Old Age Pension Scheme for the Liberal Professions

Mandatory insurance

• Liberal professionals, such as notaries, doctors, midwives, veterinarians, pharmacists. Please note that after the abandonment of the pension scheme for the self-employed in 2018, self-employed persons in a sector which is not recognised as a liberal profession are affiliated to the general scheme.

General finances

• Financing based on the PAYG principle.

Contribution rates

• Fixed share of professional income of the previous year; with contribution assessment ceiling of five times the social security ceiling (plafond de la sécurité sociale).  
• Rates differ for income brackets: 8.23% for incomes below the social security ceiling (plafond de la sécurité sociale); 1.87% for incomes below the contribution assessment ceiling.
• There is a mandatory minimum amount of yearly contributions, calculated according to a percentage of the social security ceiling (11.5% in 2019).

Taxation of contribution payments

• Tax exemptions for insurance contributions.

• Pensions are administrated by a national office – the National Office of Old Age Pension for the Liberal Professions (Caisse nationale d'assurance vieillesse des professions liberals, CNAVPL).
• Eleven special sections are established inside the national office. Each section is in charge of one or several special professions.

Qualifying conditions

• Statutory (minimum) retirement age increases to 62 and retirement age of full-rate pension increases to 67 for insured persons born after 1955.
• Full pension: the insured person must either have a minimum contribution record of 172 quarters or must have reached the age of 67. 

Early retirement

• Available for persons with disabilities (with an invalidity rate of at least 50%) at age 55 to 60 and for persons with a long working career (e.g. at age 60, if person has started to work at the age of 16, and has continuously worked since then).

Deferred retirement

• Retirement can be deferred with permanent positive adjustments (0.75% every three months), if qualifying conditions for the full payment of old age pension are met.  

Combining employment & retirement

• Termination of employment is usually not a precondition for claiming pension benefits.
• The amount of the income from employment should not exceed a certain limit.

Pension payments

• The scheme functions on a basis of acquired points. 
• Particular periods (especially periods of training and of child-raising) are credited as pensionable periods.
• Maximum amount: limited to a maximal number of points (525 in 2020) that a person can acquire.
• Minimum amount: calculated according to the mandatory minimum amount of contributions. No particular guarantee applies (exceptions exist and are stated in Art. L643-1 of the Social Security Code).

Factors for benefit calculation

• The benefit equals the point value multiplied by the number of points.
• The contributions paid according to the first level of income with the rate of 8.23% can lead to the acquisition of 525 points maximum; those paid on the basis of the second level with the rate of 1.87% can lead to the acquisition of 25 points maximum. 
• Diminutions or increases of the final sum of the pension can be caused by insufficient or exceeding pensionable periods.
• Adjustments: yearly adjustments of benefits, indexed to prices.

Taxation and social security contributions on pension payments

• Pension benefits are subject to income tax. 
• Pension benefits are not subject to social contributions, except the CSG, CRDS and CASA.