Is Your Pension Fund Locked? When You Can Withdraw

Is a pension fund really locked until retirement?

No. A pension fund is not locked, but it is not a current account either. The law on supplementary pensions, Legislative Decree 252/2005, lists the cases in which you can withdraw before retirement: advances (anticipazioni, art. 11), early redemptions (riscatti) when you lose your job or in the event of disability or death (art. 14), and the early temporary supplementary annuity, known as RITA (rendita integrativa temporanea anticipata, art. 11). Outside these cases the money stays invested, and for good reason: it is there to top up your state pension.

"15% down to 9%" means 15%, reduced by 0.30 points for each year of membership beyond the fifteenth, down to 9% after 35 years. The rates apply only to the taxable part: returns, already taxed each year inside the fund, and contributions you did not deduct are left out. The rules are those of articles 11 and 14 of Decree 252/2005, as in force in October 2026; the 5 years for RITA come from COVIP's model fund rules.

Myth 1: "You can't touch anything before retirement"

Early withdrawals are written into the law. The broadest is the advance for medical expenses: up to 75% of your account, at any time, even just after joining, for extraordinary treatment and surgery for you, your spouse or your children, recognised by the public health service.

According to COVIP's guidelines on advances, the fund can also pay before the treatment, on the basis of quotes, and can include travel and accommodation costs, including those of the family member who looks after you. Expenses of an insignificant amount are excluded.

Myth 2: "To get the money I have to explain what it is for"

Only for health and for a home. For the advance of up to 30% for other needs, 8 years of membership and an application are enough: COVIP makes clear that the fund must not look into the reasons. It is the most common reason: in 2025 it accounted for about 7 advances in 10 (our calculation from the percentages by fund type in the COVIP 2025 Annual Report), with an average amount of €9,100.

For a first home, on the other hand, you need documents. From COVIP's guidelines on advances:

• the home can be yours or a child's, even if the child is the buyer, and even abroad, as long as it is the main residence;
• the fund can pay on the basis of the preliminary contract, with the deed of sale handed in later;
• if you have already bought, the application counts as timely within 18 months of the purchase (the fund may set a shorter deadline);
• it does not apply to a home received as a gift, nor to buying the usufruct alone;
• renovation counts only on a first home owned by you or your children, not on a rented one.

Advances can be requested more than once, even for the same reason, as long as in total they stay within the legal limits: 75% overall and 30% for other needs.

Myth 3: "If I change fund, the eight years start again from zero"

No. For the 8 years, every period of membership of any supplementary pension scheme counts, except periods closed with a full redemption (art. 11, paragraph 9). If you moved from a contractual fund to an open fund with a transfer, the years add up. For COVIP the count runs from the date you joined, even if contributions started later.

The only way to lose your membership years is a full redemption: it closes the account and resets the count.

Myth 4: "You pay less tax for a home"

No. The advance for a first home pays the same withholding tax as the one for other needs, 23%. The only advance with the reduced 15% to 9% rate is the one for medical expenses. The difference between a home and other needs lies in how much you can withdraw (75% against 30%), not in the tax.

How much tax do you pay on a €20,000 advance?

Take a member of 20 years who withdraws €20,000. For simplicity we assume the whole amount is taxable: this is the worst case, because in reality returns already taxed and contributions not deducted lower the tax.

How we worked it out: the medical rate after 20 years is 15% − 5 × 0.30 = 13.5%. The minimum account is €20,000 divided by the share you can withdraw: 20,000 / 0.75 for health and a home, 20,000 / 0.30 for other needs.

The same advance for a home therefore costs €2,800 more in tax than the same sum taken at retirement after 35 years of membership.

Myth 5: "What you take out never comes back"

You can pay back into the fund what you withdrew, whenever you like and in several instalments (art. 11, paragraph 8). And you recover the tax: on the part of the repayment paid in above the €5,300 yearly deductibility cap, you are entitled to a tax credit equal to the withholding tax paid on the advance, in proportion to the amount you put back.

An example: on a €20,000 advance for a home you paid €4,600 in tax (23%). If in one year you pay in the deductible €5,300 plus €10,000 as a repayment, you recover 4,600 × 10,000 / 20,000 = €2,300 as a tax credit.

Until you repay it, the advance weighs on your retirement: sums advanced and not put back are deducted from the part you will be able to take as a lump sum.

What happens if you lose your job?

If you joined through your job and the job ends, the law gives you four options (art. 14):

1. leave the account in the fund, even without paying in: this is what happens automatically if you decide nothing;
2. transfer it to your new employer's fund, tax-free;
3. redeem 50% if you are out of work for 12 to 48 months or your company uses the wage-supplement scheme, or 100% if you are out of work for more than 48 months or a disability cuts your working capacity to less than a third: in these cases you pay 15% down to 9%;
4. redeem for other reasons, for example after resigning: you pay 23%.

In the event of death, the whole account goes to the people you named or, failing that, to your heirs, taxed at 15% down to 9%. The fund has at most six months to pay a redemption. Remember that a full redemption closes the account and wipes out your years of membership: in pre-existing funds, COVIP reports that in 2025 64% of redemptions were due precisely to loss of the membership requirements, the most heavily taxed reason.

Can you stop working early and have the fund pay you?

Yes, with RITA, the early temporary supplementary annuity. The fund pays you in instalments, until state old-age pension age, the whole account or the part you choose. There are two routes, both with at least 5 years of membership of a supplementary pension scheme:

• you have stopped working, you are at most 5 years from the state old-age pension and you have at least 20 years of compulsory contributions;
• you have been out of work for more than 24 months and you are at most 10 years from the state old-age pension.

The advantage is tax. RITA pays 15% down to 9% on the whole taxable part, including sums built up before 2007, which with the other withdrawals would follow less favourable rules; years of membership before 2007 count up to a maximum of 15 (art. 11, paragraph 4-ter). According to COVIP circular 4209/2020, while you receive RITA you can go back to work and keep paying in; you cannot receive everything in a single instalment.

In 2025 funds paid about €2.8 billion in RITA, with an average amount of €55,900. Our RITA tax advantage simulator works out how much tax you save in your case.

Can you move your account to another fund?

Yes, after 2 years of membership, or at once if you change job and join your new employer's fund. The transfer is tax-free and carries your years of membership with it (art. 14, paragraphs 6 and 7). From 31 October 2026, under the 2026 Budget Law, if you are an employee the employer's contribution follows you even into a fund you choose yourself. We explain how the change works in Pension Fund After 50 in Italy: Is It Still Worth It?. Transferring is not a way to withdraw money, but it is often the answer for anyone who wants to leave a fund they are not happy with: we explain how to compare funds in Choosing a Pension Fund: Types, Risk Lines and Costs.

How much money really leaves pension funds?

A lot. Data from the COVIP Annual Report for 2025 (table 1.25) and the press release of 10 June 2026:

Adding up the four fund types (contractual, open, individual plans or PIP, and pre-existing), about 212,000 advances were paid in 2025, almost 580 a day. Advances, redemptions and RITA together come to €7.6 billion, about a third of the year's contributions (34%). So money does come out, in the forms the law provides.

What does withdrawing early cost you?

Three things, worth lining up before you sign the application.

1. Tax. 23% on advances for a home and other needs, against a rate that at retirement can fall to 9%.
2. Lost returns. As an illustration, €20,000 left invested for another 20 years at a hypothetical net return of 3% a year would grow to about €36,100. Past returns do not guarantee future ones, but time remains the engine of retirement saving.
3. Protection. While it is in the fund the money cannot be touched by creditors; advances for a home and other needs and redemptions, once received, are no longer subject to any limit on seizure (art. 11, paragraph 10).

At retirement, on the other hand, if your account is small you can take all of it as a lump sum: the limit depends on your age and on the social allowance (assegno sociale), and the Can you cash out your entire accumulated pension fund? simulator works it out. What happens on that day is the subject of Finally retired: your pension fund doesn't have to retire with you.

What to check before you ask for an advance

1. Your years of membership, adding up previous funds: you need 8 years for a home and other needs.
2. Your fund's document on advances (Documento sulle anticipazioni): it lists the documents, timings and number of requests allowed.
3. The net amount you will receive: ask the fund for an estimate of the withholding tax on the taxable part.
4. The alternatives: for a home, a comparison with a mortgage; for those close to retirement, RITA.
5. A repayment plan, if you can: it gives you back the tax paid and the capital for your retirement.

If your severance pay (TFR) is still with your employer and you are wondering whether to move it, read Severance pay (TFR) in the company or in a pension fund: how to choose; if you are worried about new taxes on your account, Pension Fund Wealth Tax in Italy: What It Really Costs You.

Glossary

• Advance (anticipazione): withdrawing part of your account before retirement, in the three cases the law provides: medical expenses, a first home, other needs.
• Early redemption (riscatto): withdrawing half or all of your account when you no longer meet the fund's membership requirements, or in the event of disability or death.
• RITA (rendita integrativa temporanea anticipata): the early temporary supplementary annuity, which pays out your account in instalments over the years left until the state old-age pension, to people who have stopped working.
• Repayment (reintegro): the payment with which you put back into the fund what you took as an advance, recovering the tax paid.
• Individual account: what you have built up in the fund, from contributions and returns, net of what you have already withdrawn.
• Loss of the membership requirements: the end of the relationship that gave you access to the fund, for example a change of job or sector.
• Taxable part: the share of what you withdraw on which tax is paid; it excludes returns already taxed and contributions not deducted.

Sources

• Legislative Decree 252 of 5 December 2005, art. 11 (benefits, RITA, advances, repayment, years of membership) and art. 14 (early redemptions, transfers), text in force on Normattiva at 26/10/2026 (in Italian).
• Law 199 of 30 December 2025, art. 1, paragraphs 201-202, and Decree-Law 62 of 30 April 2026, art. 16-ter, converted by Law 112/2026 (effective dates; lump sum at retirement brought back to 50%), as reported in Normattiva's update notes and by the Ministry of Labour (in Italian).
• COVIP, resolution of 10 February 2011, Orientamenti in materia di anticipazioni agli iscritti, guidelines on advances to members (in Italian).
• COVIP, circular of 17 September 2020, ref. 4209, clarifications on RITA (in Italian).
• COVIP, resolution of 19 May 2021, model fund rules (art. 10 RITA, art. 12 early redemptions, art. 13 advances of the contractual-fund model) (in Italian).
• COVIP, Relazione per l'anno 2025, the 2025 Annual Report (tables 1.25, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5 and 6.10; text at pp. 44, 150, 169, 183, 199-200) (in Italian).
• COVIP, press release of 10 June 2026 on the 2025 Annual Report (in Italian).