Pension reform finally approved: what will change for you and your employees?
Pension reform finally approved: what will change for you and your employees?
May 2024 - On 4 April 2024, the federal parliament finally approved the pension reform. Some notable measures include a pension bonus of 33,975 euros for those working for three years and stricter conditions for the minimum pension.
Pension bonus up to more than €30,000
Employees, self-employed and civil servants alike will be able to receive a pension bonus. This is an amount you receive if you continue working beyond the earliest date on which you can retire (early). You can find that date on mypension.be. With this bonus, the federal government wants to discourage early retirement.
Every extra day worked counts, and you automatically build up a bonus as long as you continue working for up to three years longer. You do not have to pay tax on the amount paid out (so gross is net).
The amount of the pension bonus depends on several factors:
· For a 'normal' career of less than 43 years (on the day of the earliest retirement date), you will receive 3,775 euros if you continue working one year longer. In the second year, this amounts to 7,550 euros, and in the third year, 11,325 euros. So in total, the bonus can add up to 22,650 euros net.
· A 'long' career of 43 years or more at your earliest retirement date earns even more, amounting to 11,325 euros per year. In total, this therefore amounts to 33,975 euros (3 * 11,325 euros).
Please note: your conventional pension and the bonus added together may not exceed 7,969.69 euros per month.
This scheme will take effect from 1 January 2025. From 1 July 2024, there will already be a transition period for people currently close to retirement. Accrual of the bonus hereby starts on 1 July 2024, with payment to those who retire from 1 January 2025.
Minimum pension only based on days actually worked
A few years ago, the federal government decided to raise the minimum pension to 1,500 euros net per month. From 1 January 2025, stricter rules will apply to this.
Until now, employees had to be able to present a career of at least 30 years to qualify. But through so-called assimilated periods, unemployment can also be included in your career. Therefore, the government has decided to calculate the minimum pension from 2025 on the basis of time effectively worked.
To be entitled to the full minimum pension, you must have worked 5,000 days. This amounts to about 20 years of work. Full-time unemployment no longer counts when calculating a minimum pension. But many other forms of absence still count as effectively worked. Think of maternity and paternity leave, palliative care, informal care and caring for a child with a disability. A period of temporary unemployment also counts. Career breaks, military service or strike days do not fall under the category of effectively worked days.
Another new feature is that five part-time years worked before 2002 are given higher weight in the calculation of the minimum pension. This should help reduce the pension gap between men and women.
Restriction on peregrination of civil servants' pensions
Another measure in the pension agreement is the peregration of civil service pensions. As a result, the highest civil service pensions will hardly be allowed to increase additionally on top of indexation.
Doubling Wijninckx contribution
Finally, you have to reckon - albeit only from 1 January 2028 - with a doubling of the so-called Wijninckx contribution, from 3 to 6 per cent. This contribution is paid by a very select group of Belgians who have accumulated very high supplementary pensions. According to Pensions Minister Carine Lalieux, this would involve pension capitals of at least 1.6 million euros accrued through the second pillar for employees and of 2.2 million euros for the self-employed. In 2022, this levy was applied to barely 2,437 employees and company directors.