The term ‘self-employed’ is used here as applied in common discourse – a person who works for him or herself and who may be on his/her own or employs other persons.
These are the key elements on which your pension is based:
| Your Retirement Age | 60 in case of women (in the 2007 reforms the choice was provided to a female to retire at 61 years), 61 for the males. |
| SS Contributions to be Accumulated | maximum of 50 yearly contributions for a period of 30 years, paid during the 10 years prior to retirement and any other 20 years. |
| Calculation of your Social Security pension | employed: best 3 consecutive years in the last 10 years prior retirement year; self-employed: last 10 calendar years prior retirement year. |
| Calculation of State pension income | 2/3 of basic salary up to Maximum Pension Income |
The Maximum Pensionable income on which your pension is calculated increased by the Cost of Living Allowance year on year since 2008.
| Year | Maximum Pensionable Income |
| 2008 | Euro 16,601 |
| 2020 | Euro 19,017.37 |
| 2021 | Euro 19,362.72 |
The revision of the pension income you receive is carried out in line with the revision of the Collective Agreement of your employer. If your employer does not have a collective agreement but the company still exists, a document is sent to your past employer whereby the employer informs the Department of Social Security about the salaries being earned by the employee who resumed your responsibilities. If the company has closed down since your retirement the re-assessment of your pension is carried out on an identified analogous grade with the Public Service salary structure.
If you wish to know more about the pension system ĠEMMA’s invites you to go through our pension video series on https://gemma.gov.mt/videos/.