The governing coalition’s Finance Committee decided this Wednesday to include self-employed individuals among the beneficiaries of the private pension reform. Our partner organization, VGSD, brought this to our attention. For the many VDT members who work as freelancers or small business owners, this represents an attractive new option for retirement planning.

Pension savings, which may include substantial subsidies, will be made possible through a new state fund to be established, and support for low-income earners will be increased. The Bundestag’s press release states: “With this legislative proposal, the coalition aims to revitalize private pension provision in order to create an efficient option for securing living standards after retirement for broad segments of the population.” And regarding the self-employed: “The support is intended to motivate the self-employed to build up supplementary private retirement savings in addition to basic coverage, especially since occupational pension plans are not available to them as a tax-advantaged form of supplementary retirement savings.”

The planned launch date is January 1, 2027.