France's PER retirement savings plan in 2026: deduction, PERCOL, early release and tax

• Deduction: voluntary payments reduce taxable income, up to 10% of earned income, from €4,710 to €37,680 in 2026; €3,000 paid in saves €900 in the 30% band.
• Locked until retirement, except to buy your main home, disability, death of a spouse, over-indebtedness, end of unemployment benefits or court-ordered liquidation.
• At exit, capital or annuity: sums deducted on the way in are taxed on the way out, at the scale; gains pay the 31.4% flat tax.
• PERCOL: the company collective PER receives profit-sharing and employer top-ups, up to €7,690 a year.

Created in 2019 by France's PACTE law to replace the Perp, the Madelin contract, the Perco and the article 83 scheme, the PER brings all funded retirement savings under one name. Its appeal fits in one idea: the tax saved today on payments is not cancelled, it is deferred to retirement, when income, and therefore the tax band, is often lower. That deferral only pays off under certain conditions.

This guide explains how a PER works, the three types of plan, how much you can deduct in 2026, how the money is invested, what happens at retirement, early release cases and transfers, then compares the PER with assurance vie and the PEA. The rules quoted come from the service-public.fr page (in French), checked on October 12, 2026. To see what the mandatory schemes pay at a minimum, read our guide to the minimum pension in France.

What is a PER?

A PER is a long-term savings account, opened with an insurer, a bank or an asset manager, sometimes through your employer. You pay money in during your working life; it is invested in financial assets, then taken out at retirement, as capital, as a life annuity or a mix of both. The same saver can hold several PERs and consolidate older retirement contracts into one of them.

The three PERs: individual, collective (ex-Perco) and mandatory

The collective PER, often called PERCOL or PERECOL, took over from the Perco. Its main attraction is the employer top-up: the employer can add to the employee's payments, up to three times those payments and €7,690 a year. Placing profit-sharing on a PERCOL also avoids income tax at the time of payment, under the rules for employee savings.

How much to pay in and deduct in 2026

Voluntary payments made before age 70 are deductible from taxable income by default. For 2026 payments, the ceiling is 10% of 2025 earned income, capped at €37,680, or €4,710 if that is higher: even without earned income, you can deduct up to €4,710. Unused ceilings from the previous five years carry forward, oldest first; the tax notice shows the amount available each year.

You can also waive the deduction, payment by payment. That makes sense for a non-taxpaying household or one in the 11% band: the deduction is worth little, and non-deducted sums will be tax-free when taken out as capital, with only the gains taxed. Other ways to cut tax are covered in our guide to reducing income tax in France.

Example: what the deduction is really worth

An employee in the 30% band pays €3,000 into a PER and deducts it: their tax falls by €900 the following year. At retirement, that €3,000 taken out as capital will be taxed at their band at the time, excluding gains:

The PER is therefore all the more attractive when your tax band is high during your working life and low in retirement. For a household that stays in the same band, the benefit comes down to deferring the tax, which keeps working in the meantime. The compound interest calculator measures that effect over twenty or thirty years.

How the money is invested, and what it costs

By default, a PER uses lifecycle management: savings are invested mainly in shares when retirement is far off, then gradually moved into lower-risk assets, euro funds and bonds, as retirement approaches. The default profile is “balanced retirement horizon”, and savers can choose a cautious, dynamic or aggressive profile, or manage their own funds.

Fees vary widely between PERs: fees on payments, annual management fees, fund fees and switching fees. Over twenty or thirty years, one point of fees a year weighs more than most differences in performance. Funds are often index funds, such as those covered in the guide to the MSCI World and S&P 500 indices.

At retirement: capital or annuity, and tax

Annuities also bear social charges, 18.6% since 2026, on a fraction that depends on age. Capital can be taken in one go or in instalments over several years, which spreads the tax. Sums from mandatory payments into a company PER are, in principle, paid out as an annuity.

Releasing a PER before retirement

PER savings can be withdrawn before retirement in limited cases, on written request to the plan manager:

• Buying your main home, except sums from mandatory payments; deducted payments are then taxed as income, and gains at the flat tax.
• Death of a spouse or civil partner.
• Disability of the holder, their children or spouse, or serious illness of a dependent child.
• Over-indebtedness, by decision of the debt commission.
• End of unemployment benefits, or leaving a corporate officer role for at least two years without a new employment contract.
• Court-ordered liquidation of a self-employed person's business.

Outside these cases, the money stays locked. That is the major difference with assurance vie, available at any time, and the PEA, available after five years.

Transferring a PER

An individual PER can be transferred to another PER free of charge after five years, and with fees of at most 1% before. A collective PER can be transferred when you leave the company, or every three years while you stay. Older retirement contracts (Perp, Madelin, Perco) can be consolidated into a PER, with fees of at most 5% for a contract held less than ten years. Moving an old high-fee contract to a cheaper PER is often one of the biggest savings available over time.

PER, assurance vie or PEA?

The three wrappers complement each other more than they compete. The PER suits savings you will truly only touch in retirement, especially in a high tax band; assurance vie and the PEA keep the money available. The guide on where to put your money ranks these wrappers by the horizon of each sum, and the one on the PFU flat tax covers the taxation of gains.

This guide is educational and is neither tax advice nor personalized investment advice. A PER invested in unit-linked funds carries a risk of capital loss. The rules quoted are those in force in November 2026.

Frequently asked questions