Altersvorsorgedepot: Germany's Subsidised Pension Depot from 2027

expats.de has explained German pensions to international residents since 2014. This guide follows the law as published in the Federal Law Gazette and the parliamentary papers behind it (Bundestag printed papers 21/4088 and 21/4996). Where the law leaves a question open, we say so. If you are a parent, also read our guide to the Frühstart-Rente, which pays into a standard depot for children from 2027.

What the Altersvorsorgedepot replaces

The law never uses the word Riester. It says that contracts certified under the old rules may not be sold after 31 December 2026. From 2027 every new subsidised contract follows the new rules. Existing Riester contracts keep running under the old ones until you switch.

The new law knows several product types:

• Guarantee product. Banks and insurers guarantee 80% or 100% of your contributions and subsidies at retirement.
• Altersvorsorgedepot. A depot without a guarantee. You or the provider choose funds up to risk class 5, plus euro government and corporate bonds.
• Standard depot. A simple version of the Altersvorsorgedepot. The provider picks two funds, one riskier and one safer, and moves money into the safer one in the years before retirement. You can sign it online without advice.

Any provider that sells a guarantee product or an Altersvorsorgedepot must also offer a standard depot. The state subsidises at most two new contracts per person signed from 2027.

A trap for existing Riester savers: if you sign any new certified contract from 2027, all your old contracts switch to the new rules automatically. You can also declare the switch yourself; either way it can't be undone. The law lets you move capital from a Riester contract into an Altersvorsorgedepot. Ask your current provider about its notice period and transfer charges first.

Who qualifies

The subsidy follows the old Riester circle and adds two groups:

• employees with compulsory insurance in the German statutory pension, which covers almost every employee in Germany;
• civil servants, judges and soldiers, plus some groups treated like them;
• new from 2027: people under 67 who either have business or professional income and file a German tax return for the year, or are employees and compulsory members of a professional pension scheme (a Versorgungswerk) and consent to the data transfer.

A spouse without own entitlement can still get a capped basic subsidy on their own contract if the other spouse qualifies.

Blue Card holders and other foreign employees. The law doesn't mention nationality or residence permits. It asks for compulsory insurance in the German statutory pension. Social security law makes every employee working in Germany compulsorily insured, whatever the passport. A Blue Card holder with a German employment contract therefore qualifies under the general rule. The exceptions sit in social security law: if your employer abroad posted you to Germany, or an EU regulation or a social security agreement keeps you insured in your home country, you may not be insured in Germany and then don't qualify. Your payslip shows whether you pay German pension contributions.

How much the state adds

The basic subsidy has two steps. On your first €360 of own contributions a year the state adds 50%. On the part above that, up to €1,800, it adds 25%. That caps the basic subsidy at €540 a year. Below €120 of own contributions there is no subsidy at all, not even a reduced one.

Small amounts get the highest rate. That makes the depot attractive for people who save little but steadily.

Career starter bonus. If you are not yet 25 on 1 January of the contribution year, the basic subsidy rises once by €200. It also requires the minimum contribution. Open: the new wording doesn't say whether someone who already received the old Riester starter bonus gets it again.

Tax deduction. You can deduct contributions up to €1,800 plus the subsidy as special expenses. The tax office checks automatically whether the deduction is worth more than the subsidy and grants the difference. That matters for higher earners.

You may pay in up to €6,840 a year. Everything above €1,800 earns no subsidy, but it grows inside the depot without yearly tax.

The child subsidy

For each child the state matches your own contributions one to one, up to €300 per child and year. You reach the full child subsidy with €300 of own contributions a year. Open: the law doesn't say explicitly whether that amount triggers the full child subsidy for each of several children; the wording suggests it does.

Who receives it depends on Kindergeld. The child subsidy goes to the entitled saver for whom the family office sets Kindergeld for that child; who receives the payment on the bank account doesn't matter. The saver must qualify personally. For the contribution year 2027 an older rule still applies to married parents who live together in the EU or EEA: with parents of different sex the mother gets it, unless both ask for the father. From 2028 it goes to the parent for whom Kindergeld is set, and a joint declaration can move it to the other parent.

For expat families this has a plain consequence. If no German Kindergeld is set for you, for example because another country pays child benefit for your child, you get no child subsidy for that child. Our Kindergeld guide explains who receives German child benefit.

What costs do to the subsidy

The law caps the effective costs of the standard depot at 1% a year until retirement. The cap doesn't apply to the free Altersvorsorgedepot or to guarantee products. 1% sounds small. Over decades it isn't.

Example, not advice. You start at 30 and pay €1,800 a year until 65, so 35 years. You receive the full basic subsidy of €540 every year and no child subsidy. Funds earn 5 percent a year before costs. All figures are before tax.

You pay in €63,000 yourself and receive €18,900 in subsidies. Costs of 1% take about €39,000, roughly twice the subsidies. The subsidised depot still ends ahead of an unsubsidised one without costs, but only until costs reach about 1.3 percent a year in this example. With a small contribution of €360 a year, the higher subsidy rate keeps the depot ahead up to about 2 percent.

Taxes change the picture further. Payouts from the Altersvorsorgedepot are taxed in full as income in retirement. An ordinary depot pays tax on gains only. Your tax rate at 65 decides which version keeps more. The assumptions above are enough to repeat the calculation.

Locked until retirement

Payouts start at 65 at the earliest, earlier only if a statutory pension begins first, and no later than 70. You then choose between a lifelong annuity and a payout plan that runs at least until your 85th birthday. You can take up to 30% of the capital as a lump sum at the start.

Using the money earlier counts as harmful use: you repay the subsidies and the tax advantage. The law makes one exception: capital used for a home you live in yourself under § 92a of the Income Tax Act (Eigenheimrente) doesn't count as harmful use. Whether and how you can withdraw money for that depends on your contract. During the savings years the depot pays no tax on gains. Payouts are taxed later under § 22 No. 5 of the Income Tax Act.

What happens when you leave Germany

The reform didn't change § 95 of the Income Tax Act, so it applies to the Altersvorsorgedepot too. Under § 95 the state reclaims subsidies and tax advantages if your residence is outside the EU and the EEA at any point from the start of the payout phase, or if a tax treaty treats you as resident outside them. That covers retiring abroad and moving abroad later, for example to the US at 68 after payouts began in Germany. The explanatory memorandum states that moving abroad during the savings years doesn't trigger this by itself.

For you that means:

• Moving within the EU or EEA: the contract keeps its subsidies.
• Living in the UK, the US, Canada or elsewhere outside the EU and EEA once payouts have started: expect to repay the subsidies, also if you only move there during retirement.
• Moving abroad and returning before 65: nothing is reclaimed on account of the move.

New subsidies only come in years in which you belong to one of the eligible groups above. An employee who leaves Germany usually stops paying into the German statutory pension and then drops out; civil servants, Versorgungswerk members and the self-employed follow their own conditions. The law has no separate rule for moving abroad; this follows from the eligibility rules. If there is a real chance you retire outside the EU or EEA, treat the subsidy as an advance you may hand back.

Providers announced so far

Status 26 October 2026, taken only from each provider's own website. Prices are announcements; check the final terms at the start. The list isn't a ranking and isn't a recommendation.

The Scalable link, marked as an ad, opens the regular Scalable depot. Scalable runs the Altersvorsorgedepot pre-registration inside that account, so new customers open the account first. A waiting list or pre-registration doesn't oblige you to sign, and it doesn't mean the product is certified yet.

Questions to answer before you sign

• Will you retire in the EU or EEA? If not, the subsidy is an advance.
• How much can you save a year? Small, steady amounts get the highest subsidy rate.
• Standard depot or free choice? Only the standard depot has the cost cap. With free choice you control the funds and carry the cost check yourself.
• Do you hold a Riester contract? A new contract pulls it into the new rules.

Our guide to private pensions in Germany puts the depot next to the statutory pension, company pensions and Rürup. For children, the Frühstart-Rente and a Junior Depot serve different purposes.