Are all my career days taken into account for the calculation of my pension? (career unity)

The following days are in principle taken into account for the calculation of your pension if they have been registered in your career:

• your worked days;
• the days on which you did not work, but that are equated with worked days.

Please note! When your career counts 14 040 days - 45 years of 312 days (14 040 = 45 x 312) - we call this a 'full career'.
In certain cases, we have to drop days from the calculation of your pension amount. We call this the limitation to the career unity.

• When is the limitation to the career unity applied?
• Is the limitation to the career unity also applied in the case of a survivor's pension or a transitional allowance?
• How is the limitation to the career unity applied if I have a career in a special scheme?
• How is the limitation to the career unity applied concretely?
  • Step 1. The determination of your global professional career
  • Step 2. The limitation of your career as an employee (= internal limitation)
  • Step 3. The limitation of your career as an employee in the case of a mixed career, with the exception of a career as a self-employed worker (= external limitation)
  • Examples

When is the limitation to the career unity applied?

If your career counts fewer than 14 040 days:

• all your worked and assimilated days are taken into account for your pension calculation;
  and
• there is no limitation to the career unity.

If your career counts more than 14 040 days (full career):

• we use the 14 040 days that yield the highest amount to calculate your pension, regardless of whether these are days on which you worked or not.
  
  
• your effectively worked days that follow the first 14 040 days of your career are always taken into account.
  
  
• the days on which you did not work due to unemployment, (pseudo) early retirement and unemployment with company supplement scheme (USS) that follow the first 14 040 days of your career are not taken into account, even if they are more advantageous.

Relaxing of the rules:

• we cannot drop more than 1 560 days from your career;
  and
• the number of days to be dropped, can, under certain conditions, be relaxed in the case of a mixed career.

We apply these rules to your pension calculation on mypension.be.

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Is the limitation to the career unity also applied in the case of a survivor's pension or a transitional allowance?

The abovementioned rules for the retirement pension also apply to the survivor's pension and transitional allowance.

In the case of a survivor's pension or transitional allowance based on the career of a person who passed away before the start date of his or her pension, the number of not to be exceeded days equals the denominator of the fraction that is used to calculate the survivor's pension or transitional allowance multiplied by 312 days.

The denominator of the fraction equates to the number of years from the 20th birthday until the year before this person's passing.

How is the limitation to the career unity applied if I have a career in a special scheme?

Before the application of the rules described above: if the denominator of your career fraction does not correspond to 14 040, we convert your career fraction:

• first to 45ths;
  and
• subsequently to days with a denominator of 14 040.

Example: You worked as a mariner for four years in the nineties, and you worked as an employee for forty years. Your career fraction is calculated as follows:

• Your career fraction as an employee amounts to 12 480/14 040
• Your fraction as a mariner amounts to 4/40, which we:
• first convert to 4,5/45;
• subsequently to 1 404/14 040.

In total, your career amounts to 13 884/14 040 (= 12 480/14 040 + 1 404/14 040).

How is the limitation to the career unity applied concretely?

The limitation of your career is carried out in three steps:

1. The determination of your global professional career
2. The limitation of your career as an employee (= internal limitation)
3. The limitation of your career as an employee in the case of a mixed career, with the exception of a career as a self-employed worker (=external limitation)
   
   

= Result of the three steps

Read our examples to better understand the procedure.

Step 1. The determination of your global professional career

Your global professional career contains all days that can be taken into account for your pension in Belgium or abroad and that are at the expense of the following schemes:

• the Belgian pension schemes for:
  • employees;
  • the self-employed;
  • civil servants;
  • political mandataries;
  • the overseas social security.
• the foreign pension schemes, with the exception of those schemes that are subject to the European regulations or bilateral agreements;
• the pension schemes of international or supranational organisations.

However, we do not take the following days into account for the determination of your global professional career:

• the days on the basis of your ex-spouse's career for which you are entitled to a pension as a divorcee. Only your own career periods are taken into account.
• the foreign pension schemes that are subject to the European regulations or bilateral agreements.
  
  

Your global professional career is considered to be complete if it counts 14 040 days. As a consequence:

• the days on which you worked after the 14 040^th day are taken into account for your pension and their inclusion in your pension is guaranteed;
  and
• the days of unemployment from the 14 040^th day onwards are dropped from your pension calculation. Even if their share in the pension is more advantageous than that of other days that are taken into account.

This concerns the following days of unemployment:

• full involuntary unemployment (not temporary unemployment);
• early retirement;
• unemployment with company supplement scheme (USS);
• pseudo early retirement.

In the following two situations, we do take the days of unemployment into account, even if they fall after the 14 040^th day:

• if your global professional career is complete before 01/09/2017;
• if you do not yet meet the conditions to retire early at the moment when you reach the full global professional career.

In this case, your days of unemployment are taken into account until your earliest possible retirement date as an employee. After your earliest possible retirement date, we definitively drop these days from your professional career.

Even if these days of unemployment are not dropped from your career, their share in the pension is not guaranteed, as they can be limited in steps 2 and 3 (internal and external limitation of your career as an employee) because they are not part of the most advantageous 14 040 days of your career.

Step 2. The limitation of your career as an employee (= internal limitation)

For the limitation of your career as an employee, we take the following days into account:

• the days of your personal career as an employee;
  and
• the days of your ex-spouse's career for which you are entitled to an employee pension as a divorcee.

If your career as an employee exceeds 14 040 days, we drop the least advantageous days from your pension calculation. We can drop 1 560 days at most.

We call this limitation of the career as an employee the internal limitation to the career unity.

Step 3. The limitation of your career as an employee in the case of a mixed career, with the exception of a career as a self-employed worker (= external limitation)

If you have a mixed career, we take the following days into account to limit your career as an employee:

• the days of your personal career as an employee;
• the days of your ex-spouse's career for which you are entitled to an employee pension as a divorcee;
  and
• the days in other pension schemes:
  • Belgian civil service scheme;
  • Belgian scheme for political mandataries;
  • Belgian scheme for the overseas social security;
  • foreign pension schemes, with the exception of those schemes that are subject to the European regulations or bilateral agreements;
  • pension schemes of international or supranational organisations.

If the sum of your career as an employee and of your career in one or more other schemes exceeds 14 040 days, we drop the least advantageous days as an employee from the calculation of your pension as an employee. We can drop 1 560 days at most.

This limitation of your career as an employee, by taking the days in other pension schemes into account, we call the external limitation to the career unity.

Please note: we do not take the days as a self-employed worker into account for the external limitation of the career as an employee. When calculating the pension as a self-employed worker, the career as a self-employed worker is already limited:

• internally (by only taking the career as a self-employed worker into account);
  and
• externally (by taking the career as a self-employed worker and other careers, such as one as an employee, into account).
  
  

Result of the three steps

When these three steps of the career limitation have been carried out, we obtain a pension consisting of two portions. Your employee pension is indeed the sum of:

• the pension for the guaranteed worked days that follow the first 14 040 days of the global professional career;
  and
• the pension for the most advantageous 14 040 days as an employee, after the internal and external limitation to the career unity.
  
  

Examples

Your global professional career is complete when you reach 14 040 days. For a clear understanding of the examples, we call the year in which this number of days is reached the 'turning year'.

• Example 1: A career as an employee only
• Example 2: A career as an employee only, but containing sick leave days
• Example 3: A career as an employee and as a self-employed worker
• Example 4: A career as an employee, self-employed worker and civil servant
  
  

Example 1: A career as an employee only

Jan's career as an employee starts in 1970 and ends at the end of 2019. Jan retires on 01.01.2020.

Step 1. Determination of the global professional career

At the end of December 2015, Jan reaches 13 751 days. The 14,040th day falls in the year 2016 (= turning year).

• 2016: 312 worked days
• 2017: 312 worked days
• 2018: 312 worked days
• 2019: 312 worked days

The effectively worked days from 2016 onwards are guaranteed, which brings the total to 1 248 days (312 + 312 + 312 + 312).

Step 2. Internal limitation

There is no limitation to the career unity for Jan's career as an employee. After all, the 1 248 guaranteed, effectively worked days are not taken into account for this calculation.

For the internal limitation, we only take the days preceding the turning year into account. As there are only 13 751 days (fewer than 14,040 days), we therefore do not apply the internal limitation.

Step 3. External limitation

As Jan has only worked as an employee and therefore has no other career, we also do not apply the external limitation.

Result of the three steps

Jan's employee pension thus consists of:

• the pension amount for the 1 248 guaranteed, effectively worked days from the turning year (2016) onwards;
• the pension amount for the remaining 13 751 days in his career as an employee before the turning year.
  
  

Example 2: A career as an employee only, but containing sick leave days

Bert's career as an employee starts halfway 1973 and ends at the end of 2020. He retires on 01.01.2021.

Step 1. Determination of the global professional career

At the end of December 2017, Bert's global professional career counted 13,884 days. The 14,040^th day was reached during the course of the year 2018 (= turning year).

• 2018: 212 worked days + 100 assimilated days due to illness
• 2019: 212 worked days + 100 assimilated days due to illness
• 2020: 312 assimilated days due to illness

The effectively worked days from 2018 onwards are guaranteed: 212 + 212 = 424 days.

The 512 sick leave days are not dropped from Bert's professional career, but they are not guaranteed.

Step 2. Internal limitation

For the internal limitation of Bert's career as an employee, we take the following days into account:

• 13 884 days before the turning year
• + 512 sick leave days after the turning year
• = 14 396 days (> 14 040), which means that we have to drop 356 days

The 424 guaranteed, effectively worked days are not taken into account in this calculation.

The unity is thus exceeded by 356 days, which entails that the least advantageous 356 days in Bert's career are dropped for his pension calculation.

Step 3. External limitation

As Bert has only worked as an employee and therefore has no other career, we do not apply the external limitation.

Result of the three steps

Bert's employee pension thus consists of:

• the pension amount for the 424 guaranteed, effectively worked days from the turning year (2018) onwards;
• the pension amount for the most advantageous 14 040 days that remain after the internal limitation.
  
  

Example 3: A career as an employee and as a self-employed worker

Marc started working halfway 1973. He retires on 01.01.2021. He in turn worked as an employee and as a self-employed worker. From 2019, he fully joins the unemployment with company supplement scheme (USS).

Step 1. Determination of the global professional career

At the end of December 2017, Marc's global professional career consists of 13 884 days: 12 636 as an employee and 1 248 as a self-employed worker. He thus reaches the 14 040^th day during the course of the year 2018 (= turning year).

• 2018: 312 worked days
• 2019: 312 assimilated days due to USS
• 2020: 312 assimilated days due to USS

The effectively worked days from 2018 onwards are guaranteed: 312 days.

The USS days after 2018 are dropped and therefore do not yield a pension: 624 days.

Step 2. Internal limitation

For the internal limitation of Marc's career as an employee, only the 12 636 days as an employee before the turning year (2018) are taken into account. The days as a self-employed worker are not taken into account.

As the 12 636 days in his career as an employee do not exceed 14 040, the unity is not exceeded and we do not apply the internal limitation.

Step 3. External limitation

As Marc has only worked as an employee and as a self-employed worker, his career is not limited. After all, the career as a self-employed worker is not taken into account for the external limitation.

Result of the three steps

Marc's employee pension thus consists of:

• the pension amount for the 312 guaranteed, effectively worked days from the turning year (2018) onwards;
• the pension amount for the remaining 12 636 days in his career as an employee before the turning year.

Marc is also entitled to a pension as a self-employed worker for the 1 248 days he worked as a self-employed worker.

Example 4: A career as an employee, self-employed worker and civil servant

Pieter's career starts in 1975 and ends at the end of 2019. He retires on 01.01.2020.

He in turn works as an employee and as a self-employed worker and from 1984 he is an established civil servant:

• 1975: 208 worked days as an employee
• 1976: 156 worked days + 156 assimilated days for unemployment as an employee
• 1977: 78 worked days as an employee + 234 days as a self-employed worker
• 1978: 312 days as a self-employed worker
• 1979: 312 days as a self-employed worker
• 1980: 312 assimilated days for unemployment as an employee
• 1981: 312 assimilated days for unemployment as an employee
• 1982: 312 assimilated days for unemployment as an employee
• 1983: 312 assimilated days for unemployment as an employee
• From 1984 until 2019: 11,232 days as an established civil servant (=36 years of full-time work)
  
  

Step 1. Determination of the year in which the 14 040th day is reached (= turning year)

At the end of December 2019, Pieter's global professional career consists of 1 846 days as an employee, of 858 days as a self-employed worker and of 11 232 days as a civil servant.

To determine the year of the 14 040th day, the days as a civil servant are fictitiously placed before the periods as an employee. We do so by reducing the 14 040 days by the number of days as a civil servant. This thus yields: 14 040 - 11 232 = 2 808.

This means that Pieter reaches his turning year in the year in which his remaining career (as a self-employed worker and employee) counts 2 808 days.

Taken together, Pieter's career as a self-employed worker and as an employee amounts to 2 704 days and thus does not reach the turning year.

We thus do not have to guarantee days as an employee from the turning year onwards, because there are no such days.

We also do not have to drop days of unemployment from the turning year onwards, because there are none of these either.

Step 2. Internal limitation

Pieter's career as an employee counts 1 846 days. The unity has not been exceeded and we therefore do not apply any internal limitation.

Step 3. External limitation

As Pieter has also worked as a civil servant, we take his career as an employee and as a civil servant into account for the external limitation:

• 1 846 days as an employee (before the turning year)
• + 11 232 days as a civil servant
• = 13 078 days (< 14 040)

The unity has not been exceeded and we therefore do not apply any external limitation.

Result of the three steps

Pieter's employee pension will consist of the pension amount for the 1 846 days as an employee.

Pieter is also entitled to a pension for his career as a civil servant and to a pension for his career as a self-employed worker.