We are making changes to the pension product.
Quickly to:
- More opportunities to build up additional gross pension
- Accruing additional gross pension over a period in the past
- Waiver of contributions in the event of occupational disability
- Automatic transfer of accrued benefits for small pensions will lapse
- More freedom of choice in the net pay pension scheme
- Same conditions, new names for some insurances
More opportunities to build up additional gross pension
Do you offer your employees the opportunity to accrue additional pension? At Zwitserleven, this is called PensioenAanvullen. From now on, your employees can choose whether they wish to contribute a fixed amount per month or an amount as a percentage of their tax-facilitated maximum. Your employees can also opt to make a single contribution for an additional pension. The additional contribution is deducted from their gross salary.
Has it been agreed in your pension scheme that your employees will automatically contribute to an additional pension? And if an employee indicates within 1 month of joining the pension scheme that they do not wish to do this, the termination will apply from the start of participation in the pension scheme and the additional contribution will be repaid. This is an improvement, because previously the contribution was stopped on the first of the following month. If your employee later informs us that they wish to stop PensioenAanvullen, their participation will cease on the first day of the following month.
Accruing additional gross pension over a period in the past
Do you offer your employees the opportunity to accrue additional pension? With effect from the transition, your employees will be able to accrue additional pension for the past months in the calendar year. This is an improvement for your employees, because in the current pension scheme it is not possible to accrue additional pension over a period in the past. Your employee can make this choice in MijnZwitserleven and it always concerns a one-off amount.
Good to know: it is not possible to accrue additional pension over the period before the transition.
Waiver of contributions in the event of occupational disability
You may have insured your employees for the risk of occupational disability. This means that the accrual of their pension will continue without them having to pay contributions. This is known as a waiver of contributions in case of occupational disability. This waiver may apply to both an employee’s basic contribution and their gross additional contribution. You will now pay a risk premium for this.
If your pension scheme includes the possibility for your employees to build up additional pension funds, your employees will soon be able to choose to contribute a fixed amount per month or an amount as a percentage of their tax-facilitated maximum.
- If your employee opts for a percentage, their additional monthly contribution will also automatically change if their salary changes. The additional contribution will also change due to a change in the age group in which the employee falls.
- If your employee opts for a fixed monthly amount, their additional monthly contribution will not change in the event of a change in salary or age.
The premium for the waiver of contributions in the event of occupational disability depends on the choice made by your employee. If your employee opts for a percentage of their tax-facilitated maximum, the premium we will charge will be higher than for a fixed amount. This is because the amount for which a waiver of contributions is granted will increase as your employee grows older and will not remain the same, as is the case with a fixed monthly amount.
You will find the rates in your amended administration agreement. The invoice specification will show you the premium we will charge for waiver of contributions in the event of occupational disability for the employee’s additional contribution.
Automatic transfer of accrued benefits for small pensions will lapse
At present, we automatically transfer a small pension from your former employee to the new pension provider if the pension is less than €592.51 per year (2024).
This will soon cease to be the case. If your former employee wishes to transfer a small pension, they will have to submit a request for an individual transfer of accrued benefits to the new pension provider.
More freedom of choice in the net pay pension scheme
Your employees can accrue a net pension on salary in excess of €137,800 (2024), if this has been agreed upon within your pension scheme. From now on, they can choose a fixed amount per month or a percentage of their tax-facilitated maximum per month. The contribution will be deducted from their net salary. There is no deadline for making this choice.
In the net pay pension scheme, a net orphan's pension is insured as standard for any children and a net partner's pension if the partner is known to us. From then on, your employees can choose to terminate these insurances separately. In addition, your employees no longer need to complete a waiver to terminate the partner's pension.
Employees who participate in the net pay pension scheme will soon receive 2 separate policy numbers: 1 for the gross pension scheme and 1 for the net pension scheme.
Same conditions, new names for some insurances
With effect from the transition to the other administration system, some parts of the pension scheme will be given new names.
- The Anw shortfall insurance will become the Surviving Dependants’ Bridging Pension
- The WIA base pension will become the Occupational Disability Pension under the WIA salary limit
- The WIA top-up pension will become the Occupational Disability Pension above the WIA salary limit
The terms and conditions of these policies and the amount of the cover will not change. Elipslife will also continue to be the risk insurer.