Pension reform 2027: what changes for the self-employed

What the law of 30 May 2026 changes on 1 January 2027

The law of 30 May 2026, published in the Belgian Official Gazette (Moniteur belge) on 1 June 2026, rewrites the conditions for early retirement and introduces a malus and bonus system. It takes effect for pensions starting on or after 1 January 2027. Retirements that take effect in 2026 remain governed by the previous rules.

The principle running through the whole text is the notion of career intensity. Until now, a calendar year counted towards the career condition as soon as it included a minimum number of contribution quarters. From now on, it only counts if it adds up to at least 156 days of actual or equivalent work. For a self-employed person whose activity has had lean years, breaks or a spell as a self-employed person with a side activity, the career arithmetic changes.

Three measures follow from this: a tighter career condition, a malus on early retirement, and a bonus for continuing to work. The rest of the NISSE statutory pension calculation (reference income, ceiling, coefficient per year) is not changed by this law.

The 156-day condition, and why it weighs on the self-employed

From 2027, a calendar year only counts towards the career condition for early retirement if it includes at least 156 days of actual or equivalent work. A year of reduced activity, which used to be counted, may therefore drop out of the tally.

This rule hits the self-employed harder than employees, for a structural reason: a self-employed career is rarely linear. A gradual start as a side activity, a break for a project, a transition year before moving to a company, a period of incapacity for work: all years that counted under the old system and will now have to clear the threshold.

The early retirement conditions in force until 31 December 2026 keep the same structure: 44 career years to retire at 60, 42 years to retire at 63. What changes is how those years are counted.

• Age 60: 44 career years
• Age 61: 43 career years
• Age 62: 43 career years
• Age 63: 42 career years

The new route to retire at 60, for very long careers

The law opens an additional door: retiring at 60 after 42 calendar years each including at least 234 days of actual work. It recognises careers that started early and continued without interruption.

The 234-day threshold is far more demanding than the 156 days of the general condition: it corresponds to a full year. In practice, this route is for someone who started working around 18 and has never really eased off.

For a self-employed person who started out after higher education, it will remain out of reach. The contributions simulator and your career statement on mypension.be remain the only two ways to find out where you really stand.

The malus: what early retirement costs from 2027

The malus applies to anyone who retires before the statutory age without meeting two cumulative conditions: 35 career years each including at least 156 days of actual work, i.e. 7,020 days in total. It is a permanent reduction of the gross amount, calculated pro rata to the months of early retirement.

Its rate depends on your year of birth: the younger the generation, the heavier the penalty. The list below gives the rates as published.

This point is worth stressing: unlike a temporary reduction, the malus is never made up. It applies to the gross amount for the whole of your retirement. Over a life expectancy of twenty years, three years of early retirement at 5% add up to a considerable sum, which no later catch-up corrects.

• 1960 et avant: 0% per year of early retirement
• 1961-1965: 2% per year of early retirement
• 1966-1974: 4% per year of early retirement
• 1975 et après: 5% per year of early retirement

The bonus: a permanent increase, no longer a one-off payment

The new bonus rewards anyone who works beyond the statutory age or beyond the date on which they could have retired. Its nature changes: it is no longer a one-off payment made on retirement, but a permanent increase in the pension amount, also applicable from 1 January 2027.

Like the malus, its rate depends on your year of birth, within a symmetrical range. Here are the published rates.

For a self-employed person, this measure is easier to use than for an employee: there is no employer deciding when your career ends. Continuing a reduced activity beyond the statutory age becomes a choice you can put figures on, to be weighed against the rules for working pensioners, which provide for a reduced-rate social security contribution and income limits to respect.

• 1962 et avant: 2% per extra year worked
• 1963-1972: 4% per extra year worked
• 1973 et après: 5% per extra year worked

Minimum pension: the work condition tightens

The law also tightens access to the guaranteed minimum pension, by giving precedence to periods actually worked over equivalent periods. The amount itself does not change: €1,844.93 a month for a single person and €2,305.44 at the household rate, as at 1 March 2026.

This tightening targets careers made up largely of equivalent periods. For a self-employed person who has genuinely worked, it has no consequence. For someone whose career mixes unemployment, long-term illness and intermittent self-employment, on the other hand, it can tip the file out of the minimum pension.

A reminder of the order of magnitude that justifies the whole second-pillar structure: the average pension actually paid to the self-employed is €1,243 a month. It is this figure, not the theoretical maximum of €2,288.86, that describes reality.

What should you actually do before 1 January 2027?

Three checks are enough to know whether the reform affects you, and they take an hour. They apply to any self-employed person over 50; below that age, the issue shifts to building up the second pillar.

If you are approaching a possible retirement date in 2026, timing becomes decisive: a pension that starts on 31 December 2026 escapes the malus entirely. That one-day switch can be worth several pension points for life, and it is exactly the kind of decision you should not make on your own.

• Career statement on mypension.be: how many calendar years, and which ones risk falling short of the day threshold?
• Simulation of your expected statutory pension, to compare with the average of €1,243 a month.
• State of your second pillar: current PLCI/VAPZ, IPC or POZ/CPTI contracts, annual contributions, projected capital at the statutory age.

Further reading

The pages on this site that explore each of the points covered here in more depth.

• Minimum pension for the self-employed: the conditionsThe conditions for accessing the guaranteed floor: 30 years of career and actual work.
• Buying back study years for your pensionMaking your studies count for the amount, not for the retirement date.
• NISSE statutory pension: calculation and amounts 2026The full calculation mechanism, reference income and coefficient per career year.
• PLCI/VAPZ: ceilings and taxation 2026The first lever to offset a malus, outside the 80% rule.
• IPC: the individual pension commitment in a companyThe second lever if you operate through an SRL/BV, governed by the 80% rule.
• PLCI/VAPZ simulatorWork out in two minutes what an annual contribution produces at the statutory age.
• Pension bonus, definitionThe glossary entry, updated after the law of 30 May 2026.
• Combining a pension with self-employed workPermitted income and contributions if you keep working once retired.

Frequently asked questions