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Buyback of years of study for public service retirement

Verified 28 March 2023 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)

Are you a civil servant and have studied in higher education? the redemption of years of study for retirement? You can, under certain conditions, have your years of study validated for your retirement. We present you the information concerning this possible repurchase.

The redemption of years of study is to voluntarily pay contributions so that your years of higher education are taken into account for retirement.

Warning  

If you are a contractual person, you can redeem your years of study with the Social Security Pension Insurance.

The periods of study which may be redeemed must have been completed in one of the following institutions:

  • Higher education institution
  • Higher Technical School
  • Graduate school
  • Preparatory class at a major school
  • High school post-baccalaureate class

These periods of study must have given rise to a diploma.

Admission to an advanced school or preparatory class for an advanced school is equivalent to obtaining a diploma.

Periods of higher education completed in one of the following countries may also be redeemed:

You must be at least 20 years of age and under 60 years of age at the date of your application.

You must not have applied for your retirement pension.

FYI  

You can apply to buy back your years of study as soon as you become a public servant.

You can buy back from 1 to 12 quarters maximum.

You can buy back only an integer number of quarters.

Any study period of 90 consecutive days is considered to be equal to 1 quarter.

Taking into account your years of study can not lead to validation more than 4 quarters per year.

So, for example, if you acquired 1 term of pension insurance as part of a summer job in a year of study, you can buy back only 3 quarters of study for the year in question.

You have 3 redemption options.

To understand what these 3 redemption options are, you need to understand how your retirement pension is calculated.

Your retirement pension is calculated based on 3 elements:

  1. The gross index processing that you have held for at least 6 months on the date of your retirement. If you work part-time before retirement, the amount of your retirement pension is calculated on the basis of your full-time index salary
  2. The rate of your pension fixed at 75%
  3. Your number of liquidatable pension insurance quarters in relation to the number of quarters of pension insurance required to qualify for a full rate pension.
    Liquidatable quarters are the contributory quarters and possibly free quarters (called bonuses). Contributed quarters are counted for their actual duration if you worked part-time unless you overcontributed (i.e. you contributed as if you worked full-time)
    Retirement is granted at full rate if you leave between the ages of 62 and 67 with a fixed number of pension insurance quarters (this number varies depending on your year of birth) or if you retire at age 67 (regardless of the number of quarters of your pension insurance)

Your pension is calculated as follows:

Pension = Gross index salary x 75% x (Your number of fundable quarters / Number of pension insurance quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension)

For example, if you were born in 1960, you must have 167 quarters of pension insurance to qualify for a full-rate pension.

Example :

If you retire between the ages of 62 and 67 with 167 quarters of pension insurance, all liquidatable, you are entitled to a full pension rate equal to:

Pension = Gross index salary x 75% x (167 / 167), i.e. for a gross index treatment of €3,000, a pension of €2,250 crude

If you have only 157 liquid quarters out of your 167, you are entitled to a full-rate pension equal to:

Pension = Gross index salary x 75% x (157 / 167), i.e. for a gross index treatment of €3,000, a pension of €2,115.27 crude

Example :

If you retire at age 67 with less than 167 quarters of pension insurance (for example, only 158 quarters, of which 155 are liquidatable), you are also entitled to a full-rate pension equal to:

Pension = Gross index salary x 75% x (155 / 167), i.e. for a gross index treatment of €3,000, a pension of €2,088.32 crude

Example :

If you retire between the ages of 62 and 67 without having 167 quarters of pension insurance, you are not entitled to a full pension. In this case, your pension is subject to a discount, i.e. a reduction of its amount by 1.25% by missing quarter.

The number of missing quarters used is the most advantageous of the following:

  • Number of quarters between your retirement age and your 67 years
  • The number of quarters missing between your number of pension insurance quarters and the number of pension insurance quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension

For example, if you retire on the day of your 63rd birthday with 158 quarters:

  • The number of quarters between your starting age (63 years) and your 67 years is 16 (4 years)
  • The number of quarters missing between your number of pension insurance quarters and the number of pension insurance quarters required to qualify for a full rate pension is 9 (167 - 158). This more advantageous number is used.

If your 158 quarters are liquid, your pension is equal to:

Pension = Gross index salary x 75% x (158 / 167), i.e. for a gross index treatment of €3,000, a pension of €2,128.74 crude

A haircut of 2 128,74 x (9 x 1.25%) = €239.48

Your pension is reduced to 2,128.74 - 239.48 = €1,889.26 crude

When you buy back quarters, you can choose from the following 3 options:

  • Either redeem quarters that will be taken into account in calculating your number of pension insurance quarters
  • Either redeem quarters that will be taken into account for the calculation of your number of liquidatable quarters
  • Either buy back quarters that will be taken into account at a time for calculating your number of pension insurance quarters and for calculating your number of liquidatable quarters

Before applying for a buyback, it is recommended that you simulate the cost of the buyback based on the option you choose using the following simulator:

State Pension Service: Simulator for calculating contributions for the redemption of years of study

Please note

This simulator offered by the State Pensions Service is also valid if you are a territorial or hospital official and fall under the CNRACL: titleContent .

The amount of contributions depends on:

  • Your age at the date of your application
  • Your gross index processing on the date of your request
  • The redemption option chosen

One abatement flat-rate allows you to buy back a maximum of 4 quarters at a lower price if the request for a buy-back is filed by 31 December of the 10e the year following completion of studies.

Depending on your public service of origin, the process for requesting the buyback of your years of study differs.

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State Civil Service (EPF)

You must submit your request to the human resources branch of your administration.

Territorial (FPT)

You must submit your request to the CNRACL: titleContent :

  • Either on free paper indicating your name, first name, Social Security number and address, precise start and end dates of each period of study you wish to buy back
  • Or by contacting CNRACL directly by telephone
Who shall I contact

Upon receipt of your request, the CNRACL will send you a study buyback application form on which the date of your request is pre-filled.

This date corresponds to the day of receipt of your request.

It determines the parameters for calculating the cost of the redemption.

Hospital (FPH)

You must submit your request to the CNRACL: titleContent :

  • Either on free paper indicating your name, first name, Social Security number and address, precise start and end dates of each period of study you wish to buy back
  • Or by contacting CNRACL directly by telephone
Who shall I contact

Upon receipt of your request, the CNRACL will send you a study buyback application form on which the date of your request is pre-filled.

This date corresponds to the day on which the request was received.

It determines the parameters for calculating the cost of the redemption.

If your buyback application is eligible, your pension fund will send you a buyback proposal.

If you accept this proposal, a financing plan is sent to you.

You can pay your contributions in one or more installments.

If your contributions are staggered over more than one year, the amount outstanding is increased each year.

At any time, you may decide to prepay the balance of the outstanding contributions.

No payment can be made after you have been removed from the executives.

The amount of your contributions is deductible from your gross taxable income.

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