Up to 40,000 euros tax deductible a year / Allowance can still be used for top-up payments to year end / Further benefit: level of pension payout will be increased sustainably.
People saving for their pensions and who are already taking advantage of basic pension concessions but have not yet used their full tax allowance should make sure that they get further tax benefits on additional contributions made up to the end of the year. In the framework of the basic pension, clients can set 66% of their pension contributions against tax, up to a maximum of €20,000 per annum, with this figure rising to €40,000 for married couples.
Example: a self-employed painter, 30 years old, has invested €300 per month in a unit-linked basic pension this year, making a total of €3,600. Previously, he would have been able to set €2,376 of this against tax. At a personal tax rate of 35%, this gives a tax concession of €832. As business was good in 2008, he has more latitude for his pension provision and invests an additional one-off contribution of €10,000 in his basic pension. This brings an additional tax concession of €2,310, making a total of €3,142 paid into his pension for him by the state. A further benefit: this top-up payment means that the pension he will later receive for the rest of his life will be €474 a month higher.
"For the self-employed and freelancers, the basic pension is the only way to get help from the State when preparing for retirement", explains Christian Jaffke, pensions expert with Delta Lloyd. "Additional contributions at year's end offer this target group additional flexibility in their pension provision, whilst considerably increasing their pension payout levels. This means that every basic pension saver should find out before the end of the year whether they have used up their full tax allowance."
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Further information:
Martina Fassbender
Telephone: 0611 773 25 71
Fax: 0611 773 14 25 71
E-mail: martina.fassbender@deltalloyd.de
Internet: www.deltalloyd.de
Notes to editors:
About Delta Lloyd
Delta Lloyd Deutschland is a 100%-owned subsidiary of the Delta Lloyd Groep, Amsterdam, and therefore part of the British Aviva Group. The company provides a wide range of financial, investment and provident products from a single source, as well as providing expert consultancy on all financial issues. In addition to Delta Lloyd Leben and Hamburger Leben, a pension fund and a consultancy for occupational pension schemes respectively, the Delta Lloyd Group in Germany also comprises the private bank Gries & Heissel and a mortgage broker.