PER Retirement Plan In Depth

The individual PER is open to everyone and funded by voluntary tax-deductible contributions. The collective company PER replaces the former PERCO and receives employee savings (incentive bonuses, profit-sharing, employer matching); it is open to all employees of the company. The mandatory company PER replaces the former Article 83 and covers mandatory contributions defined by collective agreement or unilateral employer decision for certain employee categories. In 2026, approximately 70% of open PERs are individual PERs, 25% are collective PERs, and 5% are mandatory PERs. All three compartments can coexist within a single contract, simplifying the management of the policyholder's retirement savings.

No, the upfront deduction is not always advantageous. If you are non-taxable or in a low marginal tax bracket (0% or 11%), it may be better to waive the deduction. In return, the exit taxation will be lighter: gains will only be subject to the 30% flat tax instead of being added back to your taxable income at the progressive scale. This non-deduction option must be evaluated based on your current TMI and your estimated TMI at retirement. In practice, a taxpayer in the 11% bracket who contributes 5,000 euros only gains 550 euros in tax deduction, but will have to add these 5,000 euros back to taxable income at withdrawal: the gain is often zero or even negative depending on bracket evolution.

The annual deduction ceiling is 10% of your net professional income from year N-1, with a maximum of 35,194 euros for 2024 income (2025 contributions) and a minimum floor of 4,399 euros. You can carry forward unused allowances from the three previous years. The available ceiling appears on your latest tax notice, under the 'Plafond Epargne Retraite' section. Married or civil-partnered spouses can pool their respective ceilings. For example, a couple where one spouse has an unused ceiling of 20,000 euros over three years can use it for the other spouse's PER contribution, effectively doubling the potential tax saving for a single tax year.

Yes, transfers from former retirement savings products (PERP, Madelin, PERCO, Article 83, Prefon, COREM) to the PER are possible and even encouraged. Transfer fees are capped at 1% of the balance if the contract is less than 5 years old, and zero beyond 5 years of holding. The transfer allows you to benefit from the PER's withdrawal flexibility while retaining the fiscal seniority of the transferred funds. Since 2019, more than 400,000 transfers have been made from former PERP and Madelin contracts to the PER, for a total transferred balance exceeding 15 billion euros.

In the event of death before PER liquidation, the savings are paid to the beneficiaries designated in the beneficiary clause. If the holder dies before age 70, the taxation follows life insurance rules for insurance-based PERs: a 152,500 euro allowance per beneficiary, then taxation at 20% and then 31.25%. After age 70, the global allowance of 30,500 euros applies. For bank-based PERs (securities accounts), the capital is included in the standard estate. It is therefore strategically preferable to choose an insurance-based PER rather than a bank-based PER if estate planning is an important objective, as the life insurance estate tax framework is significantly more favorable than civil succession rules.

The PER is particularly attractive in mid and late career, when your income and therefore your TMI are at their highest. The gap between your active TMI (30% or 41%) and your retirement TMI (11% or 30%) maximizes the tax advantage. Nevertheless, opening a PER early allows you to benefit longer from compound interest capitalization. A young professional in the 30% bracket has every interest in contributing regularly to a PER from the start of their career.

Early withdrawal for primary residence purchase is reserved for the voluntary contributions compartment (individual compartment). The withdrawn capital corresponding to deducted contributions is taxed at the progressive income tax scale, without social contributions, while gains are subject to the 30% flat tax. Concretely, if you contributed 40,000 euros (deducted) and your PER has grown to 52,000 euros, the 40,000 euros in contributions will be added to your taxable income in the year of withdrawal and the 12,000 euros in gains will be taxed at the flat tax rate. This withdrawal applies only to the primary residence: secondary homes and rental investments are excluded. The primary residence is defined as the dwelling occupied at least eight months per year by the holder.

PER fees are layered and cumulative: entry fees on contributions (from 0% with online brokers to 3-5% in bank networks), annual contract management fees (0.5% to 1%), managed allocation mandate fees (0 to 0.7%), internal fund fees (0.05% for an ETF to 2.5% for an actively managed fund), switching fees (generally free online), and transfer fees (capped at 1% before 5 years, free after). Over 30 years, the difference between a PER charging 0.8% total annual fees and one at 2.5% can represent more than 40% additional capital, or tens of thousands of euros. It is therefore imperative to calculate the total annual cost before subscribing.