Voluntary contributions
In addition to the compulsory contribution, you can also make voluntary contributions, provided that they do not exceed the maximum payment limit. You do not need to separately inform the Architects’ Pension Fund (VwdA) that you wish to make these voluntary payments. Instead, all you need to do is make a bank transfer to one of our accounts and quote your insurance number and a statement like “voluntary extra payment” as the payment reference.
If you are not earning anything from your professional activities, you do not need to pay a monthly compulsory contribution. However, to ensure that you do not put yourself at a disadvantage in terms of planning for your retirement, it generally makes sense to pay voluntary contributions during this period (please note, however, that if you choose to do this the minimum contribution in 2021 is €319,50 a month). If, for financial reasons, you are unable to meet this minimum payment every month, you can request to be exempted from monthly payments and instead choose to make contributions whenever you can afford to do so. Please note, however, that in 2021 neither payments of under €319.50 nor one-off payments at the end of the year were allowed.
The right to pay voluntary contributions is withdrawn for any periods during which you receive benefits from the VwdA.
Voluntary payments are generally annuitised like compulsory contributions upon receipt by the VwdA. Specific factors need to be taken into account in terms of disability pension entitlements, however. Nevertheless, voluntary payments are an effective way of increasing the size of your retirement pension, disability pension and survivors’ allowance. Plus, don’t forget that you can declare your contributions to the Pension Fund as allowable expenses for tax purposes.