Managing the pension during the payout phase

This guide explains how to prepare for and manage payments during the payout phase. This phase begins once an end user reaches their agreed payout date (a date between their 65th and 70th birthdays) and begins to receive income from their pension accounts.

End users have the option to withdraw up to 30% of the capital available at the start of the payout phase. This amount is delivered as a lump sum payment.

During the payout phase, the German pension automatically transitions into a payout plan (Auszahlungsplan). This plan runs at least until completion of the end user’s 85th year.

The monthly payment amount is calculated at the start of the plan after the lump sum has been paid. The plan is then recalculated annually. Each recalculation divides at least 80% of remaining capital by the months left until the end of the term. Any residual capital is paid out with the final instalment.

Users with very small pension amounts (“Kleinbetragsrente”) can withdraw 100% when the Payout phase commences (§ 93 Abs. 3 EStG).

• Authentication scopes - pensions:admin, reports:admin
• Webhook handler ready — Set up a webhook endpoint to listen for updates relating to transfers
  • Subscribe to PENSION_DE_PAYOUT_CONFIGURATION.* events.
  • Subscribe to REPORT.* events.
• For more information, refer to Implementing webhooks.

To prepare for the payout phase, Upvest automatically creates a payout configuration for the end user at tax wrapper activation. This ensures that all end users have a defined payout date for their pension contract, which informs notifications in the lead-up to the payout date.

Upvest uses the following defaults on creation:

• Payout start date, informed by the expected_payout_age stated in the tax wrapper and the end user's date of birth.
• The contract end date defaults to the end user’s 85th birthday.
• Partial lump sum withdrawal set to 0%.
• Recurring payments set at a cadence of monthly.

These values can be updated via a PATCH request at any time before the payout phase begins. In the PATCH response, the API provides a predicted payout value for the partial lump sum and the recurring payment.

After payout has begun, only the contract end date and cadence can be updated. These values are then used in the annual recalculation of the recurring payment.

When the tax wrapper is activated, Upvest sends a PENSION_DE_PAYOUT_CONFIGURATION.CREATED webhook event through the Payout configuration webhook.

During the end user’s accumulation phase, you can retrieve or update the end user’s payout configuration by sending a GET or PATCH request to the /pension_de/wrappers/{tax_wrapper_id}/payout_configuration endpoint.

Example retrieving the payout configuration

GET /pension_de/wrappers/{tax_wrapper_id}/payout_configuration

{
  "id": "7a1e9c3d-52f4-4b08-9d61-8e2f0c5a4b7e",
  "tax_wrapper_id": "3f8e2a71-9c4b-4d16-b5a0-6e9d1c7f2a84",
  "payout_start_date": "2048-04-01",
  "contract_end_date": "2068-04-01",
  "payout_phase": "NOT_STARTED",
  "payout_configuration": {
    "pension_lump_sum": {
      "as_percentage": "0.25",
      "currency": "EUR",
      "predicted_cash_amount": "131250.00"
    },
    "recurring_payout": {
      "period": "MONTH",
      "interval": 1,
      "currency": "EUR",
      "predicted_cash_amount": "1640.62"
    }
  },
  "created_at": "2027-04-01T06:00:00.000Z",
  "updated_at": "2027-04-08T06:00:00.000Z"
}

Example updating the payout configuration

PATCH /pension_de/wrappers/{tax_wrapper_id}/payout_configuration

{
  "payout_configuration": {
    "pension_lump_sum": {
      "as_percentage": "0.3"
    },
    "recurring_payout": {
      "interval": 1,
      "period": "YEAR"
    }
  }
}

Upvest provides notifications as the end user approaches their payout date:

• Standarddepot: The notification timing incorporates the glide path and a notification 12 months before the payout date.
• Altersvorsorgedepot: The notification is triggered 12 months before the payout date.

Following a notification, clients should prompt the end user to confirm their payout details. This can result in the following scenarios:

• Payout date updated to a later date (within the 65–70 age range): The end user will be notified again 12 months before the new payout date (or any relevant glide path notification using the new payout date).
• Payout date maintained, or moved to an earlier date: The process proceeds to the next step.

As part of confirming or moving the payout date, the end user can also:

• Update the percentage amount they wish to withdraw as partial lump sum (up to 30%) at the start of the payout phase.
• Update the contract end date (default is age 85; cannot be set earlier).
• Update the cadence of the recurring payout. Upvest supports monthly, multi-monthly (e.g., every three months), or annual payments.

Ahead of the payout phase, the end user receives a §7b report. The report includes:

• Details of the payout plan (for example, amount and duration) after any lump sum is taken.
• Costs applicable during the payout phase.
• Payout commencement date.

The §7b report is created automatically whenever the payout configuration is updated (via PATCH) within two years of the end user’s payout date. The update confirms the lump sum amount, payout cadence, payout start date, and contract end date that the end user wants during the payout phase.

Clients can also request a §7b report to be generated by calling a POST to /reports and selecting the §7b report.

If no §7b report is generated 9 months before the payout date, the report is issued automatically using the existing values (either the defaults or the most recent update).

On generation of the §7b report, clients receive a notification from the Reports event webhook which includes the report’s unique identifier report_id. The report is then available for collection and must be sent to the end user as the official notification of the start of their payout phase.

To retrieve the §7b report, submit a GET request with the report_id in the request path:

GET /reports/{report_id}

In the response, Upvest passes a generated JSON object with the details of the §7b report.

To retrieve a PDF version of the §7b report, call the GET /reports/{report_id} endpoint with accept: application/pdf in the header.

If the end user updates the values of the payout configuration after a §7b report is sent, a new §7b report will be generated.

In the years before the payout phase, clients should de-risk the end user’s pension account by changing the allocation between the two funds. The goal is to minimise the risk profile of their investments by decreasing their investment in the higher risk class fund.

There are two approaches to achieving the glide path:

• Self-balancing orders: Attempts to achieve the new allocation ahead of the mandated rebalance dates by updating the allocation earlier and using self-balancing orders to invest new contributions into the position that is under the target allocation. For information on portfolio order distributions and self-balancing orders, refer to the section on Configuring portfolio order distributions.
• Mandated rebalance events: Triggering a rebalance at set milestones, listed in the table below, to sell and buy into the new allocation. For more information on rebalancing, refer to the Triggering a rebalancing guide.

Unless the end user overwrites with new allocations, the prescribed allocations are as follows.

This is a recurring process, running first at five years before the payout, then two years before the payout, and at the commencement of payout. In all cases, the end user can amend their preferred start date for the payout phase up to at least three months in advance of payout.

Upvest only notifies the client for the rebalance events. If clients wish to use self-balancing orders to achieve or minimise the rebalance requirement this must be started at an earlier date defined by the client and set out in your terms and conditions.

Rebalances are not supported in trading accounts. Clients must place buy and sell orders directly to achieve the mandated rebalances.

Once the payout date is reached, an optional partial lump sum is calculated using the percentage value set out on the payout configuration, if present. This calculation is based on the total current valuation and paid directly to the end user. The remaining capital is automatically used to calculate a withdrawal plan using the cadence stated in the payout configuration.

This withdrawal plan manages recurring execution and payment: directly to the end user in a pre-funding setup, or to the client pooling account in a post-trade setup. Withdrawal plans hold their own ID, which is notified via webhook.

Upvest manages the regulatory requirement to recalculate the withdrawal plan based on current valuations. This is run on the anniversary of the end user’s original payout date.

After payout has started end users may only change the values of:

• The contract end date.
• The cadence of the payout plan.

Once the contract end date is reached any residual value is paid out in full to the end user.

During the payout phase end users may also transfer out in full to another provider. If the end user passes away before the contract ends, the remaining capital is processed according to current regulations and paid to the beneficiaries.

When a payout configuration is created or modified, the following events are sent via webhooks. In addition, the event flow includes time based notifications tailored to whether it is an Altersvorsorgedepot or a Standarddepot plan.

To help navigation across different stages, the payout configuration webhook includes a payout_phase as shown below.