Retirement Property Act

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Basic data
Title: Law to reform the
statutory pension insurance
and to promote
funded pension assets
Short title: Retirement Property Act
Abbreviation: AVmG
Type: Federal law
Scope: Federal Republic of Germany
Legal matter: Social law , civil law , tax law
Issued on: June 26, 2001 ( BGBl. I p. 1310 )
Entry into force on: predominantly January 1, 2002
Last change by: Art. 7 G of December 20, 2001
( Federal Law Gazette I p. 3858, 3877 )
Effective date of the
last change:
December 25, 2001
(Art. 12 para. 1 G of December 20, 2001)
GESTA : G064
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.
Basic data
Title: Law to supplement the
law to reform the
statutory pension scheme
and to promote
funded pension assets
Short title: Retirement Assets Supplementation Act
Abbreviation: AVmEG
Type: Federal law
Scope: Federal Republic of Germany
Legal matter: Social law , civil law , tax law
Issued on: March 21, 2001 ( BGBl. I p. 403 )
Entry into force on: January 1, 2002
Last change by: Art. 1 G of July 17, 2001 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1598 )
Effective date of the
last change:
July 23, 2001
GESTA : G061
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The Retirement Assets Act (AVmG) and the Retirement Assets Supplementation Act (AVmEG) brought about a paradigm shift within statutory pension insurance in Germany. The aim of the law package from AVmG / AVmEG was "to keep pension insurance affordable for the younger generation in the long term and to secure an adequate standard of living for them in old age".

For this purpose, the contribution rate was limited to its maximum level until 2030. The consequence of limiting the contribution rate was the lowering of the pension level. In order to restabilize this, a private and state-sponsored supplementary pension , the so-called Riester pension , was introduced and the company pension scheme improved. The pay-as-you-go pension system was thus supplemented by a funded pension scheme.

Retirement Assets Act and Retirement Assets Supplementation Act

In the course of the deliberations in the Bundestag, the original draft of the AVmG was split into two parts.

  1. Those parts that did not require the approval of the Federal Council remained in the AVmG (law on the reform of the statutory pension insurance and the promotion of funded pension assets - dated June 26, 2001 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1310 ))
  2. The parts of the draft law requiring approval were the AVmEG (law to supplement the law on reforming statutory pension insurance and promoting funded pension assets - of March 21, 2001 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 403 ))

The changes described below relate to the entire legislative package without explicitly specifying which of the two parts was used to implement the change.

Essential content

Contribution rate cap

The core element of the paradigm shift pursued with the legislative package was the definition of an upper limit for the contribution rate to the statutory pension insurance ( Section 154 (3) SGB VI). This should not rise above 20 percent by 2020 and not above 22 percent by 2030. Before this model was implemented, the level of benefits was always determined politically, with the result that the contribution rate rose accordingly for reasons of financial feasibility. That would have meant that, according to projections at the time, a contribution rate of 24 to 26 percent would have been expected in 2030. By capping the contribution rate, the federal government took on the obligation to draw up a suitable catalog of measures by means of which interventions would be made if the limit of 22 percent was reached. The complexity of this task led to the formation of the Rürup Commission , a body to which the later RV Sustainability Act fell back.

Pension adjustment

The (re) coupling of pensions to gross wages was also implemented . Up until then, the pension adjustment on the basis of the net wage development (income development minus tax and social security contributions), which took place from January 1, 1992, remained politically very controversial. A modified gross wage adjustment was therefore introduced. The factors of the development of the average gross wages, the changes in the contribution rate and a fictitious pension component were incorporated into this. The focus was on maintaining the long-term contribution rate target while lowering the contribution rate for the present. Since the pension level was reduced by around five percent, a gradual increase in the pension contributions in the Riester contracts should harmonize the compensation.

Promotion of private and company pension schemes

To compensate for the losses in the statutory pension insurance, the insured are recommended to make additional private and / or company provisions.

Riester funding

Primarily it should be made possible that on a voluntary basis everyone who is compulsorily insured for the statutory pension insurance should be allowed to build up a supplementary pension through a funded, state-subsidized old-age provision. Since 2002, private old-age provision has been supported by tax breaks and / or old-age provision allowances (see Riester pension ).

Entitlement to deferred compensation in the company pension scheme

As part of the occupational pension law ( § 1a BetrAVG) one was in the operational area of the pension entitlement on deferred compensation created. This is promoted in such a way that contributions of up to four percent of the assessment ceiling of the statutory pension insurance can be exempt from tax and social security contributions (so-called "gross wage conversion"). In accordance with §§ 10a, 79 ff. EStG, this funding was extended to company Riester funding.

Certified investment products

In addition, it was determined which of the eligible products (so-called certified pension products ) must be complied with. The certification guidelines therefore contain requirements for pension payment, inheritance and the possibility of partial capitalization of the pension assets. Questions of profitability and sustainability of the financial products are not taken into account. The following investment options are eligible for funding: certified classic and unit-linked pension insurance, fund savings plans , bank savings plans that are converted into pension insurance at the start of retirement, through which the payout then takes place, and building society contracts and resident loans. Within the company pension scheme , the implementation channels of the pension fund , the pension fund and direct insurance in accordance with Section 3 No. 63 EStG can be used (Sections 10a, 79 ff. EStG).

Improved pension information

An improved information service was set up on the part of the pension insurance company. Since then, the pension insurance institutions have been sending current pension information to the insured in accordance with Section 109 SGB ​​VI a few years before the expected start of retirement . The pension information gives the insured person information about the current pension entitlements. In addition, all insured persons who have reached the age of 27 and who have contributed periods of at least 5 years (60 calendar months) receive annual pension information.

Basic security in old age and with full disability

The basic security in old age and in the case of reduced earning capacity was created ( § 41  ff. SGB ​​XII ), whereby demand-oriented social benefits have existed in Germany since January 1, 2003 to ensure the necessary livelihood.

Survivor's pensions

The regulations for survivors' pensions have also been fundamentally revised. Apart from the protection of legitimate expectations for insured persons born before January 2, 1962, the following changes apply to all marriages / civil partnerships who died after 2002:

Evaluation of child consideration times and non-gainful care of a child

Furthermore, an assessment of the time taken into account for children and the periods of non-gainful care for a child was introduced. This applies to insured persons who have at least 25 years of insurance at the start of retirement, namely if:

  1. Contribution periods from employment and child care periods or periods of care for a child under 18 coincide; your own contributions for these times are increased by 50 percent, but no more than 0.0278 earnings points per calendar month.
  2. For at least two children, there are parallel periods of consideration and / or periods of care for a child under 18 years of age; For these times, 0.0278 pay points are credited per calendar month - pay points according to 1.) have priority and are deducted from the points determined according to 2.).

The additional earnings points together with the earnings points from contribution periods and child-rearing periods for the same calendar months must not exceed 0.0833 earnings points. Otherwise the additional points will be reduced accordingly or will be omitted completely. With 1.) the pension is continued according to the minimum earnings points, but limited to the group of child-rearing parents.

literature

  • Andreas Lauth, Old Age Property Act: Materials and explanations on the new funding. Taking into account the Tax Amendment Act 2001 and the Supply Amendment Act 2001, Verlag Versicherungswirtschaft, August 19, 2002 - 414 pages, ISBN 3-88487-970-7
  • Eichenhofer, Herbert Rische, Schmähl: Handbook of Statutory Pension Insurance - SGB VI, 2nd edition, Luchterhand, Cologne, 2012, 922 pages, ISBN 978-3-472-08052-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Draft law of the AVmG on Bundestag printed paper 14/4595.
  2. Law on the Reform of Statutory Pension Insurance and on the Promotion of Capital-Covered Pension Assets (Old Age Assets Act - AVmG) ( Memento of the original of July 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jurion.de
  3. Law to supplement the law on the reform of the statutory pension insurance and the promotion of funded old-age provision assets (Old Age Assets Supplementation Act - AVmEG) ( Memento of the original of July 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jurion.de
  4. SGB ​​XII: Fourth chapter: Basic security in old age and with reduced earning capacity