Pensions for expats in Switzerland: state pension, 2nd pillar, pillar 3a and leaving the country

A person who moves to Switzerland to work enters a three-tier pension system: the public insurance scheme (Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance and Invalidity Insurance, known in French as AVS/AI and in German as AHV/IV), the occupational pension tied to employment (the 2nd pillar) and individual savings (pillar 3a). On arrival and on departure, each tier follows its own laws and is run by its own institutions. This guide describes those rules and where to read them; it does not say what anyone ought to do with their own pension arrangements. Personal questions are for the compensation office (the AVS office), the pension fund or the foundation concerned, or for independent legal or tax advice.

One point up front: 2nd-pillar and pillar 3a assets are held by pension institutions, not by an asset manager. Managing free assets, outside the pension system, is a separate subject, covered at the end of this guide.

What are the three pillars and what does the law provide?

What does AHV/AVS cover and how does affiliation work?

Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance (AHV/AVS) and Invalidity Insurance (AI) make up the 1st pillar. The AHVA (in French) makes insurance compulsory for people who live in Switzerland or work there for pay (art. 1a). Contributions are levied on income, and an employee does not have to register personally: the employer accounts for them to the compensation office. The Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) publishes the amounts applicable from 1 January 2026 (in French), unchanged from 2025: minimum monthly old-age pension CHF 1,260, maximum CHF 2,520 (amounts per month, paid thirteen times a year).

How does the occupational pension (2nd pillar) work?

The 2nd pillar is run by pension institutions: the employer's pension fund or a collective foundation. The Occupational Pensions Act (LPP/BVG, in French) sets the minimum compulsory insurance; a fund may offer more (the supra-mandatory part), according to its rules. The thresholds are annual amounts, published by the FSIO (in French) for 2026 (unchanged from 2025):

These amounts are set by the Federal Council and may change from one year to the next. The part of a salary above the upper limit is outside the compulsory scheme, but a fund may insure it in its supra-mandatory part.

What are vested benefits?

When an employee leaves a pension fund before a pension event occurs, they are entitled to an exit benefit (art. 2 LFLP/FZG, in French). In principle that benefit is transferred to the new employer's fund. If the employee has none, it is placed in a vested benefits account or policy, held by a vested benefits foundation or an insurer. These institutions are separate from asset managers. To trace forgotten assets, the Central Office 2nd Pillar, attached to the LPP Guarantee Fund, runs a search service; it manages no assets.

What is pillar 3a?

Pillar 3a is tax-recognised individual tied savings, governed by OPP 3/BVV 3 (in French). It is held with a banking foundation or an insurer. Contributions are deductible from taxable income up to an annual ceiling. According to the FSIO (in French), for 2026:

Both amounts are annual and may be changed each year.

What does the law provide for the 2nd pillar when leaving Switzerland?

Art. 5 LFLP (in French) allows the insured person to demand cash payment of their exit benefit, in particular when they leave Switzerland permanently (para. 1, let. a), subject to art. 25f. If the insured person is married or in a registered partnership, cash payment requires the written consent of the spouse or partner (para. 2).

Art. 25f limits this right. The insured person cannot demand in cash the old-age credit accrued under art. 15 LPP (the compulsory part) if they remain compulsorily insured against old age, death and invalidity in a Member State of the EU, in Iceland or in Norway, or if they reside in Liechtenstein. The information sheet 880 published on ahv-iv.ch (as of 1 January 2025) states that the compulsory part must then be paid into a vested benefits account or policy, that the supra-mandatory part is not covered by this restriction, and that, to obtain cash payment of the compulsory part, the person must prove that they are not subject to compulsory insurance in the state concerned. This restriction concerns departures to the EU and EFTA states named in art. 25f. The pension or vested benefits institution remains the contact for the payment request; the Central Office 2nd Pillar makes no payments.

And pillar 3a on departure?

Art. 3 OPP 3/BVV 3 (in French) provides that old-age benefits are paid out at the earliest five years before reference age, and allows early withdrawal in the cases listed in para. 2, including where the institution is required, under art. 5 LFLP, to meet its obligation by a cash payment. The practical conditions (documents to provide, deadlines) are set by the foundation or insurer holding the account.

What happens to AHV/AVS abroad?

The rules depend on the destination state.

• Contributions already paid. On a move to the EU or EFTA, contributions stay in the insurance scheme that collected them and give entitlement to partial pensions when the insured event occurs; transfer to a foreign insurer is not permitted and refund is excluded (information sheet 880).
• Voluntary insurance. Nationals of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland can join voluntary AHV/AI if they do not live in an EU or EFTA state and were insured for at least five consecutive years immediately before leaving compulsory insurance (information sheet 880; information sheet 10.02, a multilingual document that includes English).
• Social security agreements. Switzerland coordinates its insurance schemes with the EU and EFTA through the Agreement on the free movement of persons, and with other states through bilateral agreements. They determine, among other things, which system applies during work abroad. See the FSIO page on social security agreements.
• Refund of contributions. Nationals of non-contracting states who live abroad can, under certain conditions, apply for a refund, without interest, of their AHV contributions after leaving Switzerland permanently, in particular if they paid contributions for at least one full year (information sheet 10.03, a multilingual document that includes English; as of 1 January 2025). The application goes to the Swiss Compensation Office.

Is a capital sum paid on departure taxed?

According to the Geneva tax administration, pension capital benefits paid to a person domiciled abroad are always taxed at source in Switzerland; if a double taxation agreement gives the right to tax to the state of residence, a refund of the tax at source can be requested (ge.ch, capital benefits from the 2nd and 3rd pillars, in French). The rate, the procedure and the effect of each country's agreement are not detailed here: they are matters for the competent tax authority.

Where does wealth management fit into this picture?

Pension assets are held by institutions: pension fund, vested benefits foundation, banking foundation (pillar 3a), insurer. An asset manager, by contrast, manages free assets that the client entrusts to it under a mandate, outside those frameworks. The two spheres are separate.

Our directory lists 549 institutions in Geneva, 380 of them independent asset managers (FINMA list and commercial register, as of 17 October 2026; details on the Geneva data page). To browse providers, see wealth management in Geneva and the independent asset managers. For the checking criteria, see choosing a wealth manager. For the tax position of someone settling in Geneva without gainful activity, see the guide to lump-sum taxation.

What can be checked before signing?

For pensions, the answers are with the institutions:

• Pension and vested benefits: the pension fund or vested benefits foundation states the exit benefit, the compulsory and supra-mandatory parts and the payment procedure.
• AHV/AVS: the competent compensation office answers on contributions, partial pensions and voluntary insurance.
• Pillar 3a: the banking foundation or insurer states the payment conditions of its contract.
• Tax: the tax administration of the competent canton, or an independent tax adviser, for tax at source on a capital sum.

For a management mandate covering free assets:

• The licence: is the firm in the FINMA list, with the same name and the same UID number as in the contract and in Zefix?
• The supervisory organisation: named in the list, named in the contract.
• The custodian bank: account in the client's name, the manager's powers limited to what the mandate provides.
• Fees in writing: scale and calculation basis, before signing.
• Retrocessions and third-party payments: prior written information, as required by art. 26 FinSA.

The amounts quoted are annual and set each year: check them on the FSIO pages (in French). The directory is a search tool: it does not replace legal or tax advice.