Employee pension: what is the discount?

Verified 01 January 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The discount is a reduction which is applied to amount of the retirement pension basic pension insurance when the employee retires without being entitled to a retirement at full rate. We present the conditions for application and calculation of this discount.

The amount of your basic retirement pension paid by Retirement Insurance is subject to a haircut, i.e. it is reduced, when you retire without being entitled to a full pension.

As an employee, when you retire, you are entitled to:

  • To a basic retirement pension from the Pension Insurance
  • And a supplementary pension from theAgirc-Arrco: titleContent.

Your basic retirement pension from the Retirement Insurance is granted to full rate mainly in one of the following 2 cases:

  • You're retiring before age 67 by having one determined number of quarters of pension insurance
  • Or you retire at age 67, regardless of your number of quarters of pension insurance.

If you retire before age 67However, the number of quarters of pension insurance required to qualify for a full pension depends on your year of birth:

Tableau - Number of insurance quarters required to qualify for a full pension

You were born:

You can retire from:

Number of quarters required to have the full rate

Between 1er January 1958 and December 31, 1960

62 years

167 (41 years 9 months)

Between 1er January 1961 and August 31, 1961

62 years

168 (42 years old)

Between 1er September 1961 and December 31, 1961

62 years and 3 months

169 (42 years 3 months)

1962

62 years and 6 months

169 (42 years 3 months)

Between 1er January 1963 and March 31, 1965

62 years and 9 months

170 (42 years 6 months)

Between 1er April 1965 and December 31, 1965

63 years

171 (42 years 9 months)

1966

63 years and 3 months

172 (43 years old)

1967

63 years and 6 months

172 (43 years old)

1968

63 years and 9 months

172 (43 years old)

From 1er January 1969

64 years

172 (43 years old)

FYI  

If you have worked under other than salaried status (public official, farmer, liberal profession, etc.) and you have consequently contributed to several pension funds, this is your total duration of insurance, all plans combined, which is taken into account when determining whether or not you are entitled to full-rate retirement pensions.

If you retire before age 67 without having the required number of quarters, you are not entitled to a full pension.

In this case, the amount of your retirement pension is reduced according to the number of quarters you are missing.

This reduction is there haircut.

If you retire at age 67However, you are entitled to a full pension, regardless of your number of quarters of pension insurance.

Your pension is calculated based on the number of quarters you have, whatever it may be.

If you have fewer quarters than you need to qualify for a full pension before age 67, the discount is not applied to you.

FYI  

You may be entitled to a basic pension from the Retirement Insurance at full rate, without discount, before age 67 in some cases special situations (for long career, disability, disability, etc.).

The amount of your supplementary pension of Agirc-Arrco may also be reduced or increased depending on your starting age.

The number of missing quarters retained by the Retirement Insurance is smaller of the following 2 numbers:

  • Number of missing quarters between your age at retirement and age 67
  • Or number of quarters missing between your number of quarters on the date of your retirement and the number of quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension.

The number of quarters obtained is rounded up to the next digit.

The maximum number of missing quarters taken into account is limited to 20.

Example :

You were born on 1er July 1964. You can retire from 62 years and 9 months. To qualify for a full pension, you must:

  • Or have 170 quarters all plans combined
  • Either wait until your 67th birthday (at 1er July 2031).

If you decide to leave on the 1ster July 2027, at age 63, having only 159 quarters for all plans combined:

  • You are 16 quarters short between your age at retirement (age 63) and age 67
  • You are 11 quarters short of the number of quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension (170), compared to the number of quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension (159).

That is the most advantageous number, 11 quarters.

The amount of your basic retirement pension from the Retirement Insurance depends in particular on average of your gross wages from your best 25 years.

When you are entitled to a full pension, your pension is calculated on the basis of 50%  of that average annual gross salary.

However, if you retire before age 67 without having the number of quarters of pension insurance required to qualify for a full rate pension, this rate of 50% is reduced by 0.625% by missing quarter.

So if you retire before age 67 without having the required number of quarters of pension insurance, the rate that is applied to your average gross annual salary, called a haircut, is as follows:

Tableau - Retirement rate by number of quarters missing

Number of Missing Quarters

Retirement rate

1

49.375%

2

48.750%

3

48.125%

4

47.500%

5

46.875%

6

46.250%

7

45.625%

8

45,000%

9

44.375%

10

43.750%

11

43.125%

12

42.500%

13

41.875%

14

41.250%

15

40.625%

16

40,000%

17

39.375%

18

38.750%

19

38.125%

20 and more

37.500%

Example :

Let's take the previous example: you were born on the 1ster July 1964. You decide to retire at 63 on the 1ster July 2027 by having only 159 quarters instead of the 170 required to qualify for a full pension. The number of missing quarters selected is 11.

Your pension will be equal to: Average gross annual salary x 43.125% x number of quarters in Retirement Insurance / 170

If you have contributed to several basic pension plans, only the quarters validated to the Pension Insurance are taken into account.

For example, if you have 120 quarters with Retirement Insurance and 39 quarters with another pension fund, your Pension Insurance pension will be equal to: Average Gross Annual Salary x 43.125% x 120 / 170.

The other 39 quarters will be taken into account by the other pension plan that will calculate your retirement pension, also with a discount, according to the calculation rules applicable in this plan.

You can find out how many quarters of pension insurance you have by consulting your career record on the official website Retirement Info in your retirement account using the service My career / See my career.

Your career statement summarizes, chronologically, all of your different professional periods.

You can print and download your career record.

You can also perform a simulation the amount of your retirement at different ages, at full rate or not, from the data known to your pension funds using the service My Retirement Estimate/ Estimate my retirement.

Info Retirement - My retirement account

From 55 years old, you can report to your pension funds any discrepancies in your career statement and request a correction (missing job, inconsistency, etc.) using the service My steps/ Correcting my career.

Your pension funds are informed directly.

You can track their processing on your retirement account using the service My steps/ Follow my requests.

Who can help me?

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