Sunday, January 09, 2022
Pandemic rule will be permanent
Early retirees can continue to earn 46,060 euros
Due to a lack of staff during the pandemic, the government had significantly increased the amount that early retirees can earn extra annually: from 6300 to 46,060 euros. This sum should now remain – permanently.
Early retirees should be able to earn 46,060 euros per year beyond 2022 without their pension being reduced. This sum was confirmed by the responsible politicians of the parliamentary groups of the SPD and the Greens t-online. It is now clear for the first time how exactly the traffic light government intends to implement the coalition agreement, which only mentions a “temporary expiry” of the currently existing corona exemption.
“Within the coalition we have agreed to permanently defer this regulation for additional earnings,” said the pension policy spokesman for the Greens, Markus Kurth. “We are thus creating more flexibility in the transition to retirement and saving the pension insurance a considerable amount of administrative work.”
Bernd Rützel, Chairman of the Committee for Labor and Social Affairs, also confirmed the project and the sum of 46,060 euros. “I think it’s good that early retirees get more creative freedom and at the same time companies can secure important professional experience,” said the SPD politician. The experience that the federal government has had since the increase in the additional income limit to 46,060 euros is so good that it wants to create this additional income option on a permanent basis, explained Rützel.
Because of the Corona crisis, the federal government had raised the so-called additional income limit for early retirees from 6300 euros to 44,590 euros for 2020 and finally to 46,060 euros for 2021, limited to the end of this year. This was justified with the increased need for personnel in many industries, for example in the healthcare sector. Many saw the sharp increase as a minor sensation in the pension sky, as it considerably expanded the potential financial leeway for early retirees.