From January 1, savings from the pension plan prior to 2016 can be rescued

As established in the development of this aspect of the law, “the participants in the pension plans of the individual and associated system may dispose of in advance the amount of their consolidated rights corresponding to contributions made at least ten years ago of antiquity. This point was added to the other four contingencies that allow money to be withdrawn from pension plans: retirement, total and permanent work incapacity for the profession or great disability, death of the participant or beneficiary, and severe dependency or great dependency of the participant.

Of course, there is a caveat for the employment pension plans. Although the ten-year liquidity window is equally applicable for these collective system savings, they must be the control commissions of the plans that modify the conditions and specifications to accommodate the rescue by workers who have savings deposited there. «The participants in the pension plans of the employment system may have the consolidated rights corresponding to the contributions and business contributions made with at least ten years of seniority if this is permitted by the commitment and provided for in the specifications of the plan and with the conditions or limitations that these establish where appropriate,” the law specifies.

However, financial sources point out that one aspect of the instructions that are being given to the members of these control commissions is to keep the bailout tap closed with the aim of preserving the assets of the plans and their viability by avoiding their decapitalization.

Heritage in contention

It is worth remembering, as an approximation to the amount of savings that would be available to be rescued, that according to official figures from Inverco to closing of 2015 The assets of the individual pension plans were at 68,011 million of euros. Everything deposited up to that date and the returns generated are likely to be released through this new assumption of liquidity available from next January 1. Likewise, although, as mentioned, it will depend on the modification of the conditions and specifications of the funds, the assets of the employment plans stood at 35,548 million euros just a decade ago.

Despite this eventuality, managers and insurers that market pension plans do not recommend capital withdrawals in the first instance. Firstly, because this savings is designed to be accumulated throughout professional life, generating a retirement pension supplement of the public system that allows maintaining a sufficient standard of living at the time of retirement. And the second, because it is worth remembering that the rescue of this capital will be counted as an increase in labor income when filing the Income Tax return, being subject to the corresponding personal income tax withholding.

There is, however, no greater condition for the recovery of accumulated savings than the validity of those ten years, the only necessary operation being to go to the bank or insurance company to communicate that you intend to withdraw the amount.

As in any case of rescue of the pension plan, in the case of ten years of seniority of the contributions it may be made in the form of capital – all the funds are collected at once; income – an amount is received periodically, which may be monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annually; or mixed, combining both options. According to the income tax sections, Since it is counted as income from work – adding the amount rescued to the declared ordinary income –, the withholdings would be 19% up to 12,450 euros declared annually – adding all income; between 12,451 and 20,200 euros would amount to 24% retention; between 20,201 and 35,200 euros annually grows up to 30%; from 35,201 to 60,000 euros, a 37% to the Treasury; between 60,001 and 300,000 of declared income, the withholding increases up to 45%; while with more than 300,000 annually in total, the discount is 47%.