In order to supplement their pensions, future retirees can turn to specific savings products, such as the retirement savings plan (PER), or capitalization products intended to build up long-term savings, such as the ‘life insurance. These two envelopes give more or less access to the same range of financial support. But they are distinguished by their legal and tax regime. How to choose ?
Whether subscribed individually or collectively, PERs have the particularity of being accompanied by a tax advantage upon entry. The amounts paid each year on these media are deductible from your taxable income (or from your professional profits if you are self-employed) within the limit of an annual deduction envelope. This is equal to 10% of your professional income net of fees from the previous year with a maximum of 35,193.60 euros for payments made in 2024 (85,780 euros for the self-employed).
Those who did not have professional income in 2023 or received income below 43,992 euros can deduct their payments up to the limit of 4,399.20 euros.
The tax saving provided by this deduction depends on your marginal tax rate: the more you are taxed, the higher it is. Investing 10,000 euros in a PER allows you to reduce your income tax by 3,000 euros if you are in the marginal 30% bracket. This saving rises to 4,500 euros for the wealthiest taxpayers taxed in the 45% bracket.
But be careful, once opened, a PER cannot be closed, even if you stop feeding it. Your savings are blocked until you turn 64, or until the date your pension is paid into a compulsory scheme if you can leave before as part of an early retirement scheme.
Before this deadline, only certain events provided for by law allow savings to be recovered: purchase of the main residence, death of the spouse or civil partnership partner, occurrence of a disability affecting the subscriber, his or her spouse, civil partnership partner or a child; over-indebtedness; expiration of unemployment rights or, for managers, absence of an employment contract or corporate mandate for two years; cessation of a self-employed activity following a judicial liquidation judgment.
Annuity or capital withdrawal
Outside of these situations, it is impossible to make a withdrawal, even partial, or request an advance. Once retired, you can recover your savings in the form of capital, in one or more installments, or opt for the payment of a life annuity. But, from the moment you benefited from the tax advantage on entry, the amounts taken back on exit are subject to income tax.
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