Altersvorsorgedepot: ready before the market opens
From 2027 the Altersvorsorgedepot replaces the Riester pension in new business, and remuneration runs on the contract value. Onboard now and you are in business on day one.
We get in touch as soon as the tariff and the terms are settled.
Remuneration runs on the contract value instead of arriving once at conclusion. Sound advice and ongoing support are no longer just your standard — they are your business model.
71.5% want more state support for private pensions. Only 10.8% expect to benefit personally — and that is exactly where your conversation starts.
CIVEY survey commissioned by Liechtenstein Life Assurance AG: 2,500 representatively selected German citizens aged 18 and over who are not yet retired were surveyed online, 8 to 15 April 2026.
Own contributions up to €1,800 a year are subsidised. At Liechtenstein Life you add a fund-based Basisrente, wealth accumulation and estate planning.
Show your clients what the state can add
Set the contribution, children and age: the Altersvorsorgedepot calculator shows the possible allowances as they stand today and the capital they could grow into by retirement. A worked example for the client conversation.
Annual figures, shown for a year at full child-benefit entitlement. The child allowance applies in every year child benefit is received for the child. The total capital counts it across all entitled years.
The figures and calculations in this calculator are a model calculation and constitute neither tax advice nor any assurance under tax law. They are a general, illustrative and simplified presentation. The actual tax treatment depends on personal circumstances. The binding assessment is made by the competent tax authority. An individual assessment needs a tax adviser. No liability is accepted for consequences arising from the use of this information. The expected return is an assumption, not a guaranteed value. Capital markets carry the risk of fluctuation and loss. Our exact product costs are not yet fixed. For illustration we assume 1% effective costs per year, the legally defined cap for the standard depot. As of August 2026. All assumptions and legal notices
Provision, wealth and succession from a single source
The Altersvorsorgedepot is the subsidised foundation. At €1,800 of own contributions a year the subsidy ends — your clients' needs do not. Everything beyond it you add from a single source.
Three reasons to run the Altersvorsorgedepot with us
- The lifelong annuity pays for as long as your client lives. Only an insurer can pay it.
- With a payout plan, by contrast, payment runs at least to 85 and ends with the capital, so the risk of a long life stays with your client
- With us the annuity comes from the same house, with no search for an insurer at 65. How our tariff structures the annuitisation follows with the tariff.
- Above €1,800 of own contributions there is no further allowance. The tax treatment stays: gains are taxed at payout, not before, and no Vorabpauschale falls due.
- In a free securities account the Vorabpauschale falls due every year instead, and every fund switch triggers capital-gains tax
- Both apply with us in policies too: taxed at payout, no Vorabpauschale. They also stay flexibly available rather than tied up until retirement.
- You add the Basisrente, wealth accumulation and estate planning with the same provider, remunerated under the same NAV model
- Your book, quotes and reporting come together in the Partner Life portal, and your clients see their contracts in the app
- One contact for the entire solution
Tax information under German law, as of 2026, § 20 (1) no. 6 and § 10 (1) no. 2 EStG, depending on the individual contract. For tax questions bring in a tax adviser.
Your remuneration changes in 2027 — with us it has run this way for years
The reform act requires acquisition costs to be spread across the entire accumulation phase, so a commission that falls due in full at conclusion does not fit that requirement. How the remuneration looks instead is each provider's own decision. At Invest, Pension and Wealth intermediaries already work with ongoing remuneration on the contract value today. Worked examples across the term are in the playbook.
Remuneration compared: Riester so far and the Altersvorsorgedepot from 2027
| Feature | Acquisition commissionRiester | Ongoing remunerationAltersvorsorgedepot |
|---|---|---|
| Timing | Once at conclusionThe weight sits at the start: the commission falls due at conclusion, and the acquisition costs had to be spread across at least five years. Anything ongoing flowed only where the tariff provided a trail commission. | Ongoing across the whole termEvery year the contract exists, it also pays you — a payment break included. |
| Basis | Acquisition commission on the total contributionsCalculated on the contributions agreed for the whole term, regardless of what the contract is later worth. | On the contract value (net asset value)The basis is what the contract is worth on the reporting date, so the capital accumulated plus its performance. |
| Clawback | Over yearsIf the client cancels early, the commission paid up front is reclaimed pro rata. | No classic clawbackThere is no advance payment that could be reclaimed. When the contract ends, the remuneration ends. |
| Initial advice | Covered by the acquisition commissionThe work before conclusion is covered with it, provided a contract comes about. | Not yet conclusively regulatedA commission that falls due in full at conclusion does not fit the requirement to spread acquisition costs across the entire accumulation phase. At the start the contract value is small. How the work before conclusion will be remunerated is something we settle with you individually. |
| Ongoing service | Service onlySupport after conclusion was mostly a service, remunerated only where the tariff provided a trail commission. | Part of the business modelGood support across the term is now both: a service for your client and the basis of your remuneration. |
| Income over time | Fluctuates with new businessWithout new business the income falls, however large the book is. | Grows with the contract value — and falls with itA growing book carries itself. If markets fall, the remuneration falls with them. |
The reform act requires acquisition costs to be spread across the accumulation phase; the concrete structure is each provider's own decision.
How to turn the Altersvorsorgedepot 2027 into your opportunity
Not sure where to start? The playbook shows in detail what counts now, where to begin and how to prepare for launch. With every new client you build an intermediary business that grows with it.
- Worked examples: NAV remuneration against the classic acquisition commission
- Answers to the client questions that come up in advisory conversations
- A checklist for preparing for the Altersvorsorgedepot and NAV remuneration
- A roadmap for activating your book
Who to approach first in your client database
The Altersvorsorgedepot is more than a Riester successor. From 2027 a considerably wider group is eligible for the subsidy than before. Four filters that find five eligible groups in your book.
- The existing contract stays protected and subsidy-eligible as long as it stands alone: concluding a new contract ends that protection
- Check first: surrender deductions and the conditions that fall away with the grandfathering
- Not every transfer is worth it, and the comparison is your argument in both directions
- Anyone earning business income under § 15 EStG who has filed a tax return, in trades, retail, hospitality or commercial services
- Anyone in self-employed professional work under § 18 EStG who has filed a tax return, such as doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, journalists
- Compulsory members of professional pension schemes who consent to the data transfer with their scheme by the end of the contribution year
- For every euro paid in up to €300 per child there is €1 of allowance, so up to €300 per child and year (to one eligible parent, not both)
- The allowance runs as long as child benefit is granted, so to 18, or to 25 at most during training or study
- Spouses without their own eligibility are indirectly eligible: their own contract, at least €120 of own contributions. The amount follows the directly eligible spouse's contributions, at most €175.
- Young clients benefit twice: the subsidy from day one, and the longest investment horizon, over which returns are reinvested
- The longer the contract runs, the more time allowances and returns have to work on their own
- A one-off career-starter bonus of €200 is added where the client is not yet 25 at the start of the contribution year
Go to your clients now
The Altersvorsorgedepot launches on 1 January 2027. Insurers, banks and fund providers will offer it, among others. Anyone who has worked through their book beforehand and held the conversations is ready on day one and uses the potential they already have. Anyone who waits risks clients signing elsewhere. Until launch you inform your clients and prepare everything; placing business starts on 1 January.
Onboarding in three steps, digital and paper-free
What intermediaries ask us about the Altersvorsorgedepot
Ongoing on the contract value, not once at conclusion.
The pension reform act requires acquisition costs to be spread across the entire accumulation phase, so a commission that falls due in full at conclusion does not fit that requirement.
How the ongoing remuneration is structured is each provider's own decision. At Liechtenstein Life it is remuneration on the net asset value across the full contract term, without the classic clawback — the same model as for Invest, Pension and Wealth. Worked examples are in the playbook.
Rates and structure are agreed with you individually. A statutory cost cap applies to standard-depot contracts only: no more than 1.0% effective costs, and that figure covers every cost of the contract. For the Altersvorsorgedepot without presets the BMF FAQ names no cap.
Through the regular partner process, in three steps and fully digital.
The Altersvorsorgedepot needs no onboarding of its own. Any intermediary wishing to work with Liechtenstein Life Assurance AG takes the same route as for Invest, Pension and Wealth. A licence under § 34d GewO is the prerequisite.
- Introductory conversation. You tell us what your portfolio looks like and what you need, and we show you the product world and the remuneration model. Out of that comes a solution that fits the way you advise. Arrange a conversation about onboarding here.
- Onboarding online. You verify your ID and enter your company and bank details. With no printing and no postal route.
- Access and start. You receive your access to the Partner Life portal for quotes, book and reporting and can place business straight away.
If you are already onboarded you need nothing new. You will be informed about the tariff and the application route for the Altersvorsorgedepot as soon as these are settled. The market launch is 1 January 2027.
Saving starts on 1 January 2027.
The German Bundestag passed the reform on 27 March 2026. For new business, the new product world replaces the Riester system from 2027.
As it stands today, we start with the standard depot, the Altersvorsorgedepot with the standard presets. What our tariff looks like beyond that follows with the tariff. As soon as the tariff and the application route are final, we inform onboarded intermediaries.
Anyone who onboards now is ready on 1 January and can hold the client conversations beforehand. Arrange a conversation for that.
The act is through. What is open are details of the implementation.
Settled:
- The act is promulgated: Bundestag on 27 March 2026, Bundesrat on 8 May 2026, published in Federal Law Gazette I 2026 No. 156 of 29 May 2026. Saving starts on 1 January 2027.
- Subsidy: 50 cents per euro up to €360, then 25 cents per euro on a further €1,440, giving up to €540 at €1,800 of own contributions. Plus up to €300 per child and a one-off career-starter bonus of €200.
- Minimum own contribution of €120 a year. Below it the base allowance for that year lapses, it is not reduced pro rata.
- Acquisition costs must be spread across the entire accumulation phase
- Two product types: an Altersvorsorgedepot without a guarantee, or a guarantee product with an 80% or 100% contribution guarantee. The standard depot is an Altersvorsorgedepot with the standard presets, not a third product type.
- Every provider of subsidised retirement products has to offer a standard depot, either its own or that of a cooperating provider
- Payout starts at 65 at the earliest and at 70 at the latest, a payout plan running at least to 85 or an annuity, up to 30% as a lump sum
- A change of provider at the start of the payout phase is possible, free of charge at the transferring provider after five years and capped at €150 at the new one, deferred taxation
- No taxation of gains and income during the accumulation phase. At payout, subsidised contributions are taxed at the individual rate under § 22 no. 5 EStG, contributions above the ceiling only on their earnings share.
- Existing Riester contracts stay protected
Still open:
- Cost caps for Altersvorsorgedepots without preset settings. For standard-depot contracts the 1.0% effective-cost cap is in the act.
- Transfer modalities in detail, in particular how subsidy losses are counted
- The design of the additional, publicly organised standard depot
- Our tariff, including its costs and its annuity option, and the application route
- How the work before conclusion is remunerated
What is settled you can present in the client conversation, as long as you state the legal position it rests on. How the legal position develops from here cannot be promised today.
Both are Altersvorsorgedepots. The difference lies in how freely the investment can be configured, and in the cost cap.
The subsidy, the allowances, the taxation and the payout rules are the same for both. Neither carries guarantees, those exist only in the guarantee product. Three things differ:
- Who picks the funds. In the standard depot the provider does: two funds fixed before the contract, one return-oriented and one lower-risk. How much goes into which of them is your client's call. In an Altersvorsorgedepot without presets they pick the funds as well.
- Who shifts the money. In the standard depot the provider does, automatically towards a target allocation: in the years before the payout phase the balance moves step by step into the lower-risk fund. A client already at the target allocation or invested more conservatively is left alone, and objecting remains open to them anyway. In an Altersvorsorgedepot without presets the law prescribes nothing here.
- What it may cost. In the standard depot no more than 1.0% effective costs, as the law requires, and that figure covers every cost of the contract. For an Altersvorsorgedepot without presets the BMF FAQ names no cap.
What a standard depot is not:
- Not a state product. Every provider of subsidised retirement products has to offer one, either its own or the standard product of a cooperating provider. Only providers that exclusively subsidise home ownership are exempt. A publicly organised standard depot is planned in addition and has to meet the same criteria; that one still needs a regulation from the Federal Government.
- Not the safe option. A standard depot is capital-market-dependent too and carries no contribution guarantee. The presets take the fund selection off your client's hands, not the investment risk: the lower-risk fund is lower-risk, not risk-free, and the automatic shifting dampens fluctuation before the payout without securing any amount.
- Not a product that requires prior experience. According to the BMF the standard depot is meant for clients with little capital-market experience who would rather not make investment decisions themselves.
For you that means: the standard depot is the statutory basic offering every provider has to have on the shelf. Both are offered as products in their own right, each certified separately. As it stands today we start with the standard depot, so your client picks no funds. What our tariff looks like beyond that follows with the tariff.
Source: BMF FAQ on the standard depot.
Five groups in your book.
- Existing Riester clients. The old contract stays protected as long as it stands alone. Concluding a new contract ends the protection, so the conversation starts at the comparison. What to check before a transfer is covered in the FAQ below.
- Self-employed. Unlike under the Riester scheme, many become directly eligible for the subsidy for the first time, in particular with income under § 15 EStG or § 18(1) nos. 1 to 3 EStG. Eligibility depends on the type of income and personal circumstances.
- Families with children. For every euro paid in up to €300 per child there is €1 of child allowance, so up to €300 per child and year, regardless of the child's year of birth. One eligible parent receives the allowance per child, not both.
- Young clients. They take the subsidy from day one, with the longest investment horizon, over which returns are reinvested. A one-off career-starter bonus of €200 is added where the client is not yet 25 at the start of the contribution year.
- Spouses without their own eligibility. Indirectly eligible: their own contract, at least €120 of own contributions. The amount follows the directly eligible spouse's contributions, at most €175.
Beyond the subsidy limit you combine with our other solutions: Invest for wealth accumulation without an upper limit, Pension as the Basisrente with deductible contributions, and Wealth for estate planning. Work out the subsidy for a specific client with the subsidy calculator.
The difference is the allowances and the taxation, not the funds.
With the Altersvorsorgedepot there are 50 cents of allowance per euro on the first €360 of own contributions a year and 25 cents per euro on a further €1,440, giving up to €540 of base allowance a year at €1,800 of own contributions. On top of that, €1 of child allowance per euro paid in up to €300 per child, and a one-off career-starter bonus of €200 where the client is not yet 25 at the start of the contribution year. A free ETF savings plan does not deliver that.
Then there is the taxation. According to the BMF there is “no taxation of gains and income in the pension contracts during the accumulation phase” — so switching funds triggers no tax, the capital keeps growing untaxed and is taxed only in the payout phase: subsidised contributions at the individual rate under § 22 no. 5 EStG, contributions above the ceiling only on their earnings share. The free savings plan has tax effects of its own, the partial exemption and the advance lump sum, which have to be set against it case by case.
Against that stands the earmarking. The Altersvorsorgedepot is tied to retirement provision, and the payout phase begins at 65 at the earliest and at 70 at the latest. An ETF savings plan stays available at any time. Anyone who needs that flexibility is well served by the savings plan. Anyone with children, who is young or on a high marginal tax rate usually gets further with the subsidy. On the marginal rate it is the special-expenses deduction under § 10a EStG that works: where the tax saving exceeds the allowance, your client receives the difference, and the tax office checks that on its own.
Work through both routes. The subsidy calculator shows the subsidy inside an Altersvorsorgedepot. For tax questions bring in a tax adviser. Information under German law, as of 2026.
Existing Riester contracts stay.
They generally continue as legacy business and remain eligible for the subsidy. Your clients can keep paying in or make the contract paid-up. For new business, the Altersvorsorgedepot takes the place of Riester from 2027.
According to the BMF, switching to a new contract is possible without having to repay the subsidy received so far. What matters is the consequence: on concluding the new contract your client moves into the new subsidy system, and the grandfathering of the old contract ends.
Before a transfer, the old contract's surrender deductions and the conditions that fall away with the grandfathering therefore belong on the table. Work through both scenarios, and for tax questions together with a tax adviser. Nobody has to switch, but many clients will ask.
Source: BMF FAQ on grandfathering and transfer. General information; it does not replace tax advice.
Four things, and then the comparison.
- The remaining term and the ongoing costs of the old contract, plus the switching, acquisition and distribution costs of the new one
- Guarantees and add-on components built into the old contract
- Your client's need for security against capital-market opportunities
- The tax situation, where needed together with a tax adviser
- The transfer itself: already subsidised capital is not subsidised again
Only then the comparison of both scenarios: keep it running against transfer it. It belongs in every advisory conversation and is at the same time your argument when a switch is not worth it. A checklist for it is in the playbook.
Become a partner at Liechtenstein Life
Onboard before 1 January 2027 and you hold the transfer conversations in your own book yourself. Onboarding, remuneration and launch we settle in one conversation.
As of August 2026. The Altersvorsorgedepot launches on 1 January 2027; at Liechtenstein Life Assurance AG it starts, as it stands today, as a standard depot. A subsidy-eligible product requires certification of the tariff, which is not yet in place. Liechtenstein Life Assurance AG is a Liechtenstein insurer operating in Germany under the freedom to provide services. Individual conditions, including cost caps beyond the standard depot and transfer modalities, are not yet conclusively settled. All figures are therefore subject to the further design. The Altersvorsorgedepot is capital-market-dependent. Values can rise or fall and capital loss is possible. There is no contribution guarantee. Remuneration details are non-binding; the concrete structure follows from the agreement with Liechtenstein Life Assurance AG. This page is addressed to commercial intermediaries and is general information; it does not replace investment, tax or legal advice. Sources: BMF FAQ on the reform of private pensions, Pension Reform Act, Federal Law Gazette I 2026 No. 156 of 29 May 2026, Bundestag resolution of 27 March 2026, Bundesrat of 8 May 2026, Federal Government. The survey figures quoted come from a CIVEY poll commissioned by Liechtenstein Life Assurance AG. 2,500 representatively selected German citizens aged 18 and over who are not yet retired were surveyed online from 8 to 15 April 2026.