The benefits of an insurance-based pension savings plan
Discover how an insurance-based pension savings plan helps you reduce your taxes, while keeping your assets fully secure.
Our long-standing insurance partner
With an insurance-based pension savings plan from AG, marketed by BNP Paribas Fortis, you get peace of mind from knowing you're well protected. You benefit from the expertise of our long-standing insurance partner in managing your pension savings.
Tax reduction
In 2025, you have a choice between two tax limits for pension savings. The default limit is €1,050, and up to that limit you get a tax reduction of 30% – worth up to €315 – as well as a reduction in municipal tax. If you opt for the higher limit of €1,350 and pay in more than €1,050, you'll get from a tax reduction of 25% and a reduction in municipal tax. So if you pay in €1,350, the benefit is worth €337.50.
Find out more about the tax benefits and the maximum amount of pension savings you can make in 2025.
Adjust the amount you pay into your pension savings plan
You decide your monthly or annual contributions. You can start building a pension savings pot from €30 per month or €360 per year. You can change this amount whenever you want. You can also choose a direct debit that includes a tax adjustment, to ensure you always save the maximum tax-deductible amount. If you want to take a year off from saving for your pension, that's possible too.
PENSION SAVINGS
Interest is paid at a rate of 2.00% (from 10 April 2024) on the net amount of your capital, excluding taxes and front-end fees, from the time of payment until the end of your policy. This rate remains valid for the entire duration of the policy. You know exactly what each payment will return.
This formula allows you to benefit from a variable share of AG's operating profits. Profit-sharing is not guaranteed or compulsory, may vary from year to year, and depends on the economic situation.
The overall return – guaranteed interest rate + profit share – of the insurance-based pension savings plan for 2024 was 2.00%.
Here is a table summarising overall returns for the last five years (technical interest rate + any profit share).
The gross return does not take into account fees and taxes. It relates to past years and is not a reliable indicator of future returns. For policies with an interest rate higher than the gross overall return, the gross return is equal to the guaranteed interest rate.
| Year | Gross overall return |
| 2020 | 1,80% |
| 2021 | 1,80% |
| 2022 | 1,80% |
| 2023 | 2,00% |
| 2024 | 2.00% |
To ensure that its products are responsible, AG implements various strategies such as:
This product has environmental and social responsibility characteristics but does not have a sustainable investment objective as such. You can find more information on AG's approach to investing sustainably and responsibly as applied to its branch 21 products.
This insurance-based pension savings plan has held the Towards Sustainability label since March 2020. The label is regularly reassessed and constantly monitored, and is a quality standard supervised by the CLA or Central Labelling Agency. This standard defines a number of minimum requirements that sustainable financial products must meet as regards both their portfolios and investment processes.
If an insurance product obtains this label, this does not mean that it will meet your own sustainability objectives or that the label corresponds to the requirements of future national or European regulations. Find out more about sustainable finance.
INSURANCE-BASED PENSION SAVINGS
You pay a front-end fee of 6.5% on the net premiums you pay. These front-end fees decrease by 1% each year during the last five years preceding the end of the policy.
If you want to cash in your plan before your 60th birthday, you pay 5% of the theoretical redemption value. From your 60th birthday onwards, you don’t pay any redemption fees. There are also no redemption fees to pay if you cancel the policy within 30 days of it taking effect.
Final tax
A final tax of 8% is levied on your net premiums, capitalised using the guaranteed interest rate of each payment. This tax is levied on your 60th birthday, or on the 10th anniversary of your policy if it was taken out after your 55th birthday. All profit-sharing payments are exempt from tax.
Early redemption
A professional withholding tax of 33.31% is levied if you withdraw your pension capital before your 60th birthday. If the policy was taken out after your 55th birthday and you redeem it early after your 60th birthday and before your retirement, the final tax is 33%.
Questions about taxation? Contact your advisor or branch.
Guarantee
Branch 21 products are covered by the Guarantee Fund of Belgium’s deposit protection system. The guarantee protects you in the event that AG becomes insolvent and currently amounts to a maximum of €100,000 per insured person and per insurance company. Above that limit, policyholders bear the risk themselves.
Term
Your insurance-based pension savings plan* ends on your 65th birthday, or after a minimum of 10 years if you take out the policy after your 55th birthday. If you withdraw your pension capital before your 60th birthday, a professional withholding tax of 33.31% will be levied. If the policy was taken out after your 55th birthday and you redeem it early after your 60th birthday and before your retirement, the final tax is 33%. Additional fees may apply if you redeem the plan early.
Low interest rates
Our insurance-based pension savings plan* offers a guaranteed interest rate and possible profit-sharing payments. Profit-sharing is not guaranteed and may vary from year to year. It’s determined by the insurer at its discretion. If the profit share were low or even zero in the future, it’s possible that the amount of capital you get back would be lower than the total amount you’ve invested due to taxes, fees and today’s low interest rates. However, that risk is offset by the tax benefit generated by the premiums you pay.
* The Pension Invest Plan, as an insurance-based pension savings plan, is a branch 21 individual life insurance policy from AG, a Belgian public limited company, offered by BNP Paribas Fortis.
Investor must read the standard terms and conditions carefully before making any investment decision.
Complaints can be made to BNP Paribas Fortis SA, Complaints Department (JQABD), Montagne du Parc 3, 1000 Brussels (tel. 02 228 72 18, email gestiondesplaintes@bnpparibasfortis.com), or via the online form available on www.bnpparibasfortis.be > Suggestions or complaints > online complaints form.
If you’re not happy with the proposed solution, you can send your complaint by post to the Insurance Ombudsman, Square de Meeûs 35, 1000 Brussels, or via their website (insurance.be -
www.ombudsman-insurance.be.).
SAVINGS AND INVESTMENTS
Invest in a pension savings fund and you may get a higher return.
Depending on your personal and tax situation, you can save an even larger amount each year through long-term savings. They complement your pension savings fund or insurance-based pension savings plan very well.
AG Insurance SA/nv – 53 Boulevard Emile Jacqmain, B-1000 Brussels – RPM/RPR Brussels – VAT BE 0404.494.849 – https://www.aginsurance.be/. Accredited insurance company licenced under code number 0079, under the supervision of the National Bank of Belgium, 14 Boulevard de Berlaimont, B-1000 Brussels.
Intermediary: BNP Paribas Fortis SA/nv – 3 Montagne du Parc, B-1000 Brussels – RPM/RPR Brussels – VAT BE 0403.199.702, registered with the FSMA, 12-14 Rue du Congrès, B-1000 Brussels, under code number 025879 and acting as a contractually appointed insurance agent on behalf of AG Insurance SA/nv. BNP Paribas Fortis SA/nv holds a stake of more than 10% in AG Insurance SA/nv.
