The tax blow to pension plans will cause a drop of more than 12,500 million in contributions in five years

This 2025 It has been five years since the Government modify the maximum limit to be deducted in personal income tax for contributions to individual pension plans. The Ministry of Economy, led at that time by Nadia Calviño, reduced this amount from 8,000 to 2,000 euros during 2021, to drop to 1,500 euros the following year, in a movement that some experts considered a “coup” for pension savings. Five years later, the sector estimates that the measure has had an impact of more than 12.5 billion.

In the absence of know the data for November and Decembercontributions to the individual system will have fallen by around 12,540 million between 2021 and 2025, with an average annual brake on money inflows of between 2,500 and 2,700 million. For this calculation they take 2020 as a base. -last year in force with the tax advantage of 8,000 euros- when the Spaniards allocated 4.3 billion to this product, an unprecedented amount since 2007, just before the outbreak of the financial crisis. The restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a greater rebound in savings, a factor that explains this record growth.

Since then, the money invested in pension plans in the annual calculation has experienced a gradual decline and is on track to close in 2025 in a figure similar to the previous twelve months, over 1,500 million. An analysis carried out by Inverco, the investment fund association, shows that this measure mainly affects those savers whose gross income ranges between 24,000 and 51,000 eurosby concentrating almost half of the taxpayers who make contributions.

The reform It has affected a million people, who have been forced to reduce the amount they allocate to this item, a situation in which companies dedicated to this activity demand an increase in the minimum threshold to 5,000 euros. He October balance -the last one available- collects assets of 93,341 million, 2.6% more compared to June, in the heat of the favorable behavior of financial marketswhich promoted the revaluation of the portfolios, with a year-on-year profitability that has exceeded 8%, while the number of participant accounts has stood at 7.2 million.

The one listed as ‘fiscal hack’ was activated with the aim of promoting public pension plans as a way to complement the pension to through employment pension planswhich have not yet taken off despite the fact that the Executive closed the tender in mid-2023.

In this sense, the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) has explained that he is already working on the report on public promotion employment plans, which will be presented in the first half of 2026, and in the who appreciate “a slow start” of them as a complementary forecasting tool. The organization headed by Cristina Herrero sees it as key to determine the origin of the channeled savings, in addition to reconfiguring tax incentives to promote the model.

It is worth remembering that last October the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business launched a public consultation with the aim of gathering opinions on the modification of the law that regulates these products and with which it intends to eliminate the cap on contributions. One of the new features that has come into force this year in terms of pensions has been the opening from the window for all those who hired a vehicle of these characteristics more than ten years ago. The measure promoted by the Executive of Mariano Rajoy has given wings to withdraw funds contracted in 2015 or before without the need for justification. Despite this, the initial fears that there would be a flight of capital have not occurred, a forecast that is based on the argument that once that income is rescued it is taxed as income from work, which can lead to a tax increase at the time it is rescued.