What is reservation space?

Reserve scope is the unused part of your annual allowance from previous years. If you worked in previous years but did not accrue a pension, you have built up reserve scope.

Imagine that every year you are allowed to deposit a certain amount (annual allowance) for an annuity (your ‘third pillar pension’), but you do not do that (completely). You can then still utilise that unused contribution later. That is called ‘reserve scope’. You can save this up indefinitely for a maximum of 10 years back. This allows you to make an extra deposit later and still benefit from the tax advantage.

Reserve scope is a way to optimise your pension accrual and make fiscally advantageous additional pension contributions.

Please note that in previous years (before 2024), the annual allowance was 13.3% of your premium basis (gross salary minus the AOW deductible), which has been increased to 30% of your premium basis since 2024.