Lijfrente in 2026: how much can you put in?

What a lijfrente is

A lijfrente is a pension you arrange yourself, at a bank or an insurer. What you pay in comes off your taxable income this year. While it grows, the balance isn't counted for Box 3. The payouts are taxed as income later, and the money is locked until they start.

Your Jaarruimte

How much you can deduct each year is your Jaarruimte. For 2026 it's based on your situation in 2025:

Jaarruimte 2026

30% × (your 2025 income, up to €137,800, − €19,172)
− your pension deduction

The €19,172 is the franchise: the part of your income the AOW is assumed to replace, so you get no room for it. The pension deduction is what you already build up with your employer; your yearly pension statement (UPO) shows it. The most anyone can deduct for 2026 is €35,589.

Example

You earned €60,000 in 2025. (€60,000 − €19,172) × 30% = €12,248, before your pension deduction.

Catching up: Reserveringsruimte

Jaarruimte you didn't use in the last ten years, 2016 to 2025, becomes Reserveringsruimte. In 2026 you can use up to €42,753 of it, on top of this year's Jaarruimte. The Belastingdienst suggests using it first, so the oldest room doesn't lapse.

When it pays out

You choose when the payouts start, but the law sets a minimum number of years they have to last:

First payment	Pays out for at least
Before the year you reach AOW age	20 years, plus the years you're younger than your AOW age
In or after your AOW year, up to €27,192 a year	5 years
In or after your AOW year, more than €27,192 a year	20 years

Payouts have to start no later than five years after your AOW age. Start them at 55, with an AOW age of 67, and they must last at least 32 years.

Does it help you retire earlier?

Often, but not always. Money in a lijfrente can't pay for the years before its payouts start, and a long minimum payout period spreads it thin. The tax you get back now can be worth more than the tax on the payouts later, especially if your income drops once you stop working.

That's why the calculator asks what you want a lijfrente to buy you (stopping sooner, a bigger budget or leaving more) and works each one out with your own numbers.

Questions people ask

Can you take money out of a lijfrente early?

Only at a cost. Cashing it in before the payouts start is taxed as income that year, with 20% revisierente on top. The exceptions are a small lijfrente (worth €5,513 or less in 2026, counting your other lijfrenten that haven't started paying), long-term disability, and death.

What happens to a lijfrente when you die?

With a bank lijfrente, the balance goes to your heirs, but not as cash. They have to use it to buy a nabestaandenlijfrente by 31 December of the second year after your death. If they don't, it's taxed at once.

Where do you find your Jaarruimte?

Mijn Belastingdienst doesn't show it. Work it out with the Belastingdienst's rekenhulp, "Hulpmiddel lijfrentepremie", using last year's income from your jaaropgave or tax return and the pension you built up through work, from your pension fund's yearly statement (UPO). It gives your Reserveringsruimte too.

Is a lijfrente taxed in Box 3?

No. While it builds up, the balance isn't counted for Box 3. The payouts are taxed as income in Box 1 when you get them.

Sources

This guide explains the general rules. It isn't personal financial advice.