Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some guidance on a German pension/insurance situation and would really appreciate any advice or shared experiences.
I used to work in Germany (2005 - 2013) and had a pension/insurance contract that was originally set up through my employer (around 2007). Contributions were initially made from my gross salary (so with tax advantages), and later I took over the contract myself and continued contributing privately.
I’ve now emigrated to the UK, and I recently received a response from a German advisor after asking about cancelling the policy. Their key points were:
- The portion funded via my employer (gross salary contributions) cannot be cancelled, due to German state subsidies/tax advantages. It can only be made “contribution-free” until retirement.
- The portion I contributed privately may be eligible for payout (surrender value).
- There’s some uncertainty about how things will be affected long-term (especially post-Brexit).
- There might be a theoretical legal route to unwind the contract due to documentation issues from 2007, but this seems very uncertain and potentially not worth pursuing (and could require repaying tax benefits).
So I’m trying to figure out next steps:
- Is it worth cashing out the private portion now, or better to leave everything until retirement?
- Has anyone dealt with similar German pension products after moving abroad?
- How are these typically treated from a UK tax perspective?
- Separate but related: How can I check if I’ve built up entitlement to the German state pension, and how to claim it later from the UK?
I’m feeling a bit stuck between systems here and unsure whether to act now or just leave things as they are.
Any insights, especially from people familiar with German pensions or cross-border situations, would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks in advance!