Old pension bonus (2006 - 2014)

What is the pension bonus?

The pension bonus is a benefit you receive on top of your retirement pension if you continue your professional activity after your earliest possible retirement date.

This pension bonus was abolished on 01.01.2015. However, you can still receive the bonus if you started building it up for the career years that fall before 2015.

The amount of the pension bonus differs depending on the scheme in which you have worked:

• Calculation of the pension bonus for employees
• Calculation of the pension bonus for civil servants

When will my pension bonus be paid out?

The Federal Pensions Service pays the pension bonus together with your retirement pension, as one sum.
You will only receive the pension bonus if:

• you effectively retire
  and
• the Federal Pensions Service pays your pension.

This pension bonus is subject to the same social and fiscal deductions as your retirement pension and is indexed at the same time.

Due to which circumstances can my pension bonus be suspended?

If your pension is suspended, your pension bonus will also be suspended. The Federal Pensions Service can suspend your pension because:

• your spouse receives a more advantageous household rate pension;
  or
• you exercise a banned professional activity.

However, if the banned professional activity reduces the amount of your pension rather than suspends it, you continue to receive the full amount of your pension bonus. Find out more about the accumulation of your pension with a professional activity.

Specific influence on the civil service pensions

Added together, your pension bonus and your retirement pension as civil servant may not exceed 90 % of the reference wage on which your pension is based. Without pension bonus, your retirement pension is limited to 75 % of the reference wage. Find out more about the relative maximum.

Your pension (including the pension bonus) is also limited to the absolute maximum of 99 499.24 EUR gross a year (index figure 2,1223 on 01.02.2025).

The pension bonus is not taken into consideration for the calculation of the biennial adaptation of the civil service pensions to the wages of the active civil servants.

Am I entitled to the pension bonus of my deceased spouse or to a part of the pension bonus of my ex-spouse/de facto separated spouse?

The pension bonus is a personal benefit. Therefore, it is not transferable or divisible. This means that you:

• cannot, as surviving spouse, claim the pension bonus of your deceased spouse;
• cannot, as ex-spouse or de facto separated spouse, claim a part of the pension bonus of your (ex-)spouse.

However, the pension bonus is transferable to the surviving spouse if his or her survivor's pension has been calculated on the basis of a retirement pension for employees with a pension bonus that took effect before 2014.

How is the pension bonus awarded and calculated?

For the assignation and calculation of your pension bonus, we distinguish between two periods during which you could continue your professional activity:

• from 01.01.2006 up to and including 31.12.2013;
• from 01.01.2014.

The eligibility and calculation conditions differ for both periods.

If you have built up a pension bonus during both periods, we calculate your pension bonus for each period and add them up to obtain the total pension bonus.

What are the conditions for building up a pension bonus?

You are entitled to a pension bonus:

• for the career years from 01.01.2014, if before 01.12.2014 you:
  • met the age and career conditions for the early retirement
    or
  • were 65 and your career counted at least 40 calendar years of at least 104 days.
    
    
• for the career years between 01.01.2006 and 31.12.2013,
  • from the year in which you reached the age of 62;
    or
  • from the year in which you prove a career of at least 44 calendar years.
    
    

Which days entitle one to the pension bonus?

For the career years from 01.01.2014

Every day of effective employment during the reference period entitles one to the pension bonus. The pension bonus is not awarded for equivalent days.

If you worked part-time, your days are converted into full-time days.

The reference period:

• starts one year after your earliest possible retirement date, or, if you are not entitled to an early retirement, from the date on which you reach the statutory retirement age;
• ends when your retirement pension effectively takes effect.

The reference period can start before 01.01.2014, but only the days performed from 2014 onwards entitle one to this type of pension bonus. For the days before 2014, you may be entitled to a pension bonus if the conditions for the period between 01.01.2006 and 31.12.2013 are met.

For the career years between 01.01.2006 and 31.12.2013

The pension bonus is awarded for every day on which you effectively worked and for every equivalent day (maximum 30 equivalent days per calendar year) during the reference period.

If you worked part-time, your days are converted into full-time days.

The reference period:

• starts on 1 January of the year in which you turned 62 or of the year in which you reached 44 career years;
• ends when your retirement pension effectively takes effect, and, at the very latest, when you turn 65.
  
  

Which days do not entitle one to the pension bonus?

• For the career years from 01.01.2014:
  • the equivalent days;
  • the days as frontier or seasonal worker;
  • the days at the expense of a foreign scheme;
  • the worked working days after the start date of your pension within the framework of the allowed professional activity.
    
    
• For the career years between 01.01.2006 and 31.12.2013:
  • the equivalent days after the 30th equivalent day per calendar year;
  • the days as frontier or seasonal worker;
  • the days at the expense of a foreign scheme;
  • the worked working days after the start date of your pension within the framework of the allowed professional activity.
    
    

How much is my pension bonus per day?

The amount depends on the period in which you built up your pension bonus. This is a fixed amount, even when a household rate pension is granted.

For the career years from 01.01.2014

The amount of the bonus gradually increases per day. It increases in relation to the number of months during which you have built up the pension bonus during the reference period until the day on which you retire. In order to determine this reference period, we also take the periods during which you built up a pension bonus between 01.01.2006 and 31.12.2013 into account.

Example: if you already built up a pension bonus during 48 months before 2014, your first bonus day in 2014 will immediately be worth 2,9753 EUR.

For the career years between 01.01.2006 and 31.12.2013

For these years, a fixed amount per bonus day applies, which currently amounts to 3,0920 EUR (at the index figure 183,17 from 01.03.2026).

Calculation of the pension bonus for civil servants

Which conditions should you meet in order to be entitled to a pension bonus?

You retain the entitlement to a pension bonus if, before 1 December 2014, you:

• met the conditions for early retirement;
  or
• had reached the age of 65 and had a career of at least 40 admissible years of service.
  
  

Does my career fraction influence my entitlement to a pension bonus?

You will not receive a pension bonus if your pension is calculated at a career fraction that is more advantageous than 1/48 (because in this way you already attain the maximum pension after a much shorter career).

However, in order to receive the pension bonus you can drop your services and periods with a more advantageous career fraction than 1/48 for the calculation of your pension.

When does the build-up of the pension bonus start and end?

General rule

The build-up of your pension bonus starts one year after the date on which you meet the general conditions for the early retirement.

The build-up of the pension bonus can never start before that age of 61, not even if you enjoy favourable age conditions.

The build-up of the pension bonus ends on the last day of the month preceding the actual start date of your pension. The period during which you build up the pension bonus is called the reference period.

Example: Vik meets the conditions for the early retirement on 27 August 2014 (60 years old and 40 admissible years of service). He can retire on 1 September 2014, but decides to continue to work until 31 August 2019 (65 years old). He builds up a pension bonus from 27 August 2015 up to and including 31 August 2019.

Exception: if you reached the age of 65 and had 40 years of service before 1 December 2014, the build-up of your pension bonus started immediately from the moment you met these two conditions.

Which days entitle one to the pension bonus?

• The actual performed days from 1 January 2014.
• The periods of leave of absence on full pay.

For the calculation of the pension bonus we count 22 working days for a full month of actual performed services.

Which days do not entitle one to the pension bonus?

• Your full or halve days of absence without pay (for example leave for compelling reasons for family life) do not entitle you to the pension bonus. We deduct these days from the 22 working days for the month in question. This also applies when your unpaid absence is put on a par with active service due to your professional status.
• In the case of incomplete performances, a reduction is applied in proportion to the reduced performances.
• The periods during which you remained attached to the civil service on a non-active basis.
  
  

How much is my pension bonus per day?

The pension bonus is a lump sum that is awarded per worked day. The pension bonus amounts to: