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Pension after working 40 years
Fast approaching 40 years of work/contributions in several European countries with Belgium my current place of work and I was wondering if there is the possibility to early retire once reached that number or I need to wait the age of 67? I remember seeing some lines on the subject in the website mypension.be but cannot find them anymore I would like some more precise information. I also tried to contact them to explain my situation about EU contributions but nobody replies to mails.
Anyone knows? Or has any suggestions who to contact ?
https://www.sfpd.fgov.be/fr/%C3%A0-propos-de-nous/contact
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My mutuelle has regular face-to-face consultations in the local office for members with questions about pensions.
I've no idea whether all mutuelles offer this service but it must be worth asking yours.
I believe that you can retire whenever you want. But you will not get the Belgian state pension until the official age. All the info is available by logging into mypension.be
I started receiving my Belgian pension at 66.
I think each country operates independently. For example my pension from work done in the UK cuts in this year at 67.
There are plenty of companies offering to arrange for your pension to be centralised but beware of scammers and high fees from those who do offer a valid service.
I did speak on a couple of occasions with the Belgian pension department (see above) and they were very helpful. It requires patience to get through!
If you are paying tax in the EU country providing the pension, you will not be taxed here, but it will be added to your income to calculate the percentage tax you pay here.
@WEZEMBEEKWANDERER
I have been drawing pensions from both the UK and Belgian governments for more than 13 years.
I've never heard of companies offering to arrange for pensions to be centralised and I cannot imagine what possible benefit there might be in using - and paying to use -such a system.
Both my pensions are paid in Euros into my Belgian bank account. I cannot remember whether I asked for that to happen with the UK pension or whether it was offered by them as I had a Belgian address but I'm sure that it was a simple, standard proceedure; I've certainly no memory of any complications in arranging it. The UK pension arrives a couple of days later than it would if it was paid into a UK bank and varies very slightly in amount month on month according to exchange rate fluctuations.
@KASSEISTAMPER
I agree totally.
But there are companies advertising and even contacting me - mainly on my Times subscription - who must have picked up on me searching for stuff about pensions. I spoke to one and it was complicated and expensive. Maybe there might be some benefit if you had several pensions around Europe, but I doubt it.
I have more than one pension from UK so I will be over the tax free allowance. I'm interested to see what happens.
