The pensions guidance now publishes the 2026 tax-free income amounts. From 01.01.2026, a person who has reached retirement age has tax-free income of 776 euro per month and 9312 euro per year
Emta; before retirement age the general tax-free income of 700 euro per month and 8400 euro per year appliesEmta. The break with earlier years is explicit: neither the retirement-age nor the general tax-free income depends on the size of the person's income any longer, and it no longer shrinks as income growsEmta.
The rest of the page is recast in the past tense for the old regime. Until 31.12.2025 the general tax-free income ran to at most 7848 euro per yearEmta: state pensions counted as taxable annual income and affected the calculation, as did pre-pillar-III-retirement-age payouts taxed at 22% and payouts to heirsEmta; pillar II payouts taxed at 22% or 10% and pillar III payouts taxed at 10% did not reduce itEmta. The II- and III-pillar tables gain a Maksuvaba tulu alates 01.01.2026 column mapping each payout type to its 2026 allowance: pre-retirement lump sums fall under the general allowance, while at-retirement-age lump sums, partial withdrawals and short fixed-term pensions fall under the retirement-age allowance, and long fixed-term pensions, which are tax-free, likewise sit under the retirement-age allowanceEmta. Long fixed-term pensions require periodic payouts at least quarterly over at least the average remaining life expectancyEmta.
Application follows the standing division of labour, now with the 2026 figures. Sotsiaalkindlustusamet applies the retirement-age allowance to the state pension automatically — no application neededEmta — and passes any unused part to Pensionikeskus, which applies it to 10%-taxed pillar II payoutsEmta; Pensionikeskus never applies the remainder to 22%-taxed pre-retirement payoutsEmta. A working pensioner applies the leftover to wages with a written declaration to the employer stating the unused amount, responsible for its correctnessEmta: at a 660 euro pension the remainder is 116 euroEmta, so on a 1000 euro gross wage the employer taxes 884 euro at 22%Emta. Whoever reaches retirement age during the year gets the retirement-age allowance from 1 January, with no general allowance alongside itEmta. Tax-free pension payouts are not declared and do not enter the allowance calculationEmta.
One caution survives from the old page unchanged in substance: where monthly allowances were applied too generously — for example by several payers at once — the return brings an additional payment due by 1 October of the following yearEmta, while unused allowance comes back as a refundEmta. An employee's monthly allowance can be used only with one payer at a time and caps at the monthly figureEmta; it cannot be carried forward, pre-applied or summedEmta. Residents of the European Economic Area qualify with a residence certificateEmta; third-country residents qualify for neither allowanceEmta.
Legal basis: the Pensionid ja kindlustushüvitised guidance with the 2026 allowance tables, read with the Maksuvaba tulu arvestamine and Maksuvaba tulu vanaduspensionieas guidance for the withholding mechanics.
For 2026 payroll and pension withholding, apply the flat allowance — 700 € a month before retirement age, 776 € at retirement age — with one payer only, and true up any over- or under-use in the annual return.
