Vodafone is happy to help with your pension if you do a little bit for yourself, too. Just a small base contribution is enough to secure Vodafone’s contribution. This all falls under our principle of ‘preparing together’.
Yet if this is not enough, you can also choose to pay additional contributions into the Vodafone Pension Plan – you decide whether it is a one-time payment or contributions out of your monthly base salary. This means we offer you a flexible system to prepare for your retirement – based entirely on your needs.
Your contribution
Your mandatory contribution:
0,5 per cent
of your gross monthly base salary (including supplements and, for commission earners, 50 per cent of your target commission) up to the income threshold.
Vodafone’s contribution
Vodafone contributes double what you do:
1 per cent
of your gross monthly base salary (including supplements and, for commission earners, 50 per cent of your target commission) up to the income threshold.
Additional voluntary contributions
You can do even more!
Add monthly contributions or one-time payments to look after your future through salary sacrifice.
The base contribution – your key to participation
Only 0.5 per cent – one small step for you, one giant leap for your pension
Forgo a small amount today so that you can enjoy more when you are older. If you are willing to pay 0.5 per cent of your gross base salary every month (including supplements and, for commission earners, 50 per cent of your target commission), you participate in the Vodafone Pension Plan.
Vodafone rewards your involvement, matches it and doubles it. The base contribution, funded by you and Vodafone jointly, goes directly to your personal pension account.
All contributions are securely invested for you and will develop further in line with the investment funds’ performance. The value of your pension will consequently keep growing until you retire – even if you leave Vodafone before then. The contributions that you and Vodafone pay in will remain secure no matter what.
Additional voluntary contributions – giving your pension a boost
You can make additional voluntary contributions to your company pension from your monthly base salary (including supplements) or through one-time payments. Contributions are tax-free and amounts equivalent to up to four per cent of the income threshold are not subject to social security deductions either. Only when your pension is paid out are there taxes and social security deductions for health and nursing insurance – however, the tax rate is usually lower when you are older.
Taking control of your pension
You can improve your retirement even more with additional voluntary contributions. How much you would like to pay in is entirely up to you. You can change your mind at any time – to whatever suits your life at that point.
Additional monthly contributions
If you decide to make additional monthly contributions, you will forgo another percentage of your gross base salary (including supplements and, for commission earners, 50 per cent of your target commission) in addition to your base contribution. You can pay up to 80 per cent of your monthly salary into your Vodafone Pension Plan.
One-time payments
Annual one-time payments such as bonuses, holiday pay or Christmas bonuses can also be paid into your company pension – you decide each time before they are given out.
Important: you have to record your decision on the portal in good time before receiving the payment. You will find the deadlines for this below. If you miss a date, you can always decide to make a monthly payment.
Furthermore, you can also make one-time payments into your Vodafone Pension Plan: your severance, for example, if you leave Vodafone before you retire.
Monthly contributions exceeding the income threshold
If parts of your salary exceed the income threshold, you can also top up your base contribution flexibly – and still reap the benefits of Vodafone matching it. You can pay in up to 4.5 per cent of your earnings above the income threshold on top of your base contribution of 0.5 per cent of earnings below the threshold. Vodafone will keep matching and doubling your contribution. What does that mean? Vodafone will chip in up to 9 per cent for your additional monthly contributions above the income threshold.
As an employee covered by a collective agreement, you are entitled to additional ‘capital accumulation benefits’ (vermögenswirksame Leistungen, vL). These are benefits that are governed by your collective agreement and can be used to build your pension assets. Vodafone invests these benefits directly into the investment products you have selected; it is not possible to have these benefits cashed out.
One option for your ‘vL’ benefits is your Vodafone Pension Plan. The only requirement is that you are already participating in the Vodafone Pension Plan and paying in the base contribution. Simply record your decision to pay in vL benefits online on the portal – you do not need to do anything else! If you already have an existing vL contract, you can terminate it with the relevant financial institution and switch to the Vodafone Pension Plan.
The Vodafone Pension Plan gives you lots of room to make your own decisions, with the result that you can flexibly adjust your pension to your needs at any time.
Making your own contributions
To participate in the Vodafone Pension Plan, you must pay 0.5 per cent of your gross salary into your pension account every month. To this end, your monthly contribution rate for your basic pension is already set to 0.5 per cent in your pension account – you do not need to do anything! This automatic setting is applied to those joining after 1 June 2021.
Do you want to prepare even more for your future and make additional voluntary contributions? You can also set up your own contributions in your personal pension account. There is an option to enter a different amount for each type of voluntary contribution: simply enter your chosen contribution amount and you are done!
Important dates
Please observe the cut-off date for each month when choosing your contributions.
The general rule is that all decisions must be made before your monthly salary is paid or the relevant one-time payments are made. These cut-off dates are generally in the first week of the month – though you can record your decision online on the portal at any time. What does that mean? If you are certain at the beginning of the year that you want your next Christmas bonus to be paid into your Vodafone Pension Plan, you can record this decision months in advance.
Cut-off dates for 2024:
03th Januar 2024
03th February 2024
03th March 2024
03th April 2024
03th May 2024
03th June 2024
03th July 2024
03th August 2024
03rd September 2024
03rd October 2024
03rd November 2024
03rd December 2024
Paying into your pension and implications for tax and social security
Your contributions to your Vodafone Pension Plan are funded from your gross pre-tax salary – which means that they reduce the income that is subject to tax.
Your contributions – up to an amount of four per cent of the income threshold – are also free from social security deductions.
Your pension is subject to tax and social security deductions only when it is paid out. However, your tax rate will usually be lower in retirement than during your working life.
