Q: Can I transfer my Rürup contract?

No , you cannot transfer an existing Rürup pension (“Basisrente”) into a new AVD account. The German Ministry of Finance has explicitly stated that the new legislation does not allow funds to be moved from a basic pension contract (like Rürup) into the new Altersvorsorgedepot. If you already have a Rürup contract, you can: Keep it running: Your existing Rürup contract will remain active and continue to benefit from its original tax-deductibility rules. Open an AVD in parallel: You can open a new, separate AVD alongside your Rürup contract to start taking advantage of the new state subsidies (“Zulagen”) and the flexibility of the capital-market options.

Question 1

When will the Retirement Account be available?

Accepted Answer

The new pension account (“Altersvorsorgedepot”, “AVD”) launches in January 2027.

Question 2

Who is eligible?

Accepted Answer

You can open an AVD if you:

Are at least 18 years old; and
You are subject to unlimited tax liability in Germany or in an EU/EEA country with a German pension link; and
Belong to one of these groups:

Employees: Anyone compulsorily insured in Germany (“gesetzlich Pflichtversicherte”)
Self-employed individuals: anyone with income under §15 EStG (business owners, “Gewerbetreibende”) or § 18 EStG (freelancers and independent professionals) who files a tax return
Parents: Individuals during their recognized child-rearing periods (“Kindererziehungszeit”) - statutorily limited to 3 years per child
Benefit Recipients (provided they were compulsorily insured in the statutory pension scheme at some point in the calendar year before the benefit began): Individuals receiving unemployment benefit (“ALG I”), sickness benefit (“Krankengeld”), injury benefit (“Verletztengeld”), sickness benefit under social compensation law (“Versorgungskrankengeld”), or transitional allowance (“Übergangsgeld”)
Members of professional pension schemes (“berufsständische Versorgungseinrichtungen”), subject to giving data-transfer consent
Civil servants & equivalents: Civil servants (“Beamte”), judges, professional soldiers, and pension recipients (“Versorgungsempfänger”), subject to data-transfer consent
Carers: Non-commercial caregivers (“Pflegende”) who are statutory mandatory insured during their caregiving period.
Minijobbers: Only if they have not opted out of the statutory pension scheme
Artists & Publicists: Only if mandatory insured under the Artists' Social Security (“Künstlersozialversicherung”, “KSV”).
Farmers: Individuals insured under the “old-age pension” for farmers (“Alterssicherung der Landwirte”)
Disability Pensioners: Recipients of full reduced-earning capacity pensions (“Erwerbsminderungs” or “Erwerbsunfähigkeitsrente”)
Volunteers: Individuals in the Federal Volunteer Service (“Bundesfreiwilligendienst”)
Spouses and registered civil partners: If a person does not fit into any directly eligible category above, they can qualify indirectly (“mittelbar”) if their partner is directly eligible. To receive funding, the indirect partner must open an AVD contract in their own name and contribute a statutory minimum of €120 per year. Note: Their state allowance is capped at a flat €175 per year under the new system.

Additional information on eligibility criteria can found on the official German Ministry of Finance website here.

Eligibility has been expanded compared with Riester. For the first time, the self-employed and members of professional pension schemes get access to this type of state subsidies on a capital-market retirement vehicle.

Question 3

How safe are my assets/money?

Accepted Answer

Your AVD at Trading 212 is protected on four independent levels:

State certification: every AVD product must be certified by the Federal Central Tax Office (“Bundeszentralamt für Steuern”, “BZSt”) before it can be sold. Trading 212's AVD will carry this certification.
Regulated broker: Trading 212 operates as a licensed broker (“Wertpapierinstitut”) under Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (“MiFID II”), supervised by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (“Bafin”).
Your investments are segregated: the ETFs, funds and eligible financial instruments in your account are held separately from Trading 212's own assets. In the unlikely event of Trading 212 ceasing to operate, your investments would remain yours and accessible.
Your cash is safe: any uninvested cash in your AVD is held with one or more partner bank(s) and covered by that bank’s statutory deposit insurance up to €100,000 per customer. Part of your cash can be held in QMMFs with separate protection mechanisms - learn more about how your cash is secured at Trading 212 on our client money protection page here.

State subsidies are administered and audited by the Central Subsidy Office for Retirement Assets (“Zentrale Zulagenstelle für Altersvermögen”, “ZfA”) - an arm of the German Federal Pension Authority - so your subsidies sit in a state-supervised flow from day one.

Question 4

Can I transfer my existing private pension (“Riester”) contract?

Accepted Answer

Yes - and the law gives you three options to handle the move:

Option A - Convert in place: stay with your state-subsidised private pension product (“Riester”) provider if they offer a one-click conversion to AVD in January 2027.
Option B - Transfer to Trading 212: Your old provider sells your Riester investments and wires the cash balance to your new T212 AVD. Subsidies you've already earned stay with you.
Option C - Start fresh: keep your Riester running (it stays subsidised under the old rules) and open a separate AVD at Trading 212 in parallel.

Important: all transfers are cash only under German law - your old fund units cannot be moved in-kind. There's no tax to pay on the transfer itself.

Question 5

Can I transfer my Rürup contract?

Accepted Answer

No, you cannot transfer an existing Rürup pension (“Basisrente”) into a new AVD account. The German Ministry of Finance has explicitly stated that the new legislation does not allow funds to be moved from a basic pension contract (like Rürup) into the new Altersvorsorgedepot.

If you already have a Rürup contract, you can:

Keep it running: Your existing Rürup contract will remain active and continue to benefit from its original tax-deductibility rules.
Open an AVD in parallel: You can open a new, separate AVD alongside your Rürup contract to start taking advantage of the new state subsidies (“Zulagen”) and the flexibility of the capital-market options.

Question 6

Want to find out more?

Accepted Answer

Check out the official German Ministry of Finance page with more facts about the new pension account (“Altersvorsorgedepot”) here.

Frequently asked questions