The Retirement Savings Plan has now found its place alongside life insurance in the hearts (and wallets) of savers. At the end of 2025, France had 7.9 million insurance PERs, or one million additional contracts in one year, according to France Assureurs. By adding collective or mandatory corporate PERs, there are more than 12.4 million open plans for an outstanding amount of 136 billion euros by mid-2025.
However, despite its success, the PER did not escape small adjustments. Here are two good news and two less good news to remember for PER holders in 2026.
Rising deduction limits
Let’s start with the two good news. First, if you opt for the tax deduction, you will be able to deduct more from your income, like every year. For the self-employed, whose deductible ceiling is calculated from the Annual Social Security ceiling (PASS) of the current year, the revaluation of 2% on January 1, 2026, to 48,060 euros, benefits them immediately: their maximum deduction ceiling thus increases to 88,911 euros.
For other taxpayers – active people whose income is lower than the PASS as well as people who are not working, at home or retired – the calculation is based on the PASS of the previous year. The minimum deduction ceiling, which corresponds to 10% of this amount, therefore increases to 4,710 euros, compared to 4,636 euros last year.
Another improvement: unused deduction ceilings can now be carried forward for five years, instead of three previously. Concretely, if you have not yet opened a PER or if you have not used your past ceilings, you will be able to accumulate up to five years of deduction rights. This measure, passed as part of the 2026 budget, makes it possible to make higher payments from time to time while benefiting from an enhanced tax deduction.
You will be able to consult your available limits directly on your next tax return in the spring.
After 70 years, end of the tax carrot
Let’s move on to the less good news. Another measure of the 2026 budget now limits tax exemption for seniors: from the age of 70, payments into a PER no longer give rise to a tax deduction. In other words, for those who keep their plan, amounts paid after this age will be treated as non-deductible payments. The objective? Avoid optimization strategies considered far from the primary purpose of the PER: building up savings for retirement.
Another hard blow, which this time affects all savers: social security contributions on exit earnings increase from 17.2% to 18.6% (in addition to income tax). Unlike thelife insurancethe PER did not in fact escape the 1.4 point increase in the CSG voted in the Social Security budget for 2026 for investment income.
This increase applies to all cases, whether you release your PER in capital (in one go or split) or in the form of an annuity, and whether or not your payments have been deducted upon entry. So many little strokes which invite us to recalculate the comparative interest of the PER compared to life insurance to prepare for retirement.
>> Our service – Test our life insurance comparator
