Hi,

I'm in the process of finalising my move to Switzerland. We are looking to settle in Zug. We are coming from Australia which has a relatively simple tax and pension environment as compared to Switzerland.

I think I understand everything I need to apart from our rights under Pillar 1. In my situation, I have been told that I will have to contribute circa CHF30,000 per annum to Pillar 1. Also, my employer will be contributing CHF30,000 per annum to Pillar 1. What I don't understand is what happens to this money.

I have read some reports that people from certain countries can, upon leaving Switzerland, obtain a refund of their AHV contributions. I'm not sure whether this is just their contribution, or the combined contribution (including from the company).

But I also read that in instances where there is a bilateral social security agreement between Switzerland and country of origin, then this is probably not possible. In which case, you might be able to claim a pension.

But I've read that the pension is not necessarily based on the contributions that have been made. There is some other formula applied.

So I guess my question is: does anybody have a complete understanding of ones rights with regards AHV. I have been getting tax advice (from one of the big four), but I don't think even they completely understand. Unfortunately I think I need to talk to somebody that has a good understanding of the bilateral agreement with Australia. If any Australians are on the forum with an understanding of this, Id love to here from you.

Thanks,
TanMan08

Im going to bump this out of self interest

are you sure you're not talking about pillar 2?`

have you read the sticky?

Swiss pensions consolidated summary

Yes that is most useful thanks. The download PDF thingy is particularly informative. Cheers.

The CS primer on pension system is very informative.
Here is the link:
https://www.credit-suisse.com/ch/pri...ndlagen_en.pdf