Hi,

I am a US citizen working in CH, married to a Swiss citizen. We plan to return to the US this year, my husband has been granted a greencard and will therefore become taxe liable some time this year.

We recently had a conversation with our tax advisor, and he mentioned something pretty scary regarding US taxes on my Swiss husband's 2nd and 3rd pilar: if we plan to cash out my husband's money in there (which is possible, since we leave CH for good), he will have to pay income taxes on that full amount in the US (well, minus the CH taxes, but given the amount, the US taxes will still be somwhere around 17%).

If the above is true, the same would apply to my 2nd pilar employer contribution and interest (my own contribution was always included as income on my US returns, hence has been taxed in the US) as well as the interest on my 3a pilar amount (which I did not include as income the last years)

Is this really the case??? That would be a shame, since my husband earned that money way before becoming US tax liable... Any experiences from anyone in this area are much appreciated!