Do I get the employer's half back too?

No. The refund covers your own contributions, roughly 9.3 percent of your gross over the years, not the employer's matching half, and it is paid without interest. This is why the refund is smaller than people expect, and why the vested-pension route is more valuable than the raw refund amount suggests.

In Germany, a contribution refund under Section 210 SGB VI is generally not taxable income. Whether your new country of residence taxes it is a question for that country's rules and the tax treaty.

Can I pay voluntary contributions from abroad to reach five years?

German citizens can pay voluntary contributions from anywhere (Section 7 SGB VI). For non-German citizens outside Germany it depends on EU membership and the specific social security agreement, and some agreements close this door. If you are within months of the five-year line, check this option with Deutsche Rentenversicherung before applying for a refund, because the refund permanently extinguishes the record.

I took the refund years ago and now I am back in Germany. Am I locked out?

No. The old months are gone for good, but nothing prevents you from building a new insurance record from zero, including a new run at the five-year line.

What happens to your German pension if you leave Germany?

Short answer: your contributions are not lost. From five years of contributions you will receive a German pension at retirement age, almost anywhere in the world. Below that, your months keep counting elsewhere, or you get your own contributions refunded. Which applies to you depends on three things.

Short answer: your contributions are not lost. If you paid in for five years or more, you have earned a German pension that will be paid to you at retirement age, almost anywhere in the world. If you paid in for less than five years, you either combine your German months with insurance periods in another country, or, if you are a non-EU citizen who can no longer be insured in Germany, you can apply to get your own contributions refunded. Which of these applies to you depends on three things: how long you contributed, your citizenship, and where you are going.

This article is information, not financial or legal advice. Rules described are as of 2026.

The five-year line

The German statutory pension has a minimum insurance period (Wartezeit) of five years, counted in months: 60 months of contributions, and months credited for raising children count too (Sections 50, 51 SGB VI). Cross that line and you have a vested pension entitlement that stays yours even after you leave. Stay below it and you have months that are, on their own, not yet worth a pension, which is exactly where combining and refunds come in.

Moving within the EU: your months travel with you

Inside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, pension systems coordinate. Your German months are added to your insurance record for meeting other countries' minimum periods, and each country later pays its own share based on what you earned there. Nothing to claim now, nothing to move: when you retire, you apply once, in your country of residence, and the systems settle it between themselves (Regulation (EC) 883/2004). The same aggregation logic applies in the roughly twenty countries Germany has bilateral social security agreements with, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, Brazil and Turkey.

The refund route: who actually qualifies

The contribution refund (Beitragserstattung, Section 210 SGB VI) is narrower than expat forums suggest. Broadly, you can apply if you can no longer be compulsorily insured in the German system and are not entitled to voluntary insurance, which in practice means non-EU citizens who have left the EU. The waiting period is 24 months after compulsory coverage ends. You get back your own employee contributions, not your employer's half, and the refund extinguishes the insurance record: the months are gone, including child-raising credits attached to them. Citizens of agreement countries should check the specific agreement first, because some entitlements under those agreements can be more valuable than the refund.

Refund or keep: the trade behind the choice

For someone with, say, three years of contributions and no plan to ever work in the EU again, the refund is real money now against a small pension decades later. For someone with four and a half years, working six more months first would vest a lifelong, regularly adjusted pension instead. The honest comparison needs your numbers: what the refunded amount could earn if invested, against what the vested pension would pay from retirement age for the rest of your life. That comparison is exactly what a household simulation is for; a rule of thumb cannot know how close you are to the five-year line or how long your retirement might be. Miravel shows both paths side by side without telling you which to take.

If you keep the entitlement: what to expect later

A vested German pension is paid abroad on application, in principle without reduction, to EU and most other countries. You claim it at German retirement age through the pension insurer of your then-country of residence or directly from Deutsche Rentenversicherung. Keep your German insurance number and your insurance record (Versicherungsverlauf); request a current record before you leave, while your address and account access still work. Taxation depends on the double taxation treaty between Germany and your country of residence: some treaties tax German pensions in Germany, others where you live.

Sources

Sections 50, 51 SGB VI (waiting periods) and Section 210 SGB VI (contribution refunds): gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_6
Regulation (EC) 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems
Deutsche Rentenversicherung, "Leben und arbeiten in Europa" and refund guidance: deutsche-rentenversicherung.de
Federal Ministry of Finance, list of double taxation treaties: bundesfinanzministerium.de

Frequently asked questions

Do I get the employer's half back too?: No. The refund covers your own contributions, roughly 9.3 percent of your gross over the years, not the employer's matching half, and it is paid without interest. This is why the refund is smaller than people expect, and why the vested-pension route is more valuable than the raw refund amount suggests.
Is the refund taxed?: In Germany, a contribution refund under Section 210 SGB VI is generally not taxable income. Whether your new country of residence taxes it is a question for that country's rules and the tax treaty.
Can I pay voluntary contributions from abroad to reach five years?: German citizens can pay voluntary contributions from anywhere (Section 7 SGB VI). For non-German citizens outside Germany it depends on EU membership and the specific social security agreement, and some agreements close this door. If you are within months of the five-year line, check this option with Deutsche Rentenversicherung before applying for a refund, because the refund permanently extinguishes the record.
I took the refund years ago and now I am back in Germany. Am I locked out?: No. The old months are gone for good, but nothing prevents you from building a new insurance record from zero, including a new run at the five-year line.

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