Early retirement in the Philippines: what you can and cannot claim

You can stop working whenever you like, but the main government pension cannot start early. The SSS retirement pension starts at 60 at the earliest, and only if you have 120 monthly contributions and have stopped working (RA 11199 Sec. 12-B). RA 7641 retirement pay from a Philippine employer also starts at 60, unless your employer’s own plan allows earlier.

So an early retiree pays for the years before 60 from their own savings, plus what other programmes let them withdraw early:

Scroll the table sideways for more

See our PERA guide for the early withdrawal rules.

Counting the bridge years

The bridge is the number of years between the day you stop work and the day your SSS pension starts. If you stop at 52, that is eight years with no SSS pension.

The OFW retirement calculator handles this. Set your retirement age below 60 and it counts your full spending until 60, then takes off your SSS pension from 60. The receipt shows when SSS starts.

Keeping SSS going after you stop

• Reach 120 contributions. With fewer than 120 at retirement you get a lump sum instead of a monthly pension. SSS lets you keep paying as a voluntary member until you reach 120.
• Mind the last five years. SSS works out your average monthly salary credit (AMSC) as the higher of two figures: your last 60 monthly salary credits before the semester you retire, divided by 60; or all your salary credits divided by the number of months you paid (RA 11199 Sec. 8(m)). Long gaps at the end can pull the first figure down. Our guide to the SSS pension explains the formula.

Pag-IBIG savings

Pag-IBIG savings have their own claim grounds and ages. The Fund’s claims page lists optional retirement at 60 (its FAQ adds at least 120 monthly contributions), compulsory retirement at 65, membership maturity after 20 years (240 monthly savings), optional withdrawal after 15 years (180 continuous monthly savings), and other grounds such as permanent departure from the country, permanent total disability, separation from work for health reasons, and critical illness. The Fund’s Citizen’s Charter gives 20 working days for processing.

See the Pag-IBIG provident claim guide for how to file, and withdrawing MP2 savings for MP2.

Health cover before senior benefits

Senior citizen benefits start at 60. Before that, keep your PhilHealth membership active so you stay covered after you stop work. See our PhilHealth guide for how to keep paying.

Employer early retirement packages

RA 7641 sets the minimum retirement pay from 60. A company plan or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) can offer retirement earlier, on its own terms. Ask HR for the plan document: it sets the age, the years of service and the formula.

Tax depends on which rule you retire under. Pay under the law (RA 7641) is tax-free from 60 if you meet the BIR’s conditions. Pay from a company plan is tax-free only if the BIR finds the plan reasonable, you are at least 50 with at least 10 years of service, and you have not used the exemption before (RR 15-2025). See RA 7641 explained and the retirement pay calculator.

A worked timeline

This example is invented. Rosa works in Hong Kong and plans to stop at 52. She has paid SSS for 15 years, has had a PERA account since 45, and has Pag-IBIG savings since she first worked abroad.

• 52 to 54: no SSS pension and no PERA yet. She lives on her own savings, and keeps paying SSS as a voluntary member so her recent salary credits stay up.
• 55: she has contributed to PERA for 10 years, so she can withdraw from it tax-free (RA 9505 Sec. 12).
• 60: she has well over 120 SSS contributions and has stopped working, so her SSS pension can start. She can also file a Pag-IBIG optional retirement claim.
• 65: Pag-IBIG compulsory retirement, if she has not claimed before.

For the last ten years before 60, see retirement planning at 50. For a sense of scale: an average monthly salary credit of PHP 20,000 with 20 credited years gives an SSS formula amount of PHP 9,300 a month, before any across-the-board increase. Use the calculator for your own figures.