Anyone who has retired early and is still working on the side will no longer have to be careful not to earn too much: the governing coalition wants to abolish the previous additional income limits for such cases without replacement.

This results from a draft by the Federal Ministry of Labor that is available to the FAZ.

The project is to be decided shortly by the Federal Cabinet in a package with other social law changes.

Dietrich Creutzburg

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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So far, retirees can only work part-time without restrictions after reaching the regular retirement age.

On the other hand, anyone who earns a wage in addition to an early pension must fear a reduction or even the loss of their entitlement to a pension.

This also applies, for example, to recipients of the so-called pension from age 63 for people who have contributed for 45 years.

According to the current legal situation, from 2023 onwards only an additional income of 6300 euros per year would be exempt from deduction.

However, the draft now says: “The additional earnings limit for early retirement pensions is no longer applicable”, in these cases “there will no longer be any restrictions on additional earnings.

In addition, it is planned to increase the corresponding limits for recipients of disability pensions, to a good 17,000 euros per year.

"Extensive knowledge"

The parliamentary director of the FDP parliamentary group, Johannes Vogel, sees the project as an important breakthrough towards a simple, unbureaucratic solution - and as good news not only for those affected themselves: "We cannot afford to rely on these people and their wealth of experience to do without,” said the FAZ. Anyone who wants to work more than previously thought after retirement can now do so without any worries.

For the years 2020 to 2022, the additional income limit was increased to a good 46,000 euros per year as part of a temporary special corona regulation.

Without the planned change in the law, it would have automatically shrunk to 6,300 euros on January 1, 2023.

In the coalition agreement, the Ampel partners had only announced: "We want to spread the awareness of the Flexi-Rente through better advice and extend the regulation on additional income in the event of early retirement."

The pension is also not a social benefit, but earned through contribution payments, emphasized Vogel.

For this reason alone, no other income should be taken into account.

In terms of pension policy, he also sees it as a step away from a rigid age limit that no longer fits the reality of life for millions of people.

The goal should now be further progress towards flexible transitions into retirement based on the Swedish model.