PER: how does it really work and how can you optimize your ceiling before the end of the year?

The PER in brief: savings blocked until retirement The individual retirement savings plan (PER) prepares additional income for retirement. The money paid remains in principle blocked until the liquidation of your pension or until the legal retirement age. However, there are early exits: the purchase of the main residence and “life accidents” (in particular death of the spouse or PACS partner, disability, over-indebtedness, end of unemployment rights, judicial liquidation of one's business).

How does the PER deduction work? Amounts paid into a PER during a year are deductible from taxable income for that same year. The tax saving therefore depends on your marginal tax bracket (TMI), the rate that hits the last bracket of your income.

Example: with a TMI of 30%, a payment of €5,000, entirely included in the 30% bracket, reduces the tax by €1,500, provided you remain within your ceiling. In return, the amounts deducted will be taxed upon exit. What is your PER ceiling in 2026?

For payments in 2026, an employee's PER ceiling is equal to 10% of their 2025 income, net of professional expenses, up to €37,680. If it is more favorable, a floor of €4,710 applies, which is also the ceiling for people without professional activity. The employer's contribution to a company PER is notably deducted.

Self-employed workers have a ceiling calculated on their profit, which can reach €88,911 in 2026. For an employee, there is no need to calculate it: your personalized ceiling appears on your 2026 tax notice, in the line “ceiling for contributions paid in 2026”. It adds the ceiling calculated on your 2025 income and the ceilings that remained unused in previous years.

The detailed calculation and its specific cases are presented in the Meilleurtaux Placement guide dedicated to the PER ceiling. Unused ceilings: an extended carryover, but not for all If you pay less than your ceiling, the unused portion is carried over to the following years. The finance law for 2026 extends it from three to five years.

However, the rule only applies to ceilings born from 2026. Those from 2024 and 2025 remain carryable for three years, until 2027 and 2028. As for the unused 2023 portion, it can only be used for 2026 payments: without payment by December 31, 2026, it is lost.

Your payments are first applied to the ceiling for the year, then to the balances, from oldest to most recent. To use the 2023 portion, you must therefore pay more than the ceiling calculated on your 2025 income. Optimize your PER ceiling before December 31: 3 levers Check your tax notice Raise the amount in the “retirement savings ceiling” section: this is what you can deduct in 2026, including the remainder from 2023.

Machine-translated from French