When should you contact your group insurance provider?

April 22, 2021

When can you withdraw the capital saved in your pension plan?

As a general rule, your group insurance capital will be paid out at the legal retirement age, which is 65 and will be 67 from 2030 onwards. The payment of extra-legal pension capital is therefore subject to the effective retirement of workers.

What is group insurance for employees?

This is an extra-legal benefit that allows employees to build up a supplementary pension through their employer. In practical terms, the employer pays premiums, usually on a monthly basis, to an insurance company in order to build up pension capital for its employees.

Why group insurance?

This money, accumulated year after year, provides employees with a supplementary pension to their statutory pension, which alone is not sufficient to maintain an employee's current standard of living. In addition, the group insurance contract allows for the implementation of additional guarantees and a significant tax advantage. In fact, this capital accumulated during years of work is taxed at a much lower rate than a salary increase. This system is therefore advantageous for both the employer and its employees, especially since when such a pension plan exists in a company, the employee is automatically enrolled in it. Finally, it is possible to use your group insurance to obtain an advance to invest in real estate (purchase, construction, or renovation), which is another interesting advantage for employees.

When can you access your group insurance money as an employee?

The savings made by the employer for its employees are only accessible at retirement age, i.e., at age 65 (67 after 2030) or upon early retirement. However, pension capital cannot be received before the age of 60 under any circumstances, so it is not possible for employees to receive their supplementary pension capital in advance.
It is important to note that the earlier the supplementary pension is received, i.e., during early retirement, before the legal retirement age currently set at 65, the higher the tax rate on group insurance capital. The table below illustrates this taxation based on retirement age.

What happens in the event of death?

La plupart du temps, le contrat d’assurance groupe prévoit un capital extra-légal en cas de vie mais aussi une intervention financière extra-légale en cas de décès. Cette intervention peut être prévue sous forme d’un capital ou sous forme du remboursement de la réserve d’épargne constituée au jour du décès. Une telle intervention décès n’est pas toujours prévue. Tout dépend donc du contrat d’assurance groupe que vous avez souscrit et du choix de vos garanties complémentaires.
Pour connaître les bénéficiaires en cas de décès, il faut se reporter au contrat d’assurance groupe qui permet un choix libre aux assurés, modifiable à tout moment. Si aucun choix libre n’a été exercé, les bénéficiaires en cas de décès sont alors ceux désignés par la clause légale. Cette clause légale ayant évolué au fil du temps, une vérification est toujours possible via l’employeur, l’assureur groupe ou le courtier.