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You are preparing the start of your pension

Retiring

Understand how pensions are taxed, compute the standard retirement age, the earliest start, the pension amount, the buy-back of reductions and the taxable share, clear up your insurance account, and apply for the pension and pensioners' health insurance: 11 steps.

Start here: Taxation of pensions in Germany

Understand: taxation of statutory and civil-service pensions

  1. Step 1 of 11
    CoursePaid individually60 min

    Taxation of pensions in Germany

    A statutory pension starting in 2026 is 84 percent taxable, a private life annuity from age 67 only 17 percent, and every later pension increase counts in full, because the tax-free portion is frozen in euros. The second module covers civil-service pensions with a pension allowance of 12.8 percent, capped at 960 € plus a 288 € supplement, and the old-age relief amount of at most 608 €. The third covers Riester: 175 € basic allowance, 300 € per child, a 4 percent minimum own contribution and the 2,100 € special-expense deduction. Three modules, each with a fully worked case study.

Compute: standard retirement age, early pension, pension amount, compensation payment, taxable share

  1. Step 2 of 11
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    German state pension age — when does your standard old-age pension start?

    Anyone born in 1964 or later reaches the standard retirement age at 67. For those born 1947 to 1963 it rises step by step from 65 years and one month to 66 years and ten months. The pension starts in the month after the age is reached — or in the birthday month itself for people born on the first of a month.
  2. Step 3 of 11
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    German early retirement at 63 — earliest start and pension reduction

    With a 35-year qualifying period the old-age pension can start early from age 63; each month before the pension age lowers the access factor by 0.003, so the pension by 0.3 per cent — at most 14.4 per cent over four years. With 45 years there is an unreduced pension from its own age (65 for those born from 1964), but it cannot be drawn early.
  3. Step 4 of 11
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    German state pension from pension points — the SGB VI s. 64 formula

    The monthly pension is the product of three factors: your personal pension points (points times the access factor), the pension-type factor (1.0 for old-age and full disability pensions, 0.5 for partial disability) and the current pension value.
  4. Step 5 of 11
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    Buying out the German early-retirement reduction — compensation payment under SGB VI s. 187a

    What is bought back are the pension points the reduction removes: points × (1 − access factor). Each lost point costs the contribution rate applied to the provisional average earnings — about EUR 9,661.58 in 2026 — divided by the access factor, because the point you buy back is itself reduced.
  5. Step 6 of 11
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    German pension taxation — taxable share and frozen exempt amount

    What is frozen is NOT the percentage but a euro amount. Every pension increase is therefore FULLY taxable, and the effective taxable share climbs above the table figure year after year. Applying the percentage to the CURRENT pension understates the income.

Apply: account clarification, reduction buy-back, pension application, pensioners' health insurance, health insurance subsidy

  1. Step 7 of 11
    FormFree40 min

    German pension account clarification: form V0100

    Close the gaps in your German pension record: jobs, studies from 17, child-raising, time abroad. Cooperation is a legal duty (§ 149(4) SGB VI), and six months without objection lead to a formal notice fixing the data. Who is concerned, deadlines, worked example and the completed form V0100.
  2. Step 8 of 11
    FormFree15 min

    Offsetting an early-retirement pension reduction: requesting the statement (V0210)

    Taking a German old-age pension early costs 0.3 per cent per month (section 77 SGB VI). From age 50 you can buy back that reduction with extra contributions — but only after the pension insurance has issued a statement calculating the amount. Eligibility, process, worked example and the completed form V0210.
  3. Step 9 of 11
    FormFree60 min

    Applying for a German old-age pension (Rentenantrag, form R0100)

    The German state pension does not start by itself: statutory pension benefits are paid only on application. Apply within three calendar months of meeting the conditions and the pension starts from the earliest possible month; apply later and it starts only from the month of the application. Which old-age pension, which deadline, a worked example and form R0100 filled in.
  4. Step 10 of 11
    FormFree30 min

    Pensioners' health insurance notification (KVdR, form R0810)

    Anyone applying for a German statutory pension files form R0810 for the health insurance fund with the application. Compulsory KVdR cover applies if you were statutorily insured for nine tenths of the second half of your working life — with three years credited per child. Conditions, worked example and the completed form R0810.
  5. Step 11 of 11
    FormFree20 min

    Applying for the pensioners' health insurance subsidy (form R0820)

    Pensioners voluntarily insured in the German statutory scheme or privately insured receive a subsidy from the pension insurer: half of the contribution that would fall on their pension — at most half of their actual costs if privately insured. Those compulsorily insured in the KVdR do not get it. Conditions, calculation, worked example and the completed form R0820.

The other paths

A different procedure, the same principle: the three pillars in order.

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