We have been contributing to a PER for three years, checking the “deduction” box on our tax return, and yet we have no idea what capital we will recover upon withdrawal. This is the most common situation among savers who have never run a simulation. An online PER simulator allows you to make concrete assumptions (contributions, duration, taxation) and visualize what retirement savings actually yield, net of taxes upon withdrawal.
PER Deduction Limit and Five-Year Carryover: What Simulators Still Don’t Show
Most available simulators calculate the tax savings at entry based on the marginal tax rate. You enter your taxable net income, the amount of the contribution, and the tool returns an estimated reduction. The problem is that many of them do not yet incorporate the tax rules applicable in 2026.
Two changes deserve to be checked before any simulation. First, the carryover of unused limits increases from three to five years for contributions made starting in 2026. If you have not maxed out your deduction limit in previous years, you now have a wider window to catch up with a larger one-time contribution.
Next, the finance law removes the deductibility of voluntary contributions made after age 70. A simulator that does not take this age limit into account will skew the results for savers close to this threshold.
To test these parameters with an up-to-date tool, you can rely on Finance Factory’s savings tools, which detail the mechanics of deduction and its current limits.
The annual deduction limit remains set at 10% of taxable income, within a limit revised each year. Self-employed workers benefit from higher limits. Before launching a simulation, retrieve your latest tax notice: the cumulative unused retirement savings limit is listed there. This data feeds into the calculation, not a rough estimate.
PER Simulator: Test Capital or Annuity Withdrawal Before Committing
The blind spot of first-level simulators is the taxation upon withdrawal. You see the amount saved at entry, but rarely what you will pay upon exit. The difference can be significant.
Capital withdrawal and annuity withdrawal are taxed differently. In the case of capital withdrawal, the portion corresponding to the deducted contributions is subject to the income tax scale. Capital gains, on the other hand, are subject to the flat tax. In the case of a life annuity withdrawal, the regime for free annuities applies, with a deduction that varies according to age at the time of liquidation.
A useful simulator allows you to switch between these two scenarios and display the net capital after tax in each case. When you are in a high marginal tax bracket during your working life and anticipate a lower bracket in retirement, the deduction at entry remains advantageous. However, if retirement income remains close to the current level (rental income, other pensions), the tax advantage of the PER can significantly diminish upon withdrawal.
Feedback on this point varies according to profiles, and no simulator can predict with certainty the tax bracket in fifteen or twenty years. It is recommended to run at least two simulations: one with retirement income close to the current income, and another with a significant decrease.
Variables to Enter in a PER Simulator for Reliable Results
All simulators ask for an age, income, and contribution amount. The most comprehensive go further, and this is where the quality of the result is determined.
Here are the parameters that truly change the projection:
- The management profile (conservative, balanced, dynamic) alters the estimated return. A dynamic profile shows a higher expected capital but with volatility that the simulator does not always display.
- The remaining holding period before retirement: the longer it is, the more the effect of compound interest weighs. A regular contribution over twenty-five years produces a very different capital than the same amount contributed over ten years.
- The cumulative unused limits from previous years, retrievable from the tax notice. This figure determines the maximum deductible contribution for the current year.
- Family situation and number of tax shares, which directly influence the marginal tax bracket and thus the actual tax savings.
If the simulator does not ask for these four pieces of information, the result will be approximate. We are not talking about a marginal difference: depending on the chosen management profile and duration, the estimated capital at retirement can vary from simple to double.
Monthly Contribution or One-Time Contribution: Two Strategies to Simulate
A regular monthly contribution smooths out risk and benefits from the effect of compound interest throughout the duration of the plan. A one-time contribution at the end of the year allows you to align the exact amount with the remaining deduction limit to maximize the tax advantage for the year.
The two approaches are not mutually exclusive. You can set up a basic monthly contribution and top it off in December with an exceptional contribution if the limit has not been reached. A good simulator allows you to combine these two flows in the same projection.
Common Mistakes When Running an Online PER Simulation
The first mistake is to only enter the gross return without considering the management fees of the contract. Annual fees on unit-linked supports eat into the actual return. A return displayed at several percentage points can significantly decrease after fees.
The second is forgetting inflation. An estimated capital in twenty years in current euros will not represent the same purchasing power as today. Few consumer simulators incorporate a deflator, and those that omit it give an optimistic view of the additional income at retirement.
The third concerns the conditions for early withdrawal. The PER remains locked until retirement, except in limited cases (purchase of primary residence, disability, death of spouse, over-indebtedness, end of unemployment benefits, cessation of self-employment following judicial liquidation). Simulating a retirement savings plan without integrating this liquidity constraint is like comparing the PER to a life insurance policy without measuring its rigidity.
A simulator does not replace a comprehensive wealth management assessment. It provides orders of magnitude, identifies the most favorable scenarios based on current taxation, and helps calibrate contributions. The rest involves a discussion with an advisor capable of cross-referencing the PER with other available wrappers (life insurance, PEA, real estate).