Tax changes could reduce the interest in a savings product long considered advantageous, particularly for seniors.
Some investments have been designed to encourage long-term savings. Their principle is simple: the money paid can be deducted from taxable income, within certain limits. Concretely, this allows you to pay less tax in the year of payment, while building up savings that can be recovered later, either in capital or in the form of regular income. This mechanism explains the success of the system in France. More than 12 million people have one today. It is particularly used by executives, self-employed people or liberal professions who seek to optimize their taxation while preparing their finances for the years to come.
But the rules become less beneficial with age. After age 70, payments made to this account no longer provide the same tax advantages. The deduction on taxable income, which constituted one of the main advantages of the investment, is in fact reduced. For people who continue to receive income, paying new sums therefore becomes less attractive.
For example, a person taxed in the 30% bracket who pays 5,000 euros into their retirement savings plan (PER) can normally reduce their tax by around 1,500 euros the same year. But after 70 years, if the tax deduction disappears or becomes very limited, these 5,000 euros paid no longer allow the tax to be reduced. The tax advantage that made the operation interesting therefore no longer really exists.
Furthermore, taxation on winnings must also be taken into account. Because since January 1, 2026, the Generalized Social Contribution has increased from 9.2% to 10.6%, which increases the total social security contributions from 17.2% to 18.6% for the income concerned. This means in concrete terms that out of 10,000 euros of gains made on an investment, around 1,860 euros can be taken as social security contributions, compared to 1,720 euros previously.
Emmanuel Hardy, wealth management advisor, summarizes the situation as follows: “From the age of 70, there is no longer any point in feeding your PER”. The ideal is to save in this account between the ages of 40 and 65, then to contribute 5,000 euros per year for ten years. You will thus save around 15,000 euros in tax by being taxed at 30%.
