Clear explanations of company pension schemes and the Unterstützungskasse, a German support-fund pension vehicle, for shareholder-managing directors and mid-sized companies. Factual, with an eye on the balance sheet and tax, and without sales pressure.
Four ways to take money out of a GmbH, four tax mechanisms: the progressive scale, the bonus rules, the double burden on dividends and the gross leverage of the pension promise. With the 2026 tax rates.
Locked-in funds, contributions that may only remain level or increase (§ 4d EStG), no automatic insolvency protection for controlling directors, a fixed administrative overhead. The limits of the route named openly, and when another fits better.
Controlling shareholder-managing directors mostly do not pay into the German state pension at all, and where they do, its effect ends at the contribution assessment ceiling. Status determination, the pension gap and the three levels on which substantial provision is built.
Probation period, earning period, the 75 per cent ceiling: why pension commitments to shareholder-managing directors fail the tax audit and how to set one up so it holds. With the tax authority's examination grid at a glance.
The direct pension commitment weighs on balance sheet, sale and succession. Why the tax and commercial balance sheets diverge, which exits are tax traps and how the combination of Pensionsfonds and Unterstützungskasse works.
Disability cover as part of the company pension: contributions from gross salary, simplified health checks in group schemes, full deductions when benefits are paid. Both sides of the calculation, soberly sorted.
Sickness has become more expensive. What continued salary payment and a long absence really cost the business, what German law requires and how the risk can be insured. With verified figures.
The professional pension fund usually only pays the disability pension once you surrender your admission, and only to a limited extent. Why the common partial occupational disability slips through the cracks and what a solid private cover really depends on. Contextualized for lawyers, tax advisors, auditors and notaries.
Doctors, lawyers, architects: anyone covered by a professional pension scheme has one building block, not the whole path. Why the basic pension (the Rürup principle) is the most tax-efficient framework for high earners to top up, and where its limits lie.
When occupational disability insurance becomes difficult because of pre-existing conditions, your profession or your budget: how basic ability insurance closes your biggest existential gap, where its limits are and who it suits.
Why students of law and economics, trainee lawyers and young professionals should protect themselves against occupational disability early. How health, age and premium interact, and what follow-up coverage guarantees mean.
A calculation or advisory error does not hit the body and does not hit a physical object, it hits your client's assets. Why the mandatory coverage for lawyers, tax advisors and auditors is often too thin, and how you recognize good professional liability insurance.
The GmbH protects the shareholders' capital, not the managing director. When you are personally liable, which cases are typical and what a D&O policy delivers.
Why professional practices are especially exposed, what professional indemnity insurance does not cover and what really counts in the first 72 hours after an attack.
Why health budgets get used where classic benefits fizzle out: the effect on retention and recruiting, realistic costs and implementation in four steps.
Why pension provision for shareholder-managing directors is teamwork. How the coordination between tax firm and pension specialist works in practice, from the key parameters to the annual review.
How the reinsured Unterstützungskasse works and why it is attractive for managing directors who want to build retirement provision beyond the usual contribution limit. Set up in a balance-sheet-neutral way, anchored in Section 4d of the German Income Tax Act (§ 4d EStG).
Why a company pension scheme in the German Mittelstand is more than a box-ticking exercise. How employer contributions and salary conversion become a tangible benefit that retains skilled staff.
The two funding routes in a conceptual comparison. How they differ on contribution limits and balance-sheet effects, and which route suits which situation. A general overview, not a recommendation; that requires an individual review.
Why a company pension scheme is not a plain savings product. How capital market participation works within an insurance wrapper, and how opportunities and risks can be assessed over a long time horizon.
Articles offer general guidance. Whether a route fits your company is something we clarify with your figures on the table and in coordination with your tax advisor.
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