Riester pension

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Riester pension is a privately financed pension in Germany that is funded by state allowances and deduction of special expenses. The promotion was introduced by the Old Age Property Act (AVmG) 2002 and regulated in § 10a and § § 79 ff. Income Tax Act.

The designation "Riester pension" goes back to Walter Riester , who, as Federal Minister for Labor and Social Affairs , had proposed the promotion of voluntary old-age provision through an old-age provision allowance. A reason for which was the reform of the statutory pension insurance 2000/2001, in which the net replacement rate of the benchmark pensioner , an idealized social insurance employees, who is 45 years long has paid social security contributions had been reduced from 70% to 67%.

The verb "riestern" has become established in the public for the use of pension contracts funded in this way.

Eligible persons

The following persons who are subject to pension insurance ( Section 10a of the Income Tax Act) are entitled to a pension allowance , provided they are subject to unlimited tax liability. On the basis of a decision by the European Court of Justice (file number: C-269/07), employees who work in Germany but live abroad may be included in the group of insured persons. Until this decision, Riester savers had to repay the subsidy if they spent their retirement years abroad. The judges saw it as a violation of the free movement of workers within the EU .

Persons directly entitled to allowances

Indirectly eligible persons

Spouses or civil partners of those directly entitled to allowances also receive allowances if they pay at least 60 euros per calendar year into their own pension contract ( Section 79 sentence 2 EStG in the version applicable from January 1, 2012). The prerequisite is that they are not directly eligible for funding themselves, do not live permanently apart from their partner and both have their domicile or habitual abode in the European Union or the European Economic Area ( Section 79 sentence 2 EStG).

Anyone who does not raise EUR 60 per calendar year will not receive any allowance if they are indirectly entitled to an allowance ( Section 79 sentence 2 EStG in the version applicable from January 1, 2012). Up to and including 2011, no separate contributions were required for indirect entitlement to additional allowances ( Section 79 sentence 2 EStG in the version valid until December 31, 2011).

Persons not entitled to allowances

The following are not eligible:

  • self-employed persons not subject to pension insurance,
  • Compulsorily insured in professional care facilities (pharmacists, doctors, veterinarians, lawyers, tax consultants and architects - so-called chambered professions ),
  • Since 2013: marginally employed (450 euro job) who have objected to payment to the statutory pension insurance ,
  • Until the end of 2012: marginally insurance-free employees (€ 400 job) who do not top up the employer's contribution to the statutory pension insurance with their own contributions,
  • Age pensioners ,
  • Recipient of a pension due to partially reduced earning capacity without an employment relationship subject to pension insurance and
  • Students who are not subject to pension insurance.

Eligibility requirements

The funding can only be used for contributions to certified old-age provision contracts. The beneficiary may not use the saved funds in a harmful way before the payout phase . In addition, an application must be submitted in good time with the help of the provider .

Certified contract

The requirements for the certification of pension contracts ( see below ) by BaFin are in accordance with the German Pension Contract Certification Act :

  • At the start of payment, at least the sum of the contributions paid (personal contribution + state allowance) must be guaranteed,
  • Benefits may only be provided from the age of 60 at the earliest (if the contract is concluded from 2012: 62 years of age) (exception: professional groups with an earlier start of the statutory pension insurance, e.g. pilots and miners),
  • The benefit must be provided as a lifelong annuity, such as an annuity or payment plan that is linked to an annuity from the age of 85,
  • Acquisition and distribution costs must be spread over at least five years ( sometimes Zillmerization ),
  • The insurer must disclose acquisition, sales and administration costs as well as the status of the pension assets, the use of the contribution funds and investment aspects of the capital investment,
  • A quarterly notice of termination or retirement must be available,
  • Ongoing contribution payment.

The legal requirements can be met by:

Providers of fund savings plans and unit-linked annuity insurance must guarantee the preservation of capital. Since the guarantee cannot be represented by equity funds, fund companies and insurance companies use investment concepts in which bond funds with debtors with high credit ratings generate secure returns. The maximum share of shares in the savings plans is so high that the secure income from the pensions can offset losses on the stock markets until the end of the term. Instead of pension funds, insurance companies usually use the cover pool of their own classic life insurance for the capital guarantee.

Pursuant to Section 851 (1) of the ZPO in conjunction with Section 97 (1 ) of the Income Tax Act (EStG) , savings in the Riester pension are neither transferable nor attachable , provided the pension contributions made by the debtor are subsidized by the state through allowances or deduction of special expenses and do not exceed the maximum amount.

No harmful use

Allowances and tax advantages must be repaid if:

  • Termination of the Riester contract, unless the existing capital is transferred to another (provider-independent) tariff or used for a self-used apartment (Section 92a EStG).
  • Death of the beneficiary before the start of retirement; only the spouse can, if he has his own Riester contract or has justified a transfer, take over the deceased's full contract balance. Even children or other close relatives, however, cannot do this.
  • Use of the funds before the scheduled payment phase (exception: use for the apartment you use yourself within the meaning of Section 92a EStG).
  • End of unlimited income tax liability in Germany.

The exemption from contributions in the contract, on the other hand, is not detrimental if it is carried out without any credit being paid.

Request

The Riester saver has two years to apply for the allowance through the provider. For this purpose, child-rearing periods or changes in status must be reported to the DRV (retrospectively). The so-called permanent allowance application was introduced to simplify the application process . This authorizes the provider to apply for a pension supplement without having to obtain the consent of the insured annually. Recipients of salaries and official salaries must authorize the body responsible for the salary to transfer data to the German Federal Pension Insurance Association within two years of the end of the contribution year. In the absence of consent, married pay recipients may be entitled to an indirect allowance.

Amount of funding

The support consists of the old-age provision allowance (basic allowance plus any child allowance (s)) and special expenses deduction in accordance with § 10a EStG. The saver only receives the allowance (s) undiminished if the minimum personal contribution is paid in. If the minimum personal contribution is not achieved, the allowance (s) will be reduced in proportion to the contributions made to the minimum personal contribution. The contributions including the allowance are deducted from special expenses if the tax savings from the deduction of special expenses exceed the allowance entitlement.

Minimum personal contribution / basic contribution

The minimum personal contribution is the minimum amount that must be paid in order to receive the full allowance. Since 2008, it has been 4% of the income subject to pension insurance in the previous year, minus the allowance. The saver must arrange for the minimum amount to be adjusted himself.

Minimum personal contribution ...
year ... from
the previous year's income subject to pension insurance		 ...
but at most
per year
2002/2003 1 % 0€ 525
2004/2005 2% € 1,050
2006/2007 3% € 1,575
since 2008 4% € 2,100

The maximum required minimum personal contribution is calculated from the maximum amount of 2,100 euros (since 2008) less the individual allowance (basic allowance / child allowance).

The basic contribution is the minimum contribution that has to be made in order to receive an allowance at all ( Section 86 (1), sentences 4, 5 and 2).

Base contribution ...
year ... per employee and year
without child a child two children
2002-2004 45 € 38 € 30 €
since 2005 € 60

Those directly entitled to allowances whose income from the previous year was below € 1,500 or those indirectly entitled to allowances must pay the minimum contribution of € 60 ( Section 79 sentence 2 EStG in the version applicable from January 1, 2012)

Amount of the basic allowance and child allowance

The pension allowance is made up of the basic allowance and child allowance (s):

year Annual
basic allowance
per person 		Annual
child allowance per child;
born
until December 31, 2007 from 01/01/2008
2002/2003 038 € 0€ 46
2004/2005 0€ 76 092 €
2006/2007 114 € 138 €
2008-2017 154 € 185 € € 300
from 2018 175 €

Every child who is entitled to child benefit for at least one month in the calendar year is entitled to child allowance . It is available to the recipient of child benefit, in the case of married parents to the mother, on application to the father ( § 85 EStG).

In the case of a married couple, each spouse must conclude their own contract in order to receive the basic allowance ( Section 79 EStG ).

Entry-level bonus

A Riester saver receives a basic allowance increased by EUR 200 in the first year of savings if he is not yet 25 years old on January 1 of the year in which he concludes the contract, and is immediately entitled to an allowance after December 31, 1982 was born ( § 84 EStG, “career starter bonus”). If the basic allowance is cut (for example because the amount has fallen below the minimum amount), the bonus is reduced in the same proportion.

Special edition deduction and cheaper test

Highest possible
special edition deduction		 per year
2002/2003 0€ 525
2004/2005 € 1,050
2006/2007 € 1,575
since 2008 € 2,100

The contributions made including allowances can be taken into account as special expenses in the income tax return. If there are no tax savings, the explanatory part of the decision on income tax contains the comment "A special deduction of the claimed pension amounts ( § 10a EStG) in the amount of ... is not considered because the allowance calculated according to your information is more favorable." Tax savings, if the allowance is granted and "the collectively agreed income tax determined taking into account the special expenses deduction is increased by the entitlement to the allowance."

Payout phase

The Riester pension is fully taxable in the payment phase. Since 2018 it has been the case that the payments made as part of the company pension scheme are no longer subject to KVdR and PVdR contributions. In that regard, which has occupational pension Support Act repealed a grievance, which had led to 2018 to double Verbeitragung of health and nursing insurance contributions (pension entitlements and retirement phase).

A housing subsidy account is kept at the tax offices if the apartment is used by the owner . Taxation is based on this fictitious account.

Responsibilities

The tasks associated with the funding were entrusted to the Central Allowance Agency for Retirement Assets (ZfA) based in Brandenburg an der Havel . The ZfA is an administrative unit of the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund and takes on the calculation, control, payment and, if necessary, reclaiming of allowances. To this end, she is in contact with tax offices, providers, salary offices and family benefits.

Communication between insurance companies and ZfA

The Riester saver submits the allowance application through the company with which he signed the savings contract. This informs the ZfA about this in electronic form. Operations such as the harmful use of allowances are also passed on. This serves to limit the high bureaucratic effort. For this purpose, the ZfA has published a so-called communication manual in which the technical modalities of the data exchange are specified.

privacy

A series of data is collected for the allowance application that is irrelevant for the actual contract provider. This includes information about family, income and receipt of child benefit. However, since the provider has to hold and process this data, the procedure is questionable from the point of view of data protection . The data is transmitted to the central allowance office, which provisionally calculates the allowance and pays it to the provider. The information provided is then checked. For this purpose, the central allowance office is in data exchange with the tax offices, family benefits offices and, if applicable, salary offices . Since the family benefits office is the investor's employer for employees in the public sector, the employer receives data in this way that he does not need for his own purposes. Civil servants need a declaration of consent from the relevant state office for salaries and pensions.

Development over time and sum of state allowances

Number of Riester contracts concluded
year Riester contracts
total		 of which insurance
contracts		 of which bank
savings contracts		 of which investment fund
contracts		 of which residential Riester /
home ownership
Total state funding for the Riester pension in euros
2001 1,400,000 1,400,000 - - -
2002 3,405,000 3,081,000 150,000 174,000 -
2003 3,972,000 3,534,000 197,000 241,000 -
2004 4,336,000 3,807,000 213,000 316,000 - 493,200,000
2005 5,693,000 4,859,000 260,000 574,000 - 672,800,000
2006 8,143,000 6,562,000 351,000 1,231,000 - 1,396,400,000
2007 10,856,000 8,454,000 480,000 1,922,000 - 1,868,100,000
2008 12,247,000 9,285,000 554,000 2,386,000 22,000 3,195,600,000
2009 13,365,000 9,906,000 634,000 2,629,000 197,000 3,254,900,000
2010 14,464,000 10,485,000 703,000 2,815,000 460,000 3,372,000,000
2011 15,416,000 10,988,000 750,000 2,953,000 724,000 3,521,800,000
2012 15,781,000 11,059,000 781,000 2,989,000 953,000 3,627,200,000
2013 15,999,000 11,013,000 805,000 3,027,000 1,154,000 3,617,600,000
2014 16,296,000 11,033,000 814,000 3,071,000 1,377,000 3,763,800,000
2015 16,489,000 10,996,000 804,000 3,125,000 1,564,000 3,781,000,000
2016 16,570,000 10,931,000 774,000 3,174,000 1,691,000
2017 16,607,000 10,881,000 726,000 3,233,000 1,767,000
2018 16,597,000 10,819,000 676,000 3,293,000 1,810,000

According to estimates by the Federal Ministry of Labor in 2019, every fifth Riester contract is suspended. In such contracts, no more contributions will be paid in without the contract being terminated.

Changes in the Riester pension

2005

The Retirement Income Act , which came into force on January 1, 2005, reduced the certification criteria from eleven to five, which was intended to simplify the Riester pension and thus increase its acceptance by citizens. However, the success of this measure is debatable. In order to increase the attractiveness of the Riester pension for agents, the payment of the commission was concentrated over a period of five years. The law also provides that up to 30% of the pension assets can be paid out from the start of retirement and the remaining capital is used for lifelong annuity. In the case of a full payment (harmful use - see below ), in addition to the repayment of the subsidies for new contracts, full income tax applies. Old contracts (up to December 31, 2004) are exempt from income tax upon termination if they had a term of at least 12 years. Furthermore, the insured no longer needs to apply for the allowance every year, provided that he has given the provider a corresponding authorization.

2006

In accordance with an EU directive, the Retirement Income Act introduced unisex tariffs for tariffs offered from 2006 . Women and men (gender-independent risk assessment) receive the same benefits with the same contribution. Since the prognosis of life expectancy also included gender and women statistically live longer, unisex tariffs reduce the payout for men. Since January 1, 2006, men have paid about 6.5% higher contributions for new contracts for the same pension benefits.

2007

After the home owner's allowance was discontinued in 2006, the grand coalition promised to replace it with funding under the Riester savings scheme in the coalition agreement. From the beginning it was planned that the funding volume would be significantly lower than with the previous home ownership allowance (income improvement for the state).

2008

Anyone who saves for old age with a Riester pension insurance, a bank or fund savings plan can now use the saved capital to build or buy a property, to reduce debt or to acquire shares in housing associations. Payments to home loan and savings contracts are now also eligible. There are also the Riester allowances for repayments on housing loans. In each case, the prerequisite is that the property itself is used (amendment to § 82 and § 92a EStG). For children born after 2008, the Riester allowance has been increased to 300 euros (amendment to Section 85 of the Income Tax Act). In addition, there is an extra premium of 200 euros for young professionals who sign a contract up to the age of 25 (amendment to Section 84 of the Income Tax Act). For children born up to and including 2007, the allowance of 185 euros previously stipulated by law remains.

2010

With the law for the implementation of EU tax regulations and for the amendment of tax regulations of April 8, 2010 it was determined: If someone lives in Germany but works abroad, there is still direct entitlement to allowances if the foreign obligation to pay into a statutory pension insurance before January 1, 2010 and the Riester contract was also concluded before January 1, 2010 (amendment to Section 10a Paragraph 1 and Section 52 Paragraph 24c EStG).

Financing an apartment or owner-occupied property is also possible in other EU / EEA countries. The tax-subsidized pension assets can now also be used for this (amendment to § 92a EStG). These are the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway - but not Switzerland or Turkey. Funding is retained even if you move to another EU / EEA country. Reclaims are no longer planned. Moving to Switzerland or Turkey, however, remains detrimental to funding.

2012

At the beginning of 2012, the guaranteed interest rate for new Riester contracts will drop from 2.25 to 1.75 percent (amendment to Section 2 of the Premium Reserve Ordinance ). The reduction was decided by the Federal Ministry of Finance in cooperation with the Association of the Insurance Industry. Spouses of those directly entitled to allowances receive allowances if they are only indirectly entitled, but have a compulsorily insured spouse and pay at least 60 euros per calendar year into their own pension contract (amendment to Section 79 sentence 2 EStG).

2013

As part of the Pension Improvement Act, there are essentially four changes being made to the Riester pension.

  1. A uniform product information sheet will be introduced that contains key figures on expected earnings and the costs involved (new version of Section 7 AltZertG).
  2. When changing provider, the old provider receives a maximum of € 150 switching costs . The new provider may only offset acquisition and distribution costs against up to 50% of the transferred capital (amendment to § 1 Paragraph 1 AltZertG).
  3. In the case of residential Riester contracts, capital may already be withdrawn in the savings period without being detrimental to funding. Certain modernizations can also be financed (amendment to Section 92a EStG).
  4. The possibility of insuring against occupational disability risks by means of a Riester contract has been expanded (insertion of Section 2 (1a) AltZertG in conjunction with amendment to Section 10 (1) No. 2 EStG).

2018

As part of the occupational pension law to strengthen the basic allowance is increased from 1 January 2018 154 € to 175 €.

There is also a better position under social security law in the case of the Riester-funded company pension scheme, because the much-criticized double contribution does not apply. As with privately concluded Riester contracts, the social security contributions are paid during the savings phase; the obligation to pay KVdR / PVdR contributions no longer applies in the retirement phase.

Criticism of the concept and the result

The concept of the Riester pension has been criticized from various sides. In the absence of hard facts, DIW Berlin has spoken out in favor of a systematic review of the Riester pension.

Various studies show that people with low incomes, despite high funding rates, make less use of state funding than the average of the population. A frequent point of criticism is the complexity of Riester contracts. According to a study by Ökotest in 2011, the fees for some providers are higher than the state allowances.

A group of economists found in a study in December 2007 that it was still open whether the subsidies of the insurance providers through the Riester subsidy represent "a serious violation of the market economy". The results of the study allow the conclusion that the Riester subsidy does not have any influence on the propensity to save in households with below-average incomes. The many Riester contracts concluded during the observation period were only apparently a success, because the results indicated a strong withdrawal of capital from other forms of savings and thus strong deadweight effects .

The bank savings plan is usually a fee and risk-free form of investment, but, as tests have shown, it is less popular with banks and savings banks than Riester-funded life insurance policies from various contractual partners, which often mean higher commissions for advisors but higher for customers Fees and higher risk associated with it. The Riester pension is not worthwhile for low-wage earners and for people who have been unemployed for longer periods, since all income from the Riester pension is offset against the basic security in old age according to the current legal situation . For those who do not make a pension over 700 euros after 35 years of contributions, the Riester pension is a loss. The benefits from a Riester pension are fully subject to income tax in the payment phase ( downstream taxation ). By paying the so-called Riester allowance, a subsidy is granted for the pension contributions. As part of the income tax assessment, a check is made on application to determine whether the contributions through the Riester allowance have at least been exempted from income tax ( cheaper check ). If not, the contributions will be recognized as additional special expenses and thus exempt from income tax. In return, the income subject to income tax will be increased by the allowance (to be applied for separately). In many cases (assessment according to the basic table, married couples with double income) the Riester allowance is not a “gift” from the state, but merely serves to reduce double taxation. Social security contributions are always due on the contributions in the payment phase. In the disbursement phase, there is now a double contribution in health insurance and long-term care insurance for voluntarily insured persons in statutory health insurance: The contribution to health insurance for pensioners is based on total income, i.e. H. including the payment from the Riester pension. - According to § 238a SGB ​​V, “the other income that determines the economic performance of the voluntary member (§ 240 Paragraph 1) is taken as a basis up to the assessment ceiling”. Other income also includes the payments of the Riester pension. In contrast, no contributions are made to compulsorily insured pensioners.

The former member of the Bundestag, journalist and graduate economist Albrecht Müller puts in his article Riester-Rürup deception - check out a damning verdict yourself according to the concept of the Riester pension. He criticizes the fact that, from the point of view of the general good, the Riester pension is a waste of taxpayers' money, and justifies this with the fact that the previous pay-as-you-go system is much cheaper and more efficient, and overall more social. The promotion of the Riester pension, on the other hand, subsidizes the finance and insurance industry without this leading to an advantage for society. In summary, he explains: “You can only understand the decision to make the expensive detour to funded private pension provision if you ask who earns it: the financial sector, the scientists involved in the changeover and many politicians. The destruction of the statutory pension in favor of private old-age provision is unfortunately a typical case of political corruption nowadays. ”In 2000, the chairman of the Social Advisory Council Winfried Schmähl criticized the concept and was then replaced by Federal Minister Riester by Bert Rürup . He says that although “the alleged interests of the young generation” were put at the center of the discussion, in reality they wanted “at that time to help private provision and thus the interests of the financial sector to break through.” From the beginning it was more “about the interests of employers in low contribution rates and the financial sector in a new business field ”. In a letter to the editor to the Bonner General-Anzeiger , the former Federal Minister for Labor and Social Affairs Norbert Blüm criticizes the paradox of the Riester pension that it has no answer to the old-age security of those who cannot afford a Riester pension. There is a risk that low-wage earners “would later get this counted towards the basic pension”, which ultimately “saved these Riester pensioners for the state budget”. The 13 billion euro funding with which the federal government is promoting private old-age provision will, viewed in light, benefit “Allianz & Co.”. In a comparison with conventional pension insurance, he explains that from a global perspective, funded pension insurance is generally exposed to major problems. Conventional pension insurance, on the other hand, “survived two world wars, inflation and currency reform” and “shouldered German unity in terms of social policy”. Only the old pension insurance is able to do this.

For those who die early, the Riester pension is a negative business if there is no minimum payment period, i.e. the pension cannot be inherited or if another survivor protection has been agreed. According to sample calculations by Klaus Jaeger , professor emeritus for economic theory at the Free University of Berlin, a 30-year-old man must be at least 92 years old in order to get his paid-in amounts back including interest. In fact, according to the Federal Statistical Office, life expectancy is only 78 years (as of 2009). Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) formulated criticism of the Riester pension in the context of the debates on long-term care insurance: “However, I am in favor of a capital stock in the statutory long-term care insurance. If that happens with individual insurers, then it will be the same for us as with the Riester pension: high acquisition fees and low returns. ”Many providers offer incomplete and / or confusing information, charge excessively high fees and offer poor conditions, especially for low-wage earners; this was criticized in 2011 by the consumer magazine Ökotest .

With most Riester contracts it is foreseeable that they will generate losses for the insured because the purchasing power of the guaranteed benefits will be below the previously paid contributions, according to studies by the DIW and the Federation of Insureds (BdV). The General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GdV) replied that a 36-year-old wife with a gross income of 45,000 euros and two children would reach the profitability threshold “at the age of 73”. In “part of the case calculation”, the study only takes into account the guaranteed interest rate on the contracts, but not their surpluses. But the DIW and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) affirmed: In order to get out what has been paid in, a 35-year-old who signs a Riester contract in 2012 and retires at 67 has to be “90 years old” on some contracts. Only then will he benefit from interest or generated returns. Even if the currently usual surplus payments were included in the bill, the 35-year-old model saver would “only get his money back at the age of 85”. The criticism of the Riester pension is also often directed against the sometimes opaque contractual conditions. In various court rulings it was found that some clauses or general terms and conditions of the corresponding Riester contracts are non-transparent, incorrect or ambiguous.

Riester savers who lower or increase their contributions due to allowances often pay twice the acquisition and distribution costs. This was the result of a survey published in September 2019 by the market watchdog of the Hamburg consumer center . 15 of 34 life insurances stated that they would again charge acquisition and distribution costs for premium-related changes in premiums - either on supplements and / or on premium increases. This double calculation of acquisition and distribution costs is a burden above all for Riester savers with children.

See also

literature

  • Katharina Henrich: Riester: that brings the state-subsidized old-age provision , Berlin: Stiftung Warentest, 2012, ISBN 978-3-86851-330-1 .
  • Thomas Ferdinand: Money and living Riester as instruments of state pension funding : goals, impact analyzes, suggestions for improvement , Eds. Michael Lister, Heinz Rehkugler, Marco Wölfle, Steinbeis Edition, Stuttgart 2016, (also: Dissertation, Steinbeis University Berlin, 2016) , ISBN 978-3-95663-088-0 .
  • Wolfgang Wehowsky, Harald Rihm: The practice of statutory pensions: the expert advice on all pension issues and old-age provision (including Riester pension and Rürup pension) , 3rd, updated edition, Expert-Verlag, Renningen 2012, ISBN 978-3- 8169-3156-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ InfoCuria: judgment of the ECJ of 10 September 2009, case C-269/07
  2. ↑ a b Art. 2 No. 37 and Art. 25 Paragraph 1 of the Act to Implement the Collection Directive and to Change Tax Regulations ( BGBl. 2011 I p. 2592 )
  3. ↑ a b Bundestag printed paper 17/6263 (PDF; 1.3 MB) Draft of a law to implement the Collection Directive and to amend tax regulations of June 22, 2011, justification for number 30 (Section 79 sentence 2) on p. 61, third from last and penultimate line.
  4. ^ Riester pension: When equity funds have to be safe
  5. ↑ BGH, judgment of November 16, 2017, Az .: IX ZR 21/17
  6. ↑ Federal Court of Justice: Riester contracts are non-attachable - or partially or completely attachable. November 30, 2017
  7. ↑ Federal Fiscal Court of March 25, 2015 XR 20/14
  8. ↑ Section 86 (1) sentence 2 and Section 10a (1) sentence 1 EStG in the version valid until July 23, 2009
  9. ↑ § 84 sentence 1 and § 85 paragraph 1 sentence 1 EStG in the version valid until July 23, 2009
  10. ↑ Art. 9 No. 9 Company Pension Strengthening Act
  11. ↑ § 10a Paragraph 1 Clause 1 EStG in the version valid until July 23, 2009
  12. ↑ BMF - Changes by the Company Pension Strengthening Act. Retrieved December 5, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Central allowance agency for old-age provision ( Memento from August 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Statistics on the contracts concluded in the additional private pension scheme ("Riester pension") in Germany - regularly updated information from the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs - last accessed on June 30, 2019
  15. ↑ https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Themati/FinanzenSteuern/OeffigteHaushalte/RiesterRente5799501107004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile , page 12
  16. ↑ http://www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/Allgemein/de/Inhalt/5_Services/03_broschueren_und_mehr/03_zeitschriften/rv_aktuell/2015/heft_3.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3 , page 57
  17. ↑ Statistical evaluations of the Riester subsidy. Retrieved July 7, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Every fifth Riester contract lies idle . In: Der Spiegel . No. 32 , 2019, p. 54 ( online - August 3, 2019 ).
  19. ↑ http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Monatsberichte/2013/07/Inhalte/Kapitel-3-Analysen/3-4-die-gefoerderte-private-altersvorsorge.html
  20. ↑ Ten years of Riester pension: “Success reports in a vacuum”. DIW press release from February 24, 2010.
  21. ↑ Johannes Geyer: Riester pension and low income: what do the data say? . In: Quarterly issues for economic research . 81, No. 2, 2012, pp. 165-180. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  22. ↑ Michela Coppola, Anette Reil-Held: Dynamics of the Riester pension: Results from SAVE 2003 to 2008 . In: MEA discussion paper . No. 159-2009, December 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  23. ^ Johannes Geyer: Riester pension: recipe against old-age poverty? . In: weekly report . 78, No. 47, 2011, pp. 16-21. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  24. ↑ Johannes Geyer, Viktor Steiner :: The number of Riester pensions rises by leaps and bounds: but low-wage earners are still holding back . In: DIW weekly report . 76, No. 32, 2009, pp. 534-541. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  25. ↑ Riester pension journey into the labyrinth , oekotest.de, May 27, 2011
  26. ↑ Retirement provision: Riester pension Who can still see through? , sueddeutsche.de, May 29, 2011
  27. ↑ Does the Riester subsidy increase the propensity to save among low-income earners?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 369 kB)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.fu-berlin.de  
  28. ↑ a b series about Riester deception: http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?cat=40&paged=2 ; Quote from: http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=3182 ; Editors: Albrecht Müller and Dr. Wolfgang Lieb c / o IQM, "Initiative to improve the quality of political opinion-forming eV"; D-76881 Bad Bergzabern; P.O. Box 1248; Email: Redaktion (at) nachdenkseiten.de; Fax: +49 (0) 6343 - 93 90 66
  29. ↑ Holger Balodis, Dagmar Hühne: The great pension lie. Why good and affordable old-age insurance is possible for everyone. Westend Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 2017, p. 21.
  30. ↑ Letter to the editor published on: http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=3326
  31. ↑ The Riester lie http://www.wiwo.de/finanzen/die-riester-luege-403903
  32. ↑ Interview on Deutschlandfunk on August 3, 2011
  33. ↑ Ökotest June 2011: Riester pension often does not pay off . Der STERN online, November 9, 2011 ( Memento from December 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  34. ↑ Criticism of the Riester pension: return and profitability in the check. Retrieved March 21, 2020 .
  35. ↑ DIW and FES: meager return on Riester pension Getting old is a must . Der STERN online, November 23, 2011 ( Memento from November 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  36. ↑ Court rulings on the Riester pension ( Memento from June 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  37. ↑ Martin Oetzmann: Double acquisition and distribution costs with Riester pension insurance. September 16, 2019, accessed September 19, 2019 .