Income Tax - Retirement Savings Contributions (Deduction)

Verified 15 April 2026 - Public Service / (Prime Minister)

Do you have a retirement savings product? In some cases, you can deduct contributions from your overall net income. To qualify, you must indicate the amount of contributions paid on your tax return. We tell you the rules to know for retirement savings contributions made in 2025 and 2026.

Retirement savings products are savings products long-term.

During the investment phase, you can, in some cases, deduct contributions that you pay.

You will have to wait for your retirement (except exceptional unblocking case) to collect a life annuity or a capital. Those amounts will then be taxable.

Contributions 2025

You can benefit, under certain conditions, from the deduction of contributions you have paid for the following retirement savings products:

You can also benefit, under certain conditions, from the deduction of contributions you have made for the following optional plans:

  • Prefect for public servants
  • Corem mutual pension supplement
  • Supplementary pension for CGOS hospital staff.

Warning  

Some contributions paid for self-employed employment are only deductible from professional income concerned (industrial and commercial benefits - BIC or non-commercial profits - BNC for example).

Deductible contributions are those you make voluntarily in an individual capacity.

FYI  

Contributions made to buy back retirement quarters are deductible under special conditions. They should not be included in deductible contributions for retirement savings plans.

Amounts paid in a year are deductible from the taxable income of the year concerned, within the limit of a ceiling fixed for each member of the tax home.

If you are married or entered into a civil partnership and subject to common taxation, you can request (in your tax return) the pooling of your ceilings.

Amounts paid in 2025 are deductible from your 2025 taxable income (return in 2026).

If you do not use all or part of your deduction limit, you can carry over to the next 3 years.

Example :

If you did not use your deduction limit for the taxation of your 2024 income, you can use it to increase your deduction limit for the taxation of your 2025, 2026, or 2027 income.

If you did not use your deduction limit for the taxation of your 2025 income, you can use it to increase your deduction limit for the taxation of your 2026, 2027, or 2028 income.

The amount of the cap depends on your situation:

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You are an employee

Your personalized ceiling is calculated by the tax services in several steps.

The deduction limit for pension contributions is equal to 10% of your 2025 business income (net of professional expenses) (with a maximum of €37,094), or to €4,637 if this amount is higher.

This amount is reduced the following:

  • Contributions to supplementary pension schemes made compulsory in the company for employees (employer's share in its non-taxable amount and employee's share in its deductible amount)
  • Employer's contribution to the Group Retirement Savings Plan (Perco), Group company Retirement Savings Plan (Pereco) or Mandatory Retirement Savings Plan (Pero) up to the amount exempt from income tax
  • Entitlements entered in the CET (time savings account) or, in the absence of CET, the monetized, exempt leave days (up to 10 days) allocated by the employee to a Perco, a supplementary company pension plan or a Pereco.

The ceiling is increased the unused deduction limit (or portion thereof) in the previous 3 years, from the oldest to the most recent.

Example :

You did not use your full deduction limit in 2023 and 2024.

Your 2025 contributions are deducted as a priority from your 2025 limit.

The amount that exceeds your 2025 cap is deducted from the remaining portion of your 2023 cap and then from the remaining portion of your 2024 cap.

The personalized ceiling applied to your contributions paid in 2025 is indicated on your tax notice 2025 (on 2024 revenues).

It is also printed on your tax return.

It is the sum of the cap calculated on your 2024 income and the unused caps calculated on the income of the previous 3 years.

You are unemployed or retired without professional income

The ceiling is €4,637.

The ceiling is increased the unused deduction limit (or portion thereof) in the previous 3 years, from the oldest to the most recent.

Example :

You did not use your full deduction limit in 2023 and 2024.

Your 2025 contributions are deducted as a priority from your 2025 limit.

The amount that exceeds your 2025 cap will be deducted from the remaining portion of your 2023 cap and then from the remaining portion of your 2024 cap.

The personalized ceiling applied to your contributions paid in 2025 is indicated on your tax notice 2025 (on 2024 revenues).

It corresponds to the sum of the ceiling calculated for your 2024 income and the unused ceilings calculated on the income of the previous 3 years.

FYI  

Of special rules apply to self-employed persons.

Retirement savings contributions paid in 2025 are to be reported in 2026.

The contributions paid are to be indicated in the part Deductible expenses (retirement savings) your tax return.

Contributions 2026

You can benefit, under conditions, from the deduction of contributions that you paid for the following retirement savings products:

Warning  

From 70 years, you can no longer benefit from the deduction of your contributions.

You can also benefit, under certain conditions, from the deduction of contributions you have made for the following optional plans:

  • Prefect for public servants
  • Corem mutual pension supplement
  • Supplementary pension for CGOS hospital staff.

Deductible contributions are those you make voluntarily in an individual capacity.

Some contributions paid for self-employed employment are only deductible from professional income concerned (industrial and commercial benefits - BIC or non-commercial profits - BNC for example).

Contributions made to buy back retirement quarters are deductible under special conditions. They should not be included in deductible contributions for retirement savings plans.

Amounts paid in a year are deductible from the taxable income of the year concerned, within the limit of a ceiling fixed for each member of the tax home.

If you are married or entered into a civil partnership and subject to common taxation, you can request (in your tax return) the pooling of your ceilings.

Amounts paid in 2026 are deductible from your 2026 taxable income (2027 return).

If you do not use all or part of your deduction limit, you can carry over to the next 5 years.

Example :

If you don't use your 2026 income tax deduction limit, you can use it to increase your 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030 or 2031 income tax deduction limit.

The amount of the cap depends on your situation:

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

You are an employee

Your personalized ceiling is calculated by the tax services in several steps.

The deduction limit for pension contributions is equal to 10% of your 2025 business income (net of professional expenses) (with a maximum of €37,680), or to €4,710 if this amount is higher.

This amount is reduced the following:

  • Contributions to supplementary pension schemes made compulsory in the company for employees (employer's share in its non-taxable amount and employee's share in its deductible amount)
  • Employer's contribution to the Group Retirement Savings Plan (Perco), Group company Retirement Savings Plan (Pereco) or Mandatory Retirement Savings Plan (Pero) up to the amount exempt from income tax
  • Entitlements entered in the CET (time savings account) or, in the absence of CET, the monetized, exempt leave days (up to 10 days) allocated by the employee to a Perco, a supplementary company pension plan or a Pereco.

The ceiling is increased the unused deduction limit (or portion thereof) in the previous 5 years, from the oldest to the most recent.

However, the unused part of the ceilings for the years 2024 and 2025 can only be used within 3 years. So until 2027 for the 2024 share and until 2028 for the 2025 share.

The unused portion of the 2026 cap (and subsequent years) can be used within 5 years.

Example :

You didn't use your full deduction limit in 2024 and 2025.

Your 2026 contributions are deducted as a priority from your 2026 limit.

The amount that exceeds your 2026 cap is deducted from the remaining portion of your 2024 cap and then from the remaining portion of your 2025 cap.

The personalized ceiling applicable to your contributions paid in 2026 will be indicated on your tax notice 2026 (on 2025 revenues).

It is the sum of the cap calculated on your 2025 revenues and the unused caps calculated on previous years' revenues.

You are unemployed or retired without professional income

The ceiling is €4,710.

The ceiling is increased the unused deduction limit (or portion thereof) in the previous 5 years, from the oldest to the most recent.

However, the unused part of the ceilings for the years 2024 and 2025 can only be used within 3 years. So until 2027 for the 2024 share and until 2028 for the 2025 share.

The unused portion of the 2026 cap (and subsequent years) can be used within 5 years.

Example :

You didn't use your full deduction limit in 2024 and 2025.

Your 2026 contributions are deducted as a priority from your 2026 limit.

The amount that exceeds your 2026 cap is deducted from the remaining portion of your 2024 cap and then from the remaining portion of your 2025 cap.

The personalized ceiling applicable to your contributions paid in 2026 will be indicated on your tax notice 2026 (on 2025 revenues).

It is the sum of the cap calculated on your 2025 income and the unused caps calculated on previous years' income.

FYI  

Of special rules apply to self-employed persons.

Retirement savings contributions paid in 2026 will be reportable in 2027.

The contributions paid will be indicated in the part Deductible expenses (retirement savings) your tax return.

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