👵 Compulsory pension insurance and planned retirement provision obligation
In brief
Certain groups of self-employed people are already subject to statutory compulsory pension insurance today – such as teachers and educators without employees of their own who are subject to social insurance, carers, midwives, coastal skippers, craftsmen entered in the Handwerksrolle (craftsmen's register) and “employee-like” self-employed people with only one client. A general retirement provision obligation for all self-employed people does not yet exist as applicable law as of September 2026 – it has been discussed for years and is currently in a political but not yet completed legislative phase.
Step by step
- Check your case groupCheck whether your activity falls under one of the nine case groups exhaustively listed in § 2 sentence 1 SGB VI.
- Craftsmen: check the HandwerksrolleFor craft activity (§ 2 sentence 1 no. 8 SGB VI), check whether you are entered in the Handwerksrolle and meet the personal requirements.
- Check the one-client ruleFor employee-like self-employment (no. 9), check whether you work permanently and essentially for only one client and employ no employees subject to social insurance.
- Apply for the founder exemptionFor cases under no. 9 an exemption for up to three years from first starting the activity is possible (§ 6 para. 1a SGB VI), repeatable for a second genuine new start-up.
- Craftsmen: check the 18-year exemptionAfter 18 years (216 months) of compulsory contributions, craftsmen can apply for an exemption (§ 6 para. 1 sentence 1 no. 4 in conjunction with para. 4 SGB VI).
- If in doubt, apply for a status determinationWhere things are unclear, Deutsche Rentenversicherung checks the status in the status determination procedure (§ 7a SGB IV).
Deadlines
- The nine case groups of § 2 SGB VI are an exhaustive list of obligations that already exist – this is not a general obligation for all self-employed people.
- Even a second significant client can remove the one-client requirement under no. 9 – such a change of status is often not reported in time.
- Craftsmen often forget to apply for the exemption after 18 years and keep paying unnecessarily – there is no automatic mechanism.
- Be careful with the statement “the pension obligation for self-employed people is coming in 2027”: as of September 2026 the legislative process is not complete, only a political timetable exists.
- Do not confuse: the founder exemption under § 6 para. 1a SGB VI (pension law, only for cases under no. 9) is something different from the former health insurance founder privilege, which no longer exists since 2019 (see the topic on health insurance).
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Existing obligation under § 2 sentence 1 SGB VI
No. 1 teachers/educators without employees subject to social insurance; no. 2 carers without employees subject to social insurance; no. 3 midwives and male birth attendants; no. 4 sea pilots; no. 5 artists and publicists under the KSVG (see separate topic Artists' Social Insurance Fund); no. 6 home-based traders (Hausgewerbetreibende); no. 7 coastal skippers and fishers with at most four employees; no. 8 craftsmen entered in the Handwerksrolle who meet the personal requirements for entry; no. 9 employee-like self-employed people (no employee subject to social insurance and essentially permanently only one client).
Grounds for exemption under § 6 SGB VI
Paragraph 1a allows a founder exemption of up to three years, repeatable for a second genuine new start-up, only for cases under no. 9. Paragraph 1 sentence 1 no. 4 in conjunction with paragraph 4 provides for exemption after 18 years of compulsory contributions, relevant in particular for craftsmen under no. 8.
Status of the planned general retirement provision obligation (as of 17 September 2026) – to be treated expressly as open
The pension commission (Alterssicherungskommission) presented its final report with 33 recommendations on 23 June 2026. On 2 July 2026 the coalition committee decided to implement the recommendations “fully and swiftly”, with the aim of completing the legislative process by the end of 2026. According to a core recommendation reproduced in the Federal Government FAQ of 2 July 2026, self-employed people who are not otherwise compulsorily insured are to be included from a cut-off date yet to be defined without an opt-out option, while an opt-out by declaration is to be possible for people already self-employed. This statement on the opt-out for existing self-employed people comes from a secondary source (Verband der Gründer und Selbstständigen Deutschland, VGSD) and was not verified against the wording of the commission's recommendation itself.
Expressly not confirmed are: the exact cut-off date for inclusion, any choice between statutory and private provision for newly self-employed people, possible exemption thresholds for very small self-employed people and specific transitional periods for existing self-employed people. This website therefore deliberately presents the reform as “in the political implementation process, legislative process not yet completed” and does not state any of the details mentioned as applicable law.
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