Old-age insurance system
When we stop earning an income in old age, retirement provision ensures that we can continue to live financially independently and free from ecnomic hardship. The Swiss old-age insurance system is based on three pillars: state provision (OASI), occupational provision (pension funds) and private provision.
Requirements
If you reach retirement age and have paid contributions to the OASI scheme, you are entitled to an OASI old-age pension. If you have paid occupational and private pension contributions, you will also receive retirement benefits from these schemes.
If you had previously worked in a country other than Switzerland, you may be eligible for pension entitlements abroad.
Old-age and survivors' insurance (OASI)
As a general rule, anyone who lives or works in Switzerland, regardless of their nationality, is covered by the mandatory old-age and survivors' insurance scheme. You are also covered if you are not in paid work, e.g. stay-at-home spouses and students.
Occupational pension provision (pension funds)
You are subject to mandatory occupational pension contributions if you annually earn more than CHF 22,680 (as of 2025) from one employer and are older than 17 (insurance cover against the risks of invalidity and death from the age of 17; old-age insurance cover from the age 25). The mandatory insurance scheme covers annual incomes up to CHF 90,720. However, pension funds can also insure salaries that are higher or lower. Such cases are referred to as non-mandatory occupational pension insurance.
Occupational pension cover is voluntary for the self-employed.
Private pension provision (3rd pillar)
If you are self-employed or in salaried employment and you pay OASI contributions on your earnings, you have the option of paying into a ‘pillar 3a’ plan. For employees, it supplements their state and occupational pensions. For the self-employed, it can serve as a substitute for occupational pension cover.
Benefits
OASI pension
The OASI pension rate depends on
- how old you are when you retire
- how long you paid OASI contributions for, and
- how high your average annual income was.
If you have paid contributions for the entirety of the contribution period, you will receive a full pension.
Full OASI pensions (with complete contribution record)
- minimum old-age pension: CHF 1,260
- maximum old-age pension: CHF 2,520
The OASI may also pay for aids and appliances such as hearing aids, orthopaedic footwear and wheelchairs.
Pension from the occupational pension scheme
Occupational pension insurance enables you to maintain, to an appropriate extent, the standard of living you were accustomed to before your retirement. When you retire, you will receive a pension from the occupational pension savings you have accumulated. You can also ask your pension fund to pay out one quarter of your retirement assets as a lump sum. If the regulations of your pension fund permit, you may have the option of withdrawing your retirement capital in full.
Capital from private pension plans
With certain exceptions, your Pillar 3a savings remain blocked for up to five years before you reach the reference age. From this point, you can choose to withdraw them and use them as you see fit. Private pension plans function like a savings bank: the money you pay in is paid out, along with the accrued interest, when you retire.
Supplementary benefits
For some people, the pension benefits they receive are not enough to cover their living expenses. In such cases, they may be entitled to supplementary benefits.
Contributions
OASI contributions
If you live or work in Switzerland, you must pay OASI contributions from 1 January after you turn 20 until you reach the reference (retirement) age. If you are already working, this obligation begins on 1 January of the year in which you turn 18. If you continue to work beyond the reference age, you too must continue to pay in to the OASI scheme.
- As an employee, you pay half of the contributions. Your employer pays the other half.
- If you are self-employed, your OASI contributions are calculated on the basis of your net income for the contribution year.
- Even if you are not in paid work, you still have to pay OASI contributions. The rate is calculated on the basis of your assets and/or your annual pension income.
You can fulfil your contribution obligation through:
- the payment of the contributions you owe;
- the contributions paid by your spouse or registered partner provided that they are in paid work and pay at least twice the minimum OASI contribution per year. In 2025, this corresponds to CHF 1,060;
- parenting and care credits for the period during which you looked after children under the age of 16 or close relatives who are entitled to a helplessness allowance.
Contribution gaps
If your contribution or insurance records have gaps, you are only entitled to a partial OASI pension. This can happen, for example, if you leave Switzerland and stop paying into the OASI scheme or the option of continuing to contribute is not open to you. If you wish to check your contribution record, you can order an account statement from your OASI office. It can also advise you on what to do next.
You also have the option of paying missing contributions retroactively. However, this is only possible for gaps which occurred in the previous five years and provided that you were insured under the OASI scheme during that period. You cannot make up for contribution gaps that date back more than five years.
Occupational pension contributions
If you are in salaried employment, you pay contributions to an occupational pension plan. The contribution rate is set by the pension fund. The law requires employers to pay at least half the contribution amount set for their employees.
A certain percentage of the coordinated salary (the share of the salary on which compulsory occupational pension contributions are paid) must be credited to every insured person once a year. This is referred to as an old-age credit. The amount of this credit depends on the insured person’s age.
The pension funds are responsible for financing these annual old-age credits. The funds are also free to offer additional old-age credits but must always provide the benefits provided for by the law.
Private pension plan payments
Contributions to private pension plans are tax-deductible up to a certain amount. The maximum annual tax-deductible amount in 2025 is:
- CHF 7,258 for employees/self-employed persons with occupational pension cover;
- 20% of earnings up to CHF 36,288 for employees/self-employed persions with no occupational pension cover.
If there were certain years when you did not pay any contributions to your restricted private pension plan or paid less than the maximum, you will be able, starting in 2026, to pay contributions retroactively to cover caps in your 2025 contribution record.
Claim submission
OASI
You should submit your claim approximately three to four months before reaching the reference age or, in the case of early retirement, before your preferred retirement date, as it may take some time for the OASI office to collect the necessary documents and calculate your pension. You can obtain and submit application form online at www.ahv-iv.ch or through your OASI office or their branches.
Under flexible retirement age rules, you can take your old-age pension
- early: from the age of 63 (or from the age of 62 for women born between 1961 and 1969) and by individual months; or
- late: by between one and five years after reaching reference age (you may cancel the deferral of your old-age pension on a monthly basis before the maximum deferral period has expired.
Forgotten vested benefits
When someone leaves their pension fund, for example when they take up a new post with a different employer or when they lose their job, the pension fund calculates the amount the person is owed. This is called ‘vested benefits’ or ‘termination benefits’.
Sometimes. a person forgets that they have vested benefits. This is particularly common among non-Swiss employees who leave Switzerland permanently. The brochure ‘Vested benefits: don't forget your pension assets!’ explains what vested benefits are, in what circumstances you need to attend to them, and whom you should contact if you think you have pension assets that you may have forgotten about:
Vested benefits: don't forgetyour retirement assets!
Prestación de libre paso: No se olvide de sus fondos de previsión!
Previsión laboral (2° pilar)
Ek emeklilik sigorta mevduatıalacağı: Emeklilik sigortamevduatlarınızı unutmayın!
İşletme emeklilik sigortası (ek emeklilik [İsviçre’deki sosyal güvenlik sisteminin üç temel direkten 2ncisi])
Uštedjeni kapital:Ne zaboravite svojupreventivnuštednju!
Prevencija za zaposlene (2. stub)
Prestação de livre circulação:não se esqueça dos seushaveres de previdência!
Previdência profissional (2.° pilar)
Përfitimi nga kursimet medisponim të lirë: Mos harroni depozitën tuajtë përkujdesjes!
Përkujdesja profesionale (Shtylla e 2-të)
Supplementary benefits (PC/EL)
Supplementary benefits are not paid automatically. Anyone wishing to receive PC/EL must submit an application to their PC/EL office. This is usually located in your cantonal OASI office. To determine if you qualify for these benefits or not, you need to provide details of your income and assets and submit supporting documents.