Frequently asked questions regarding the statutory pensions

Dispatch of adjustment notifications begins in mid-June and is completed by late July. 

Explanation: 

If you receive your pension payment at the end of the month for the coming month, such as at the end of June for the month of July (“advance payment”), then your pension adjustment notification will be sent to you by the end of June as well. 

If you receive your pension payment at the end of the month for the previous month that has just ended, such as at the end of July for the month of July (“payment in arrears”), then you will receive your pension adjustment notification sometime during the month of July.

Please take into account that there are several million adjustment notifications to be printed. Dispatch and delivery of all these notifications takes several weeks. We therefore kindly request that you not inquire prematurely as to the whereabouts of your adjustment notification. If you reside abroad, it may take longer for you to receive your pension adjustment notification.

You can request your pension receipt notification for your tax return at www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/steuerbescheinigung

Sometimes several pensions are summarized in one adjustment notification. For example, if two insurance policy numbers are printed on the first page of the notification, the information on your widow’s/widower’s compensation is on located on the second page of the pension adjustment notification. If this is not the case, you will receive the notification adjustment for this pension separately in the next few days.

Since January 1, 2005, compulsorily insured employees without children who are covered by statutory long-term care insurance pay a surcharge on the regular premium.  Employees who are without children and who were born prior to January 1, 1940, are excluded from the surcharge irrespective of whether they actually have or ever had children.

Please contact your pension insurance provider if you have questions about how your contribution is calculated. You can find details of your pension insurance provider on your pension notices, for example.

Here you will also find an overview of all the pension insurance providers in Germany

Please contact your health insurance provider directly and show them the adjustment notification.

The pension receipt notification contains all the amounts relevant under tax law, such as the pension amount and the health and long-term care insurance contributions paid for the past calendar year.

This applies both to pensions paid on a long-term basis and to one-off lump-sum pension payments.

Every pension recipient who has received a taxable pension benefit within a calendar year is sent a pension receipt notification.

More and more pensioners are required to submit a tax return. Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV) will issue you with a pension receipt notification on request that will help you to complete the “Anlage R” and “Anlage Vorsorgeaufwand zur Steuererklärung” tax forms that make up part of German tax returns.

The pension receipt notification contains all the amounts relevant under tax law, together with notes about the lines in the forms where you have to enter the figures.

Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV) issues the notification once a year by the end of February for the previous calendar year.

If you have not yet received your pension receipt notification, you can easily apply for it online at www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/steuerbescheinigung

After you have received the pension receipt notification once, Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV) will then automatically send it to you every year.

Deutsche Rentenversicherung will be happy to provide you with information on the pension receipt notification for state pension benefits via its free service hotline +49 (0)800 1000 4800.

Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. and Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

You will need your pension ID card to receive discounts at cultural events, etc. We therefore recommend that you carry your pension ID card together with your personal ID in your wallet.

For more information about the pension ID, see www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de

The new eco-friendly, reinforced pension ID card is valid immediately. You may only use the ID card as long as you are entitled to a pension.

For more information about the pension ID, see www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de

Option 1: 

If you need a replacement pension ID, please use our order form at www.rentenservice.de/ersatzrentenausweis

You will need your Postabrechnungsnummer (PANR) and Postrentennummer (PRNR). You will find these on your pension adjustment notification. It usually contains a 17-digit number. The first three digits are the PANR and the following 14 digits are the PRNR.

Your new pension ID card will be sent to you by post within three weeks.

Option 2: 

You can also send us a letter with the following information:

• Replacement request for pension ID card
• First and last name
• Postabrechnungsnummer (PANR) and Postrentennummer (PRNR) – see your pension adjustment notification
• Date of birth
• Street and house number
• Postal code and city

Send the letter to:

Deutsche Post AG
NL Renten Service
13497 Berlin, Germany

Please note that processing requests sent by mail may take some time.

Please notify us of the death in writing and provide the Renten Service with the name, the date of death, and the insurance policy number of the deceased. If possible, please include a death certificate with this notification.

For pensioners who reside in Germany

Deutsche Post AG
Renten Service Branch
13497 Berlin

For pensioners who do not reside in Germany

Deutsche Post AG
Renten Service Branch
13496 Berlin

Pensions paid incorrectly for the period after death will be reclaimed. Please do not close the account until the necessary transactions have been made. Please send checks back to the Renten Service.

To apply for a widow's/widower's pension, please contact the insurance provider most recently responsible for payment of the pension. The information and consulting offices of the insurance providers or the insurance offices of the communal/municipal governments can help you in applying.

The advance payment is paid on the death quarter.

The death quarter is the time period until the end of the third calendar month after the month in which the insured spouse/life partner died.

A pension in the full amount of the insurance pension of the deceased is paid for this period, meaning that the advance payment is three times the amount of the monthly pension paid out for the month of death (without several payment components such as the contribution subsidy amount for voluntary/private health insurance and the child-raising benefit amount).

The own income of the widow/widower is not offset on the death quarter.

• The application must be submitted to the Renten Service within 30 days of the death of the pension beneficiary.
• If the application is submitted late, processing by the Renten Service cannot be guaranteed. Later submission of the application, together with the application for a widow/widower’s pension, is possible when submitted to the pension insurance provider.
• An original copy of the death certificate in which the widow or widower is listed as the spouse/life partner of the deceased must be enclosed.
• The widow/widower or life partner must have their domicile or habitual residence in Germany.
• The pension for the deceased pension beneficiary must have been paid on a monthly basis via the Renten Service.
• The deceased’s pension payment cannot be paid to a welfare recipient or similar.
• The marriage or civil partnership must have been in effect for at least one year at the time of death.

In some cases, the relevant pension insurance provider must first decide whether or not to make advance payment on the widow/widower’s pension (e.g., in cases of pension splitting between spouses and similar).

You can apply for advance payment using our change form. Please complete the form and send a signed printout of it together with the original copy of death certificate to:

Deutsche Post AG

Pension Service Branch

13497 Berlin, Germany

Your funeral home can also help you apply for the advance payment.

The advance payment is a part of the widow’s/widower’s pension.

If the advance payment results in overpayment, the amount overpaid will be withheld by the pension insurance provider from the future widow’s/widower’s pension.

Please contact the pension insurance provider responsible for you with your questions. They will be able to help.

The address of the pension insurance provider can be found in the adjustment notification of the deceased pension beneficiary or online at www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de

Payments to an account in Germany:

Please notify us of the new IBAN, bank name, and account owner in writing. You must also include your insurance policy number. You can find your insurance policy number on the last page of your pension adjustment notice, for example.

Deutsche Post AG

Renten Service Branch

13497 Berlin

You are also welcome to use our change notification form.

Payments to an account outside of Germany:

The Renten Service needs a completed payment declaration / payment authorization that has been validated by your bank and signed. Download the form in your language from the Download Center.

Deutsche Post AG

Renten Service Branch

13496 Berlin

Due to the current situation regarding the global corona crisis, your bank’s confirmation of the Zahlungserklärung (payment declaration)/Zahlungsermächtigung (payment authorization) can be waived as an exception. In this case, please send us a copy of your bank statement for this bank account (not older than thirty days) together with the Zahlungserklärung (payment declaration)/Zahlungsermächtigung (payment authorization). In this exceptional situation, we will also accept transmission of the documents by fax (+49 221 5692-778) or e-mail sent to: w.ausland@deutschepost.de.

Update: For accounts with Italian banks, confirmation by the bank will be required again, effective August 1, 2020.

Please notify us of your new address in writing and include your insurance policy number.

If you live in Germany:

Deutsche Post AG

Renten Service Branch

13497 Berlin

If you do not live in Germany:

Deutsche Post AG

Renten Service Branch

13496 Berlin

You can also notify us online using our change notification form

For payments into a foreign account, please use Zahlungserklärung (payment declaration)/Zahlungsermächtigung (payment authorization) for pension payments from the Federal Republic of Germany to a foreign country

The Renten Service will change your payment to a bank payment. We will notify your responsible pension insurance provider about the change in payment method.

Note:
Your pension insurance provider is generally responsible for eliminating fees, adjusting the payment amount or instituting exemptions. The address of your pension insurance provider can be found on your pension adjustment notification.

Please contact your health insurance provider directly. If you do not know who your health insurance provider is, please contact the relevant pension insurance provider, e.g. Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Schwaben, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Rheinland, etc.

Since January 1, 2005, compulsorily insured employees without children who are covered by statutory long-term care insurance pay a surcharge on the regular premium.  Employees who are without children and who were born prior to January 1, 1940, are excluded from the surcharge irrespective of whether they actually have or ever had children.

Please contact your pension insurance provider if you have questions about how your contribution is calculated. You can find details of your pension insurance provider on your pension notices, for example.

 Here you will also find an overview of all the pension insurance providers in Germany

Pensioners who reside in Germany can contact the tax office responsible for them.

Pensioners who do not reside in Germany can contact the following tax office, which is responsible for them:

Finanzamt Neubrandenburg (RiA)

Postfach 110140

17041 Neubrandenburg

Phone: +49 395 44222 47000

Fax: +49 395 44222 47100

www.finanzamt-rente-im-ausland.de

E-Mail: ria@finanzamt-neubrandenburg.de

Since 2005, retirement income has been taxed when it is paid out. More and more pensioners are therefore required to submit a tax return. 

You can request your pension receipt notification for your tax return at www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/steuerbescheinigung

The pension receipt notification includes personal data on the pension recipient including their tax ID number, pension amount and reference period.

You can request that a pension receipt notification be issued to you through the online services for policy holders at Deutsche Rentenversicherung

Further information:

• Service brochure “Policy holders and pensioners: information about tax law”
• Federal Central Tax Office pension receipt notification procedure

Please contact the pension or accident insurance provider responsible for you. All of the required information for the respective contacts is available under the following links.

• Pension insurance providers
• Accident insurance providers

The basis for these fees are the legislative amendments taking effect as of December 1, 2021, in connection with Section 47 (1) of the German Social Insurance Code (SGB) I and Section 118 (2b) of the SGB VI, which apply to statutory pensions.

Your pension insurance provider generally decides whether to charge fees or issue exemptions. The address of your pension insurance provider can be found on your pension adjustment notification.

Should you not have an account, we would like to inform you that every consumer in Germany has the right to a basic bank account. This means that anyone legally resident in the EU is entitled to open a basic bank account (Payment Accounts Act). Every financial institution that offers checking accounts for consumers is therefore obligated to conclude a basic bank account agreement with you. Having a basic bank account makes it possible to arrange bank transfers and direct debits as well as to make and receive payments.

If you wish for your pension to be paid into a bank account in the future, you can find all the required information on changing your account or payment method here.

By order of your responsible pension insurance provider.

The name and address of your responsible pension insurance provider can be found on your pension adjustment notification.

Please voice your concerns directly to your responsible pension insurance provider. The corresponding address can be found on your pension adjustment notification. 

The German Basic Pension Act entered into force on January 1, 2021. Since mid-July 2021, Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German statutory pension insurance fund) has been verifying whether the conditions for the basic pension supplement have been met for each pension recipient on a case-by-case basis.
 
The entitlement check for pensioners receiving social security benefits, such as a housing allowance or basic benefits for old age and reduced earning capacity, was concluded according to schedule by December 2021.

The relevant social security institutions will receive notification from Deutsche Rentenversicherung to confirm the existence of a basic pension period of 33 years in accordance with Section 76g (2) of the German Social Security Code VI (Sozialgesetzbuch VI – SGB VI) as part of the calculation of supplements from earning points on the basis of longstanding insurance contributions.

Renten Service is unable to respond to written inquiries concerning the existence of a basic pension period of 33 years. Please send any written inquiries to the responsible pension insurance provider.

The free Deutsche Rentenversicherung hotline (0800 1000 4800) is open for inquiries Monday to Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Fridays until 3:30 p.m.

Responsible handling of your data is required in accordance with the provisions of the German Social Security Codes (including SGB I, VI, VII, X), the German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For more detailed information on data protection and your rights, please visit our websites www.deutschepost.de/datenschutz and Overview of data protection at Renten Service

Detailed information about the digital proof of life can be found at www.rentenservice.de/DLN

Detailed information about the life certificate can be found at www.rentenservice.de/LB