What are the requirements for the Aktivrente?

You have reached the statutory retirement age (67, with a transition rule), you are employed as an employee, and your employer pays pension insurance contributions for you. You do not have to draw an old-age pension.

When does the Aktivrente start?

From the month after you reach the statutory retirement age. If you reach it in May, you use the Aktivrente from June. The law has been in force since 1 January 2026.

Is there a calculator or a worked example for the Aktivrente?

The Ministry of Finance works through this example, among others, in its questions and answers: on a monthly wage of 2,500 euros, 2,000 euros are tax-free and 500 euros are taxable. Neither the wage tax program flowchart nor the ministry's tax calculator reflects the Aktivrente. Miravel does not offer an Aktivrente calculator either.

Does the Aktivrente apply to self-employed people?

No, not to income from self-employed work. If you used to be self-employed and now work in an employment that pays social insurance, you can use it, because only the work you do now counts.

Does the Aktivrente apply to mini-jobs and civil servants?

Not to mini-jobs and not to income from civil-servant employment. Retired civil servants can use it if they take a job that pays social insurance after the retirement age.

Do I have to draw a pension to get the Aktivrente?

No. The Aktivrente applies whether or not you already draw an old-age pension or have postponed its start.

Aktivrente: earning up to 2,000 euros a month tax-free after retirement age, and what it means for a couple

Since 1 January 2026, wages of up to 2,000 euros a month are exempt from income tax if you have reached the statutory retirement age and work in a job that pays social insurance. Who qualifies, what is excluded (self-employed, mini-jobs, civil-servant employment), worked examples from the Federal Ministry of Finance, and how it plays out in a household.

Kurzantwort: The Aktivrente is an income tax allowance under section 3 no. 21 of the Income Tax Act, in force since 1 January 2026. If you have reached the statutory retirement age (Regelaltersgrenze) and work in an employment that pays social insurance, wages of up to 2,000 euros a month are free of wage tax (up to 24,000 euros a year). It applies from the month after you reach the retirement age, you do not have to draw a pension to use it, and it only concerns income tax: social insurance contributions stay as they are. Self-employed work, civil-servant employment and mini-jobs are not covered.

If you keep working after reaching the statutory retirement age (for most people working today, 67), you keep more of your pay from 2026. For a household that is more than a tax detail: it changes how long a second income is worth keeping and how the years around the start of the pension feel financially. This article explains the rules as the Federal Ministry of Finance describes them in its questions and answers (as of 25 June 2026), shows the official worked examples, and says plainly what Miravel does and does not reflect in its projection today.

Who can use the Aktivrente

You have reached the statutory retirement age (67, with the transition rule for older birth years). The exemption applies from the following month: if you reach the age in May, you use the Aktivrente from June.
You are employed as an employee, and your employer pays pension insurance contributions for you.
You do not have to draw an old-age pension. The Aktivrente applies whether or not you already receive one. If you retired earlier, for example at 63, you can still only use it from the statutory retirement age.
Only the work you do now counts. If you used to be self-employed, or you are a retired civil servant who takes a job that pays social insurance, you can use it.
Jobs in the transition range (midi-jobs) are covered too. The exemption applies to the full wage there.

What the Aktivrente does not cover, among other things

Income from self-employed work.
Income from civil-servant employment.
Mini-jobs. The ministry's reasoning is that flat-rate social insurance contributions are paid there.
Severance payments are generally not tax-free.

Worked examples from the Ministry of Finance questions and answers

Example 1: Someone earns 2,500 euros a month and meets all conditions. Up to 2,000 euros are tax-free. The remaining 500 euros are ordinary taxable wages.

Example 2: Someone reached the retirement age in April and works from May for 1,500 euros a month. In December an 800 euro bonus is added. The regular wage of 1,500 euros is tax-free. Of the bonus only 500 euros are tax-free, because the month is then full at 2,000 euros. The other 300 euros are taxable. The unused allowance from the other months cannot be transferred.

The allowance works per month: whatever you do not use in a month is lost. It cannot be carried to other months, not even for a holiday bonus or other bonus.

2,000 € — Tax-free wages per month after the statutory retirement age, up to 24,000 euros a year (section 3 no. 21 Income Tax Act, since 1 January 2026).

How much wage tax this saves in a given case depends on tax class, other income and church tax. We do not give a figure of our own: the Aktivrente is handled through your employer's payroll. According to the Ministry of Finance, it is built into neither the official wage tax program flowchart nor the ministry's tax calculator.

The household picture: a couple where one person keeps working

The allowance belongs to the person, not the household. If only one person in a couple keeps working after the retirement age, it applies to that person. If both work and both meet the conditions, each has their own allowance of 2,000 euros a month.

An example with no tax assumptions: one person stays on in a part-time job for three years after the retirement age, earning 1,800 euros a month. That is 36 months times 1,800 euros, or 64,800 euros of wages, all within the allowance. Social insurance contributions on this wage do not disappear because of it.

For a household's whole picture, this mainly changes the time window. A second income that would otherwise end when the pension starts continues for a few more years. How long and how much is for you to decide, not the rule.

Working on and starting the pension later are two separate questions

The Aktivrente does not change your pension. If you keep working after the retirement age, you can draw the old-age pension alongside, or postpone its start. If you postpone, the pension rises by 0.5 percent for each month, or 6 percent a year (section 77 of the Sixth Social Code). With a 1,500 euro monthly pension and one year postponed, that is 90 euros more a month, permanently. This is arithmetic, not a pointer to what is better for you.

What Miravel reflects today

In Miravel, earned income ends at the retirement age in the projection. You can adjust that age between 60 and 70 on the overview. It moves the end of earned income and the start of the pension. In Miravel, however, the statutory pension starts at 63 at the earliest. There is not yet an input for work alongside a pension that applies the Aktivrente allowance, and Miravel does not offer an Aktivrente calculator.

What these figures do not cover

The Ministry of Finance questions and answers are guidance, not an administrative instruction. In an individual case the tax office decides.
The basis is the version of the questions and answers dated 25 June 2026. Rules and interpretation can change.
Several employers at once, switching employer mid-month and special cases follow additional rules that are not set out in full here.
Your pension amount, social insurance contributions and wage tax depend on your individual case. Your payslip and your pension notice are what counts.

What are the requirements for the Aktivrente?: You have reached the statutory retirement age (67, with a transition rule), you are employed as an employee, and your employer pays pension insurance contributions for you. You do not have to draw an old-age pension.
When does the Aktivrente start?: From the month after you reach the statutory retirement age. If you reach it in May, you use the Aktivrente from June. The law has been in force since 1 January 2026.
Is there a calculator or a worked example for the Aktivrente?: The Ministry of Finance works through this example, among others, in its questions and answers: on a monthly wage of 2,500 euros, 2,000 euros are tax-free and 500 euros are taxable. Neither the wage tax program flowchart nor the ministry's tax calculator reflects the Aktivrente. Miravel does not offer an Aktivrente calculator either.
Does the Aktivrente apply to self-employed people?: No, not to income from self-employed work. If you used to be self-employed and now work in an employment that pays social insurance, you can use it, because only the work you do now counts.
Does the Aktivrente apply to mini-jobs and civil servants?: Not to mini-jobs and not to income from civil-servant employment. Retired civil servants can use it if they take a job that pays social insurance after the retirement age.
Do I have to draw a pension to get the Aktivrente?: No. The Aktivrente applies whether or not you already draw an old-age pension or have postponed its start.

This is information, not advice, and no substitute for your payslip or an answer from the tax office. Miravel shows how your household develops over the years, and it does not yet include the Aktivrente in that calculation.