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Pension insurance – withdrawing and postponing voluntary pension

Read more about pension insurance for personal customers on this page:

Your voluntary pension insurance will supplement your statutory pension and safeguard your income level when you retire. Once you have reached retirement age, you can begin withdrawing your pension whenever it suits you. If you wish, you can also defer the withdrawal of your pension. However, you must begin withdrawing your pension by the retirement age specified in the insurance terms and conditions.

You can check the value performance of your pension insurance on the op.fi service and OP-mobile where you can also change the investment options connected to your insurance policy. In particular, before you start withdrawing your pension, you should check whether the risk level is suitable for you.

How to begin withdrawing your pension

1. Check your pension plan

We will send you a letter showing your pension plan roughly one and a half months before the start of your pension. Your pension plan will show the planned start date of your pension. You can also find the same information by logging in to the op.fi service.

2. Notify us of a pension withdrawal

You can tell us the information required for the payment of your pension by logging in to the op.fi service with your OP user ID and by filling in a form (you cannot fill in the form with credentials of another bank) or by sending the pension payment notification you have received to us as a message on op.fi or by post. We will not send you a separate confirmation of receiving your notification.

3. Check the investment options and beneficiary

You can change the investment options for your pension savings and the beneficiary of death benefit in our digital services also during the withdrawal of your pension. You can make changes by logging in to:

  • the op.fi service with OP’s or another service provider’s user ID: Personal customers > Savings and investments > Saving through insurance
  • OP-mobile with OP’s user ID: Investments > Saving through insurance

How to defer the withdrawal of your pension

1. Check your pension plan

We will send you a letter showing your pension plan roughly one and a half months before the start of your pension. Your pension plan will show the planned start date of your pension. You can also find the same information by logging in to the op.fi service.

2. Notify us of the postponement of your pension

You can defer the start and end of your pension by one or two years from the beginning of your retirment age by logging in to the op.fi service with your OP’s user ID and filling in a form (you cannot fill in the form with another bank’s credentials). You can also send us the postponement of pension notification through our website or apps or by post.

The postponement will change the end of your pension by one or two years correspondingly. You can defer the start of your pension more than once if you want. We will not send you a separate confirmation of receiving your notification.

3. Check the investment options and beneficiary

You can change the investment options for your pension savings and the beneficiary of death benefit in our digital services. You can make changes by logging in to:

  • the op.fi service with OP’s or another service provider’s user ID: Personal customers > Savings and investments > Saving through insurance
  • OP-mobile with OP’s user ID: Investments > Saving through insurance

Taxation of pensions – capital income or earned income?

Voluntary pensions are always taxable income. Pensions are taxed as earned income or capital income. Pension insurance can have parts taxed as taxable income and parts taxed as capital income. The taxation of your pension insurance savings depends on when you took out the pension insurance and when you paid the insurance premiums. The type of tax applying to your pension insurance is shown in the pension plan we sent or by logging in to the op.fi service.

If your pension insurance contains pension taxed as taxable income

Send your tax card to OP Life Assurance Company for pension taxed as taxable income. You can ask for a tax card from the Finnish Tax Administration through the MyTax service or by calling tel. 029 497 000.

To calculate your tax rate, you will need the notification of the start of your pension we sent you and information about your income, withholding tax and reductions from the start of the year. Ask the Finnish Tax Administration to deliver the tax card directly to OP Life Assurance Company or send it to us yourself as an attachment to a message on op.fi or by post to OP Life Assurance Company, P.O. Box 308, FI-00101 Helsinki.

If you fail to deliver the tax card for your pension, we will deduct taxes from your pension in accordance with the withholding tax rate, which is currently 40%.

If your pension insurance contains pension taxed as capital income

If your pension insurance is only taxed as capital income, you do not need to provide a tax card. In such cases, withholding tax will be automatically deducted from your pension at a rate of 30%.

Do you want to make changes to your pension plan before your pension payment begins?

If you want to make changes to your pension plan, contact us before the payment of your pension begins. You can change the pension time for example, that is, for how long you will withdraw your pension and how large the monthly instalments are. The terms and conditions of your pension insurance determine which changes you can make. You can alter your pension plan also during retirement by contacting us.

You can defer the start of your pension by at least one month. You must begin withdrawing your pension by the age specified in the insurance terms and conditions. You can defer your pension by one or two years with a form filled in the op.fi service.

If you want to defer your pension by more or less than this, you can send us a message through our website or apps. Mention your insurance policy number in the message and that you wish to have a new start date for pension. Select Savings and investments as the topic and specifier Saving through insurance, life and pension insurance.

You can pay your insurance premiums until you start withdrawing your pension. By saving regularly, you will secure your income level during retirement.

You can change the investment options of your pension insurance during retirement also. You can check the investment options and make changes by logging in to the op.fi service or OP-mobile. If you do not have an OP's user ID, you can log in to the op.fi service by using another service provider’s credentials.

We will pay your first pension to your bank account within a month after you have shared the information needed for the payment with us. From then on, we will pay pension to your account on the first banking day of the month.

The amount of your pension will be reviewed monthly or annually depending on the terms and conditions of your pension insurance. If your pension is paid in equal instalments, your pension will be paid for as long as your insurance savings last. If your pension insurance includes unit-linked savings, the values of the investment instruments may rise or fall while you are withdrawing your pension. Therefore, the amount of your pension or the payment period may vary.

If you don’t have OP’s user ID, you can send us the pension payment notification you received by post.

OP Life Assurance Company Ltd

PO BOX 308, 00101 HELSINKI

OP Life Assurance Company Ltd

PO BOX 308, 00101 HELSINKI

You can find the address also in the letter you received that contains your pension plan.

Select Savings and investments as the topic and specifier Saving through insurance, life and pension insurance.