As expected, retirement pensions will increase slightly at the beginning of 2025. But another more discreet change comes at the same time, with a bad surprise for some.
This Friday, February 7, 2025, retirees will face two changes: one pleasant, the other less. The first concerns the revaluation of pensions, which, after a proposal from the previous government evoking a frost until next summer, was finally generalized to all retirees in January.
Thus, as expected, basic pensions will increase by 2.2 %. This revaluation concerns former private employees and civil servants. And if she has already taken into account on the January pension for former civil servants, she will translate into a revalued payment on February 7 for the others.
Concretely, a retiree affecting 1,400 euros per month, including 980 euros of basic pension, will see an increase of 21.6 euros on his January payment, which he will receive on February 7. For a retreat of 2,800 euros, this increase will reach 30.8 euros. Not mirobal, and not enough to compensate for the inflation of recent years, but always better than nothing.
But this increase will not fully benefit everyone. Because in parallel, the calculation thresholds of the generalized social contribution (CSG). have been revised to follow inflation, and some retirees will change their sample slices.
The CSG scale depends on the reference tax income (RFR) and is recalculated each year depending on the income of the previous year. In 2025, income thresholds increased by 4.8 %, in accordance with price increase. This means that some retirees, whose revenues of 2023 have increased, could pass through a slice of upper CSG. The rate applied to the CSG varies from 0 % to 8.3 %, according to income tranches. For example, a retiree living alone with a tax income of 16,755 euros could see its rate from 3.8 % to 6.6 %, which would lead to a decrease in its net pension despite revaluation.
This change of bracket could lead to a drop in pensions for some retirees. Take an example: a retiree whose total pension is 2,800 euros per month could see an increase in the CSG compensate entirely, or even exceed, the 30.8 euros of increase linked to revaluation. These retirees may therefore see their clear pension decrease, despite the increase announced. However, there is a so -called “smoothing” mechanism: if the income increases only in a single year, the CSG rate does not change immediately. It is only after two consecutive years of income increase that a new higher rate is applied.
Finally, another important point for retirees concerns the deductibility of the CSG. Part of this levy can indeed be deducted from their taxable income, which a little reduced the tax burden. For those subject to the rate of 6.6 %, 4.2 % were deductible. Those whose CSG rate is set at 8.3 % may deduct 5.9 % of their CSG from their income to declare.