Do self-employed people get the subsidy from 2027?

Who is newly included from 2027

A professional pension scheme is the separate pension provision of certain professions, such as doctors, pharmacists, lawyers or architects. If you are an employed member there, for example as a hospital doctor or an employed lawyer, you allow your pension scheme, in writing or online by the end of the year, to report your eligibility to the central subsidy office. Without this permission there is no subsidy for that year. If you work self-employed in your own practice or law firm, you belong to the first group in the table and need your tax return for this.

Whether you have to pay into the statutory pension insurance is shown in your insurance record from the Deutsche Rentenversicherung, the German statutory pension insurance, or in the notice about your compulsory insurance, for example from the Künstlersozialkasse. As a business owner or freelancer you are eligible from 2027 in both cases, and without pension insurance with your tax return.

If you run your own GmbH (a limited company) and receive a salary from it, for tax purposes this counts as an employee’s salary. If you pay neither into the pension insurance nor, as a compulsory member, into a professional pension scheme for it, this salary does not make you eligible yourself, even from 2027. If you are a compulsory member of a pension scheme, for example as a lawyer or tax advisor in your own firm’s GmbH, the rule for employed members from the table above applies to you. If you also have your own income as a business owner or freelancer, this can also be different. If your spouse is eligible, you can be subsidised through them. Your advisor checks this with you.

What you get

The subsidy depends only on how much you pay in yourself; your profit plays no role. For €150 a month it is up to €540 basic subsidy a year, up to €5,400 in ten years. As a business owner or freelancer you get the subsidy for a year once your tax return for that year has been filed. So the subsidy for 2027 comes after your tax return for 2027. If you file early, you have it in your contract sooner. If your spouse stays at home and is not eligible themselves, they can get up to €175 with their own contract from €120 a year, so together up to €715 a year. The condition is that you yourself are eligible, which as a self-employed person means filing your tax return for the year. For each child for whom child benefit has been granted, up to €300 goes into the contract of an eligible parent. Your advisor arranges with you which parent that is when you sign.

What the tax rules say

The €1,800 of contributions a year, together with your subsidies, also count as a special expense (Sonderausgabe, an amount you can deduct) in your tax return, for a person without children up to €2,340. If you fill in Anlage AV, the form for pension savings in the tax return, the tax office checks automatically whether the tax deduction brings more than the subsidy. Whether this pays off for you depends on your income and is a question for your advice appointment.

What the money is meant for

The balance is meant for your retirement and your own home. You can use it to buy, build or pay off the home you live in yourself, if the contract terms provide for it. It cannot be used for business premises or your business. If you have a practice or office in your own house, the balance can be used for the part you live in yourself. If you do not buy, you get the balance as a pension in old age.

Frequently asked questions

Read more

• How much subsidy do I get for €150 a month?
• How much subsidy does a family with children get from 2027?
• What changes in 2027 for the Eigenheimrente?
• This page in German