Authors: Ulrike Gerber, Dr. Markus Zwick/Location: Wiesbaden
According to the Retirement Savings Act of 2001 (“Altersvermögensgesetzes”), the state promotes a specific type of privately funded old-age provision, the so-called “Riesterrente”, with special tax supplements ("Altersvorsorgezulage”) and with a tax deduction for special expenses (“Sonderausgabenabzug”). The data regarding both kinds of tax relief for Riester-contributions are collected by two different institutions: One being the fiscal authorities that retain information about the tax deduction for special expenses, because the Riester-savers have to report paid contributions in connection with their income tax return in order to profit from the tax relief. Next, the „Zentrale Zulagenstelle für Altersvermögen - ZfA“ (central allow-ance authority for state subsidized pensions, organizationally attached to the Federal Ger-man Pension Office, “Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund”) that is responsible for the grant of tax supplements. The total volume of tax relief for Riester-contributions is composed of these two types of tax relief. Both datasets are on hand at the Federal Statistical Office (“Sta-tistisches Bundesamt”), so that the total volume of tax relief can be represented.
The authors present analyses on the basis of those data concerning the year 2005. Single data concerning the years 2003 and 2005 can be recalled at the data research centers of the Federal Statistical Office and the Statistical Offices of the Laender for the purpose of scien-tific research (controlled remote data processing).
