state welfare, a different system than that of pensions; after all, the basic pension entitlement comes from SGB VI and not from welfare.
Pension experts warn that married couples are at a disadvantage when it comes to basic pensions
Pension expert Knöppel also points out that spouses are treated unequally when it comes to basic pensions.
Unmarried couples living together declare their income for the basic pension separately.
The income of one non-marital partner therefore has no impact on the calculation of the basic pension amount of the other partner.
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An elderly couple sits on a park bench.
© IMAGO/RAINER UNKEL
However, if couples get married, the spouse's income is also used to calculate the amount of the basic pension.
In this respect, a marriage could quickly lead to a spouse exceeding the existing basic pension exemption amount through the marriage - and would therefore have to expect reductions in the basic pension subsidy.
Among other things, Knöppel calls for social courts up to the Federal Social Court to examine whether it is even permissible to count income against the basic pension.
Social associations have been criticizing annual income tests for a long time - the traffic light coalition also has doubts
Criticism of the income test also comes from the German Social Association (SoVD).
For those affected, it could not only lead to pension cuts, but also to growing uncertainty.
The association also emphasizes that the income test can reduce the circle of those entitled to a relationship and also leads to considerable additional bureaucratic effort.
The SoVD board chairwoman Michaela Engelmeier calls for the income test to be dispensed with in order not to further burden people with low pensions: “Right now - in a phase of high inflation - the income test for the basic pension must at least be suspended, or ideally canceled completely.
Otherwise, the well-intentioned idea of a basic pension will only lead to a further loss of trust in the statutory pension – but also in the state.”
On Monday (February 12, 2024) it became known that parts of the traffic light coalition are increasingly doubting the annual income test as part of property tax eligibility.
The reason for this is not only the additional bureaucratic effort caused by the income verification, but also that the costs significantly exceed the benefits of the verification.
Added to this is the time-consuming and complicated examination process, which could lead the federal government to introduce changes to the basic pension for pensioners in the future.
(Fabian Hartmann)