From 2025, the state pension age will rise in line with average life expectancy. This means that the state pension age will rise less quickly. Would you like to know when you will start to receive your state retirement pension (AOW pension)? You can find this on the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (Social Security) website: SVB.nl.

At this moment it is not clear yet which pension scheme is the most appropriate. Both plans are based on the amount of the contributions paid in rather than the amount of pension benefit paid out. Everyone will accrue a personal pension pot. In our case, this means that J&J will no longer be subject to a contribution deposit obligation for future pension accrual and that the unconditional indexation of the pension of active members will stop. As a result, the financial risk will be passing from the employer to the employee. At the moment it has not been decided yet how to deal with the pensions accrued until the moment of transition. If the accrued pensions are transferred to the new pension plan the new rules will apply, but if they remain behind the old rules will - under certain conditions - continue to be applicable. It is not clear yet how these pensions will be dealt with.

If you choose to receive a lump-sum payment, your income will be higher initially and your pension benefit will be lower afterwards, because you have taken an amount from your pension pot. This will also have consequences for your tax return and any supplements you are receiving because your taxable annual income will once be higher:

•  The tax rates imposed before the AOW retirement date are higher than the ones imposed afterwards, i.e. it is more expensive to withdraw a lump sum before you reach the AOW retirement age. Members who start receiving the AOW benefit in the first few months of the year pay less tax over the lump sum than participants who reach the AOW retirement age later that year. In the month in which you start receiving AOW or on the 1st day of the month following the start of your AOW benefit, you can postpone the payment of the lump sum until 1st January. This way you will pay less tax and have more pension left.

•  Are you entitled to any government allowances (e.g. housing or healthcare)? In that case your allowance may be stopped, because your income in that year is higher. This income is included when checking the level of the benefits.

•  If you are divorced and your former partner and you have opted for pension equalization, selecting a lump-sum payment will suddenly also have consequences for your former partner’s benefit as he or she will also receive a 10% lump-sum payment. The annual amount to be received by your former partner will decrease as well.