Overview
- Germany’s cabinet backed the Aktivrente framework that would allow up to €2,000 a month in tax‑free earnings for people working after reaching the regular retirement age, with a planned start on 1 January 2026 pending Bundestag and Bundesrat approval.
- The relief applies only to social‑insurance employment and excludes the self‑employed, freelancers, civil servants and Minijobbers; since 2023, pensioners at regular age have already been allowed unlimited earnings without pension cuts, but those earnings remain taxable under current law.
- According to reports, the tax‑free portion would not fall under the Progressionsvorbehalt, while contributions to health and long‑term care insurance would still be due and unemployment insurance premiums would not be charged.
- Initial estimates suggest roughly 168,000 to 230,000 immediate beneficiaries and a tax revenue shortfall on the order of €800 million to €890 million.
- Social and labor groups including VdK, Caritas, DGB and the employers’ association BDA criticize the plan as skewed toward better‑off retirees and of limited value for labor shortages; separately, 2026 technical changes raise the income needed for one Entgeltpunkt to about €51,944 and pension increase figures for 2026 remain provisional.