The swiss three pillar principle
Your future retirement pension is based on the three pillar system, and it aims to ensure the security and quality of your life in retirement.
Retrospective payments into your pillar 3a Retrospective payments into your pillar 3a
Making retrospective buy-ins to your 3rd pillar can be very useful.
Making retrospective buy-ins to your 3rd pillar can be very useful.
What’s it all about?
The pillar 3a offers more than just tax advantages, it also helps to secure your standard of living in old age. What happens, though, if you have not made regular deposits in the past and gaps in your pillar 3a have emerged?
Don’t worry, you can retrospectively make up for any contribution gaps which develop as of 2025. In this article, we explain to you how you can close or reduce these gaps and what the advantages are of doing so.
What does it mean to buy into your pillar 3a?
You can close your contribution gaps by buying into your pillar 3a. The following is possible as of 1 January 2026 by buying into your 3rd pillar:
- Make retrospective contributions for up to 10 years: You can retrospectively close contribution gaps that result as of 2025 for up to ten years. This means, for example, that if you have deposited less than the maximum possible amount in 2025, you can make up this shortfall until the end of 2035. Please note: It is not possible to retrospectively close contribution gaps which resulted in 2024 or earlier.
- Use up the maximum amount per year: With retrospective payments you can use up the residual maximum amount of the respective year (e.g. in 2025: CHF 7,258). This means that if you have already paid in part of the maximum amount, you can still deposit the difference up to the maximum amount.
Requirements for making retrospective deposits into your pillar 3a:
A few important rules apply when closing your contribution gaps. You must meet the following requirements:
- The maximum amount for the current year (purchase year) is used up.
- You have an income which is subject to AHV contributions in the purchase year as well as in the year in which there is a contribution gap. If you were not employed and therefore did not have an income which is subject to AHV contributions, you cannot make retrospective payments for that year.
- It is possible to make retrospective payments into your pillar 3a only if no retirement benefits have been drawn. This means that if you are aged 60 or older and have begun to withdraw funds from your pillar 3a, it is no longer possible to make retrospective payments. Therefore, you should plan in good time.
Let us explain this by means of an example*:
You have not used up the maximum amount for 2025, 2028 and 2029. We assume that you had an income which is subject to AHV contributions in all of these years, have not drawn down any retirement benefits and were affiliated to a pension fund.
In 2026 you will be able to close your contribution gap from 2025 for the first time because you have already used up the maximum amount for 2026. This means you can close your contribution gap from the previous year by making a one-time payment of up to CHF 5,258 in 2026.
In 2035 you were able to utilise the maximum amount again. You therefore have the option of retrospectively closing your contribution gaps from 2028 and 2029. If you make retrospective buy-ins in one single year for multiple years with contribution gaps, the cumulative buy-in amount may not exceed the residual maximum amount of the current year.
What are the advantages of buying into your 3rd pillar?
- Tax advantages: You can deduct retrospective buy-ins from your taxable income, the same as with regular deposits into your pillar 3a.
- Flexibility: You can arrange your deposits flexibly and in that way make deposits for any tax year you may have missed.
- Higher retirement benefits: You can increase your retirement capital and secure a better standard of living in retirement by making additional deposits.
- No withholding tax: The 3rd pillar is not subject to withholding, income or wealth tax for the entire term.
