👴 Retirement provision and health insurance
In brief
If you are entered in the trade register and personally meet the requirements for entry (e.g. master craftsman examination), you must pay into the statutory pension insurance. This is called compulsory insurance for tradespeople (Handwerkerpflichtversicherung). In partnerships it affects the qualified partner. Owners with an employed business manager are therefore not compulsorily insured.
- You can have yourself exempted if compulsory contributions have been paid for you for at least 18 years.
- The application must be made within three months for the exemption to take effect retroactively.
- The pension insurance contribution rate in 2026 is 18.6 percent.
For health insurance: as a self-employed person you need insurance cover. You choose between statutory and private insurance. Advice is important, because switching is often hard to reverse.
Step by step
- Clarify the insurance obligationAre you entered in the trade register? Then pension insurance is generally compulsory.
- Count contribution yearsRequest your insurance record from the pension insurance.
- Check exemptionAfter 18 years of compulsory contributions you can apply for it. Note the three-month deadline.
- Choose health insuranceCompare statutory and private health insurance with advice.
Deadlines
- The exemption cannot be reversed without new insurance decisions being needed. Check how you will be covered afterwards.
- Whether managing shareholders of a trade GmbH are treated differently was not checked here.
- This page contains no reliable figures on the level of contributions for tradespeople (minimum/standard contribution).
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Insurance obligation
§ 2 SGB VI regulates which self-employed people are subject to compulsory insurance. According to No. 8 these include tradespeople who are entered in the trade register and personally meet the requirements for that. Owners with an employed business manager are therefore not compulsorily insured; in partnerships the obligation applies to the qualified partner. Self-employed people with essentially only one client are also compulsorily insured under the conditions of § 2 Nr. 9 SGB VI; this may matter for tradespeople who are not registered (details not checked).
Exemption
§ 6 Abs. 1 Satz 1 Nr. 4 SGB VI: on application, business owners in trade businesses are exempted from the insurance obligation if compulsory contributions have been paid for them for at least 18 years. Under § 6 Abs. 4 SGB VI the exemption takes effect from the time the requirements are met if it is applied for within three months; otherwise from receipt of the application.
Figures 2026
The contribution rate in the general pension insurance stays at 18.6 percent in 2026. The contribution ceiling rises to 8,450 euros per month (101,400 euros per year) and applies nationwide. The basis is the Sozialversicherungs-Rechengrößenverordnung 2026 (SVBezGrV 2026, gesetze-im-internet.de/svbezgrv_2026; cabinet decision of 8 October 2025).
Health insurance
No primary sources were evaluated here on health insurance for self-employed people (insurance obligation, voluntary statutory insurance, private health insurance, calculation of contributions). Health insurance funds and independent advice can provide information. Check the calculation of contributions and switching options before you decide.
From 1 January 2027 (health insurance)
Contribution ceiling (health and long-term care insurance): under the GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz (Act of 24 July 2026, BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 228, issued 29 July 2026; Art. 1 No. 5 (§ 6 SGB V) applies from 1 January 2027; Art. 1 No. 61 (§ 223 SGB V) since 30 July 2026, takes effect for the year 2027), the annual earnings threshold for 2027 is additionally raised by 3,600 euros (§ 6 Abs. 6 SGB V new), and the contribution ceiling for 2027 corresponds to the annual earnings threshold under § 6 Abs. 7 SGB V raised by 3,600 euros (§ 223 Abs. 4 SGB V new); 3,600 euros per year corresponds to 300 euros per month. The Federal Government sets the amounts in the ordinance under § 160 SGB VI; this ordinance was not available, so no 2027 figures are given here. For people with full private insurance who were exempt from compulsory insurance on 31 December 2026 because they exceeded the threshold, the annual earnings threshold for 2027 is not raised (§ 6 Abs. 8; the exception applies cumulatively: exempt from compulsory insurance on 31 December 2026 because of exceeding the annual earnings threshold and insured substitutively with a private health insurance company). The pension insurance contribution ceiling mentioned above (8,450 euros) concerns pension insurance; the 2027 values for it appear only in the Rechengrößenverordnung and are not given here.
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.