Employee retirement in the private sector: buyback of quarters

What are the periods of higher education that can be redeemed?

Study periods that can be redeemed must have been completed at one of the following institutions:

• Higher education institution
• Higher Technical School
• Grande école
• Preparatory class for a major school
• High school post-baccalaureate class.

These periods of study must have given rise to thegraduation.

Admission to a major school or to a preparatory class for a major school is equivalent to obtaining a diploma.

Periods of higher education completed in one of the following countries may also be redeemed:

• Countries of theEuropean Economic Area
• Switzerland
• Country linked to France by a international convention on social security.

What are the conditions to be met to buy back the years of higher education?

You can apply for the redemption of your higher education years if you have at least 20 years and under 67 years.

You must not have applied for your retirement pension from Retirement Insurance.

To be able to buy back and validate your years of study at the Pension Insurance, Retirement Insurance must be there 1^re pension fund to which you contributed after your studies.

How are periods of higher education counted for retirement?

The redemption request is taken into account for a integer number of quarters.

Any study period of 90 consecutive days is considered equal to 1 quarter.

If the 90-day period spans 2 calendar years it may be regarded as having been carried out in one or other of those years.

Each year may comprise only 4 quarters.

Only 12 quarters in total may be redeemed for the following reasons:

• Higher years of study
• Incomplete years for which you do not have 4 quarters of pension insurance recognized (validated) by the Retirement Insurance
• Periods during which you have been registered as a high-performance sportsman on the list established by the Ministry responsible for sports and which have not been taken into account by another basic pension fund
• Periods during which you have held a local mandate.

What is the buy-back of school years for retirement?

You have 2 redemption options.

To understand what these two options are, it is necessary to understand how the retirement pension is calculated by the Retirement Insurance.

Your retirement pension from the Retirement Insurance is calculated based on 3 elements:

1. Your average annual salary of your best 25 years
2. The liquidation rate of your pension, which may be at most 50% if you are entitled to a full rate retirement.
   The pension is awarded at full rate mainly in one of the following 2 cases:
   
   • You retire before the age of 67 with a specified number of quarters of pension insurance which depends on your year of birth
   • Or you retire at age 67 (regardless of your number of quarters of retirement insurance).
3. Your number of quarters of pension insurance in relation to the number of quarters of pension insurance required to qualify for a full pension.

Your pension is calculated as follows:

Annual Pension = Average Annual Salary x Rate x (Your number of Quarters of Retirement Insurance / Number of Quarters of Retirement Insurance Required to Qualify for Full Rate Retirement)

For example, an employee born in 1964 must be at least 62 years, 9 months and 170 quarters of pension insurance to be entitled to a full pension.

When you buy back quarters, you have the choice between 2 options following:

• Either buy back quarters that will be taken into account only for the calculation of your liquidation rate (to limit the discount)
• Either buy back quarters that will be taken into account both for the calculating your liquidation rateand for the calculating your number of pension insurance quarters.

How to apply for the redemption of the years of study for retirement?

Before applying for a buyback, it is advisable to perform a simulation of the cost of the buyback using a simulator:

Simulate the cost of a quarter buyback

The cost of the buyback depends on the option you choose, your age (depending on whether you are more or less than 40 years old) and your income in the last 12 months.

If, at the end of this simulation, you wish to submit a request for redemption, download the proposed request form and send it to the address indicated to you.

You can also download this form:

Application for a buyback assessment for the retirement of your graduate years

Your Carsat: titleContent tells you if the repurchase conditions are met.

Failure to respond within 2 months of receiving your request will result in your request being rejected.

If your application is accepted, your Carsat will send you a document called Payment Assessment for Retirement, indicating the amount to be paid.

This document is accompanied by a regular career statement and a form called Confirmation of a payment request.

If the redemption of certain periods is refused, you will be informed of the reason for refusal and of the remedies and time limits for appeal.

If you wish to buy back all or part of the quarters authorized by your Carsat, you must return the form Confirmation of a payment request.

You must specify the following information:

• Number of quarters you want to buy back
• Buyback option chosen
• Conditions for payment of the pension payment.

If the buyback is for 2 to 8 quarters, you can choose to spread your payment by monthly direct debits over 1 to 3 years.

If the redemption concerns at least 9 quarters, you can choose to spread your payment by monthly direct debits over 1, 3 or 5 years.

Contributions made to validate years of study are deductible from taxable income.

What are the periods concerned?

The periods that can be redeemed are calendar years during which your professional activity did not allow you to validate 4 quarters with the Retirement Insurance.

To find out if you have incomplete years, you can consult your career statement on the official Retirement Info website in your retirement account:

Info Retirement - My retirement account

Your redemption request must relate to a integer number of quarters.

Only 12 quarters in total may be redeemed for the following reasons:

• Incomplete years for which you do not have 4 quarters of pension insurance recognized (validated) by the Retirement Insurance
• Higher years of study
• Periods during which you have been registered as a high-performance sportsman on the list established by the Ministry responsible for sports and which have not been taken into account by another basic pension fund
• Periods during which you have held a local mandate.

Each year can only have 4 quarters.

What are the conditions to be met for the redemption of incomplete years?

You can apply for redemption of your incomplete years if you have at least 20 years and under 67 years.

You must not have applied for your retirement pension from Retirement Insurance.

What is the buyback of incomplete years?

You have 2 redemption options.

To understand what these two options are, it is necessary to understand how the retirement pension is calculated by the Retirement Insurance.

Your retirement pension from the Retirement Insurance is calculated based on 3 elements:

1. Your average annual salary of your best 25 years
2. The liquidation rate of your pension, which may be at most 50% if you are entitled to a full rate retirement.
   The pension is awarded at full rate mainly in one of the following 2 cases:
   
   • You retire before age 67 with a specified number of quarters of pension insurance which depends on your year of birth
   • Or you retire at age 67 (regardless of your number of quarters of retirement insurance)
3. Your number of quarters of pension insurance in relation to the number of quarters of pension insurance required to qualify for a full pension

Your pension is calculated as follows:

Annual Pension = Average Annual Salary x Rate x (Your number of Quarters of Retirement Insurance / Number of Quarters of Retirement Insurance Required to Qualify for Full Rate Retirement)

For example, an employee born in 1964 must be at least 62 years, 9 months and 170 quarters of pension insurance to be entitled to a full pension.

When you buy back quarters, you have the choice between 2 options following:

• Either buy back quarters that will be taken into account only for the calculation of your liquidation rate (to limit the discount)
• Either buy back quarters that will be taken into account both for the calculating your liquidation rate and for the calculating your number of pension insurance quarters.

How to apply for redemption of incomplete years?

Before applying for a buyback, it is advisable to perform a simulation of the cost of the buyback using a simulator:

Simulate the cost of a quarter buyback

The cost of the buyback depends on the option you choose, your age and your income over the past 12 months.

If, at the end of this simulation, you wish to submit a request for redemption, download the proposed request form and send it to the address indicated to you.

You can also download this form:

Request for evaluation of the redemption of quarters for retirement for incomplete calendar years of professional activity (less than 4 quarters validated)

Your Carsat: titleContent tells you if the repurchase conditions are met.

Failure to respond within 2 months of receiving your request will result in your request being rejected.

If your application is accepted, your Carsat will send you a document called Payment Assessment for Retirement, indicating the amount to be paid.

This document is accompanied by a regular career statement and a form called Confirmation of a payment request.

If the redemption of certain periods is refused, you will be informed of the reason for refusal and of the remedies and time limits for appeal.

If you wish to redeem all or part of the quarters authorized by your Carsat, you must return the payment request confirmation form.

You must specify the following information:

• Number of quarters you want to buy back
• Buyback option chosen
• Conditions for payment of the pension payment

If the buyback is for 2 to 8 quarters, you can choose to spread your payment by monthly direct debits over 1 to 3 years.

If the redemption concerns at least 9 quarters, you can choose to spread your payment by monthly direct debits over 1, 3 or 5 years.

Contributions made to validate incomplete years are deductible from taxable income.

Which internship periods are concerned?

Internship periods that can be redeemed are: mandatory probationary periods that you have completed during your studies in higher education.

The following conditions must all be filled :

• The traineeship was carried out as part of studies carried out in a higher education institution, a higher technical school, a large school or a preparatory class for a large school
• The internship has started after march 14, 2015
• The internship resulted in a tripartite agreement between the educational institution, the host organization and you
• The internship was carried out within the same entity (company, public administration, parliamentary or consultative assembly, association or any other host organization)
• Its duration is equal to 2 months, consecutive or not, in the same school or university year
• The internship resulted in the payment of a gratification.

What are the conditions to be met for the redemption of the internship periods?

You can request the redemption of your internship periods if you are at least 25 years old and no later than December 31 of the year of your 30th^e birthday.

The request must be made within 2 years which follow the end of each probationary period.

How are internship periods counted for retirement?

Any 2-month probationary period, consecutive or not, shall give rise to the validation ofone quarter.

Where the traineeship lasts for two successive years, it may be considered to have been completed in either of those years.

You can redeem maximum 2 quarters for internship.

What is the redemption of company internship periods?

In order to understand what is the buyback of probationary periods, it is necessary to understand how the retirement pension is calculated by the Retirement Insurance.

The retirement pension of the Retirement Insurance is calculated according to 3 elements:

1. The average annual salary of the best 25 years
2. The liquidation rate of the pension, which may be at most 50% if the future pensioner is entitled to a full rate retirement.
   The pension is awarded at full rate mainly in one of the following 2 cases:
   
   • The employee retires before age 67 with a specified number of quarters of pension insurance which depends on his year of birth
   • Or the employee retires at age 67 (regardless of the number of quarters of pension insurance)
3. The number of quarters of pension insurance of the employee in relation to the number of quarters of pension insurance required to be entitled to a full pension

The full pension shall be calculated as follows:

Annual pension = Average annual salary x 50% x (Your number of pension insurance quarters / Number of pension insurance quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension)

If the employee retires before age 67 without having the required number of quarters of pension insurance to be entitled to a full pension, the amount of his pension is subject to a haircut i.e. a reduction in the rate of 50% 0.625 per missing quarter.

The number of missing quarters selected is the most advantageous of the following numbers:

• Number of quarters between retirement age and age 67
• Or the number of quarters missing between his number of pension insurance quarters and the number of pension insurance quarters required to qualify for a full pension

The liquidation rate shall be reduced to: 50% - (number of missing quarters x 0.625)

The quarters obtained by buying back the internship periods are taken into account only for the calculation of your liquidation rate.

They are not taken into account for the calculation of your number of quarters of pension insurance.

How to make the request for redemption of the internship periods?

The redemption request is made using a form:

Application for a Retirement Quarter Buyback Assessment for company Internship Periods during Graduate Studies

You must attach the following documents to your application:

• Copy of your ID
• Copies of the internship agreement and the internship certificate for each internship period
• If you have worked in the years in which you completed your internship: a copy of your salary slips or any other proof of your work

This form must be sent to the competent Carsat indicated in the form's notice.

You can also submit your application online. To do this, log in to your personal space on lassuranceretraite.fr.

Submit my online form to Retirement Insurance

Your Carsat: titleContent tells you if the repurchase conditions are met.

Failure to respond within 2 months of receiving your request will result in your request being rejected.

In case of acceptance, your Carsat tells you the amount of the redemption.

The amount of the redemption is fixed at €481 by quarter.

If the redemption is for more than one quarter, you can choose to spread your payment over several months.

Contributions paid to validate company probationary periods are deductible from taxable income.