In summary…
Yes. A dentist who has liquidated all his retirement plans combines his pension from the Autonomous Pension Fund for Dentists and Midwives (CARCDSF) with his self-employment income no income limit In two cases: he is 67 years of age or older, or his pension took effect before January 1, 2027, at the full rate. In the typical case (pension of €43,600, €40,000 profit, single, 67 years old), the activity leaves approximately €19,400 once paid €8,226 contributions to the fund, €2,871 of generalized social contribution and contribution to the repayment of the social debt (CSG-CRDS) and €9,492 of tax. These contributions confer few rights: approximately €715 supplementary pension per year of accumulation. For a pension claimed from January 1, 2027, before age 67, the fund announces a 50% reduction in income above €7,000: on €40,000, the pension loses €16,500 and the profit drops to approximately €7,400.
1. What CARCDSF allows: full or partial accumulation
A retired dentist can continue or resume private practice while receiving their pension. The pension fund distinguishes between two situations, and the rules differ depending on whether the pension takes effect before or after January 1, 2027.
| Total cumulative | Partial accumulation | |
|---|---|---|
| Pension calculated before January 1, 2027 (current rules) | Having claimed all benefits from all pension schemes (basic and supplementary, French and foreign) and the full basic pension: from age 62 to 64 depending on the generation, with the required insurance period, or from age 67. No income limit | The conditions for full accumulation are not met: accumulation is possible from age 62 to 64 if self-employment income does not exceed €48,060 in 2026 (one annual Social Security ceiling, or PASS). No new rights are granted. |
| Pension payable from 1 January 2027 | Accessible only to those aged 67 and over. No income limit. | Between the legal retirement age and 67: the pension is reduced by 50% on the portion of income exceeding €7,000. Before the legal retirement age: reduction from the first euro (CNAVPL). No new entitlements. |
Full pension accumulation is the common case for a dentist retiring at age 67 or with the required number of quarters of contributions for a full pension (172 quarters for those born in 1966 and later, and the legal retirement age of 64 for those born in 1969 and later). The pension fund's website states that the current rules apply to pensions claimed before January 1, 2027, with applications submitted before October 1, 2026. This text is ambiguous regarding the meaning of this second date, which has now passed. A practitioner who has not yet submitted their application should therefore use the 2027 rules, unless they receive written confirmation from the pension fund. The general rules for pension accumulation are available on [website address missing]. service-public.gouv.fr.
One point of vigilance: the ceiling for partial accumulation is €48,060 on page 2026 of the fund (1 PASS); its guide for new retirees in 2024 gave €46,368, i.e. the PASS of 2024. In the event of an excess found during an audit, this guide indicates that the basic pension scheme is suspended.
2. The cost of resuming activity in 2026
In total, contributions are mandatory (Article 54 of the fund's statutes) and calculated according to standard legal rules. Since April 2026, the reform of the social security contribution base has been in effect: income is taken into account. without deduction of social security contributions, reduced by a standard deduction of 26 %. The CARCDSF page on income tax returns indicates that this reform modifies the calculation of contributions, without detailing its effect on a scheme-by-scheme basis. Calculation assumption: we apply the abatement to all three schemes. For a profit of €40,000, the tax base is €29,600.
| Diet | 2026 contribution based on the typical case | Observations |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pension scheme for liberals | 8.73 % of the base up to €48,060, then 1.87 % up to €240,300: €3,138 (2 584 € + 554 €) | Minimum contribution of €573; the 1.87 % bracket also applies to income in the first bracket |
| Supplementary scheme | A flat fee of €3,210.60 plus €11.35 % for the portion of the tax base between €31,239 and €240,300: €3,211, or the package only here | The flat-rate fee is due regardless of income: it is based on 8.0% of a % of €40,000. A reduction is possible upon request if net professional income is less than 65% of the PASS (€31,239). |
| Supplementary old-age benefits (PCV, often called old-age social benefits) | Flat rate of €1,663.60 plus 0.725 % of the plate: €1,878 | Practitioner's share: Health insurance covers the other half of the fixed fee and the proportional contribution |
| Disability-Death | €1,235 in 2026 for a practicing practitioner (€841 daily allowances and €394 disability-death benefits) | The pages read do not say whether it remains due to a retiree receiving multiple benefits: not included in the calculation |
| CSG-CRDS (Urssaf) | 9.7 % of the base: €2,871 | CSG of 9.2% (%), of which 6.8% (%) is tax-deductible, plus CRDS of 0.5% (%) |
In total, the typical case pays €8,226 at the checkout, i.e. 20.6 % of the profit, and €11,098 including CSG-CRDS (27.7 %). Not included: the vocational training contribution (flat rate of €120), any health and maternity contributions to the Urssaf (the rules for which we were unable to review for a retired, contracted practitioner), and the disability and death insurance contribution. Family allowances are zero for incomes below €52,866.
3. New rights: a modest second pension
In total, the fund indicates that the contributions paid open up additional rights in the three schemes (basic, supplementary, PCV). They form a second pension, This second pension can be claimed upon cessation of activity. Once this second pension payment is made, the fund specifies that it is impossible to accrue new rights if work is resumed. With partial accumulation, contributions "do not accrue any pension rights." The fund's 2025 guide dates the commencement of rights to January 1, 2023 for the basic scheme and January 1, 2024 for the supplementary and PCV schemes; page 2026 discusses all three schemes without dates. We found no specific point cap for accumulation in the fund's documents.
The order of magnitude is small. With the 2026 point values and the 2025 point scale (assuming: basic pension points proportional to contributions, 6 fixed points for supplementary pensions, 10 fixed points for PCV plus a proportional share), a year at €40,000 adds approximately €228 to the basic pension (346 points × €0.6599), €191 to the supplementary pension (6 points × €31.82), and €295 to PCV (10.2 points × €28.8321). €715 per year for €8,226 in contributions. It takes nearly 12 years pension to recover one year of contributions; ten years of accumulation add €7,147 to annual pension.
4. What changes for pensions taking effect from 2027 onwards
Article 102 of Law No. 2025-1403 of December 30, 2025, on financing Social Security for 2026, eliminates the distinction between full and capped combined pension and retirement benefits: only age matters. These rules apply to people who begin receiving their pension from the 2025-2026 onwards. January 1, 2027.
| Age of the dentist | Effect on pension |
|---|---|
| Before the legal retirement age | The pension is reduced by the amount of income from the very first euro. |
| Between the legal age and 67 years old | Unrestricted accumulation of benefits up to €7,000 in income; beyond that, the pension is reduced by 50% of the excess amount. Example from CARCDSF: pension of €20,000, income of €40,000, excess of €33,000, reduction of €16,500, pension paid of €3,500. |
| From age 67 | Full accumulation, without limit; contributions can open up new entitlements |
The €7,000 threshold must be set by an implementing decree for Article 102: service-public.gouv.fr indicated on May 22, 2026, that this decree had not been published, and we have found none since. The CARCDSF website displays €7,000 with an asterisk and no explanatory note, and the CNAVPL does not specify whether the threshold is monthly or annual. We therefore assume €7,000 per year, consistent with the numerical examples provided by the pension fund and the CNAVPL.
5. Calculation based on €40,000 of activity
Typical case
Situation. A 67-year-old, single, self-employed dentist has withdrawn all his pension benefits. His gross annual pension is €43,600: this is the result of a 35-year career with €100,000 in earnings, calculated as described in our article on dentists' retirement, using 2026 point values (calculation assumption). He continues to practice on a reduced schedule and earns €40,000 in profit before social security contributions.
Issue. He wants to know what is left of these €40,000, knowing that his pension alone is already taxed at 30 % (taxable income of €39,240 after deduction of 10 %).
Strategy. It remains fully cumulative. Social security base: €40,000 × (1 − 26 %) = €29,600. 2026 contributions: basic scheme €3,138, supplementary scheme €3,211, PCV €1,878, i.e. €8,226, plus €2,871 in CSG-CRDS. Mandatory basic and supplementary old-age insurance contributions are fully deductible from profit (BOI-BNC-BASE-40-60-50-20, paragraph 30, article 154 bis of the French General Tax Code); we also deduct the deductible CSG (€2,013), but not the PCV, which this page of the Official Bulletin of Public Finances does not mention. Taxable profit falls to €31,639, and total taxable income to €70,879.
Result. The tax goes from €4,876 à €14,368 €9,492 more, or 30 % of taxable profit, because the pension already fills the 11 % bracket. There remains €19,411 on €40,000 (€40,000 - €8,226 - €2,871 - €9,492). The deductions for social security contributions, CSG-CRDS, and income tax amount to 51.5% of the activity. With €4,710 paid into a retirement savings plan (deduction floor 2026), the tax decreases by €1,413 (30% of €4,710).
| Position (in euros per year) | Boarding only | Full accumulation (age 67 or pension before 2027) | Pension to be paid out in 2027 before age 67 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pension paid | 43,600 | 43,600 | 27,100 |
| Earned income | 0 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| CARCDSF contributions (basic, supplementary, PCV) | 0 | - 8,226 | - 8,226 |
| CSG-CRDS on activity | 0 | - 2,871 | - 2,871 |
| Taxable income (pension after deduction of 10 %, plus net profit after deducted contributions) | 39,240 | 70,879 | 56,029 |
| Income tax | 4,876 | 14,368 | 9,913 |
| Available after social security contributions, CSG-CRDS and tax | 38,724 | 58,135 | 46,090 |
| Profit related to the activity | 19,411 | 7,366 |
Hypotheses. Single taxpayer, one share. Income tax scale published in the Official Bulletin of Public Finances (11 % from €11,600 to €29,579, 30 % from €29,579 to €84,577), assumed unchanged for 2026. Allowance of 10 % on the pension (minimum €454, ceiling €4,439 per household). The CSG on the pension is the same with or without employment and is not included. The right-hand column applies to the same pension the reduction of 50 % for the excess of €7,000: the pension goes from €43,600 to €27,100, and this €16,500 of lost pension, or €12,045 after tax, absorbs approximately 62 % of the gain; In the case of partial cumulation, no new rights are acquired. Sensitivities: If the fund read the income without the 26 % allowance, the fund's contributions would amount to €10,399 and the gain would be €2,340 less; if the disability-death contribution of €1,235 remained due, the gain would be €864 less after tax saving.
6. Steps to resume or continue business activity
- Liquidate all diets The basic, supplementary, and supplementary pension plans of the fund, as well as French and foreign plans and international organizations, are included. Only one unclaimed plan is excluded from full coverage. The fund's guide advises claiming all benefits on the same date.
- Declare your income in the single tax return Income for 2025 must be declared online, with the social security section to be activated (under "Additional Data") for contracted practitioners. If no declaration is made, the fund will automatically calculate contributions based on 5 times the annual social security ceiling (PASS), i.e., €240,300.
- Apply for the second pension upon cessation of activity for schemes which have opened rights, and declare the end of activity to the fund with the certificate from the Order (removal on the first day of the following calendar quarter).
- Confirm in writing to the cashier The date of liquidation, the applicable rule (before or from January 1, 2027) and the disability-death contribution: the public pages do not describe any specific declaration formalities for the combination.
- Invest net income : the individual retirement savings plan is deducted at the household's marginal tax rate; the ceiling is detailed on our page PER deduction limit.
Frequently asked questions
Can a dental surgeon combine their income with the CARCDSF without any limit?
Yes, full accumulation is possible: all pension schemes must have been claimed, including the full basic pension (from age 62 to 64 depending on the generation and the required insurance period, or at age 67). For a pension claimed from January 1, 2027, full accumulation is only available from age 67. Otherwise, accumulation is partial: a ceiling of €48,060 in 2026 before 2027, with a reduction in the pension thereafter.
Do contributions paid in accumulation increase retirement benefits?
A small amount, and only with full accumulation: the pension fund indicates additional entitlements in all three schemes. In a typical case, an annual income of €40,000 adds approximately €715 to the pension per year for €8,226 in contributions. With partial accumulation, the contributions do not accrue any entitlements.
What will the 2027 pension accumulation reform change?
For a pension claimed from January 1, 2027: a reduction from the first euro before the legal retirement age, a 50% reduction on the portion of income exceeding €7,000 between the legal retirement age and age 67, and full accumulation from age 67 (Law No. 2025-1403, Article 102). The decree setting the threshold had not been published by May 22, 2026, and we have not found any since.
How much is left out of €40,000 of income?
In the typical case (pension of €43,600, age 67, single), approximately €19,400 after €8,226 in CARCDSF contributions, €2,871 in CSG-CRDS, and €9,492 in income tax, totaling 51.% in deductions. With a pension claimed in 2027 before age 67, approximately €7,400.
Are supplementary old-age benefits payable cumulatively?
Yes: the €1,663.60 flat fee plus 0.725 % of the base amount remains the responsibility of the practitioner, with the Health Insurance covering the other half. In a typical case, this amounts to €1,878 per year, which entitles the practitioner to approximately €295 of a pension per year when fully accumulated.
Our position
We start with your career record, your retirement date, and your projected earnings, not an average. We calculate your remaining income after contributions and taxes, then decide whether to invest it in a retirement savings plan or elsewhere. We do not draft any documents or provide legal or accounting advice: eligibility for combined benefits, the retirement date, and the declaration of your income are confirmed with the CARCDSF (French pension fund for self-employed professionals) and your accountant. We receive commissions on contracts taken out through our firm.
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Alexis Sagnier, financial and real estate investment advisor, insurance broker, AMF certified. ORIAS 13003497. Updated on 28/10/2026.
Official sources consulted
- CARCDSF, «Combining employment and retirement» (conditions for full and partial combination, rules before and after January 1, 2027, new rights, example of reduction): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, "Amount of contributions" (2026 contributions of the three schemes, reductions and exemptions): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, "Reduction, exemption from contribution" (threshold of €31,239 for the reduction of the supplementary allowance in 2026): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, "Income Declaration" (reform of the social security contribution base, single declaration, automatic taxation on 5 PASS): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, "Cessation of activity" (removal from the register on the first day of the following calendar quarter): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, "At what age should you claim your benefits?" (legal age and quarters per generation, full rate at 67 years old): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, "What pension schemes make up my retirement?" (2026 point values): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, table of point values as of January 1, 2026, dental surgeons (PCV, €28.8321): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, dental surgeons' handbook 2025 (cumulative points acquired per year): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, guide for new retirees 2024 (full and partial accumulation, ceiling of €46,368 in 2024): carcdsf.fr
- CARCDSF, statutes of December 11, 2023 (articles 53 and 54: cumulation, mandatory contributions in cumulation): carcdsf.fr
- CNAVPL, "Social Security Financing Law 2026: what's changing" (combining employment and retirement benefits from 2027): cnavpl.fr
- Service-public.gouv.fr, "Combining employment and retirement" (general conditions): service-public.gouv.fr
- Service-public.gouv.fr, «Combining employment and retirement: new rules from 2027» (law no. 2025-1403, article 102; decree not published as of May 22, 2026): service-public.gouv.fr
- Service-public.gouv.fr (Entreprendre), «Reform of the social security contribution base for self-employed workers» (26% reduction %): entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr
- Service-public.gouv.fr (Entreprendre), social protection for the self-employed professional (CSG-CRDS 9.7 %, family allowances 2026, contribution to vocational training): entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr
- Service-public.gouv.fr, «CSG and CRDS on earned income» (CSG deductible from 6.8 %): service-public.gouv.fr
- Service-public.gouv.fr, 10% tax reduction on pensions (minimum €454, maximum €4,439 per household): service-public.gouv.fr
- Directorate General of Public Finances, "Reform of the social security contribution base" (single basis, April 2026): impots.gouv.fr
- BOFiP, BOI-BNC-BASE-40-60-50-20, personal social security contributions of liberal professions (unlimited deduction of mandatory old-age insurance contributions, article 154 bis of the General Tax Code): bofip.impots.gouv.fr
- BOFiP, BOI-IR-LIQ-20-10, income tax scale (law no. 2026-103 of finance for 2026, article 4): bofip.impots.gouv.fr
- BOFiP, BOI-IR-BASE-20-50-20, limits on deduction of retirement savings contributions (ceiling of €4,710 to €37,680 in 2026): bofip.impots.gouv.fr
- Annual Social Security ceiling 2026: €48,060.
