Hi

I am writing this on behalf of a collegue, who will be leaving Switzerland in the next few days. She just found out about the 1 June 2007 cut off (as did I, as never knew about it!), and I noticed a previous pension thread about it. My question is slightly different. She has been told that she will not be able to get vested benefits on the LPP pension contributions, but can you claim back the other, 1st pillar, one? (AVS on my payslip). She is moving to the UK but she has no job yet.

Thanks

PS. Do you have to pay the LPP pension??

I'd suggest your colleague consults the HR dept of her employer.

Erm.. we don't have one.. it is very much do it yourself here...

I'm leaving next week, so I got covered by this new law.
What the HR department did was the calculations of the compulsory part of the pension fund according to the law, and then the variance to what I'd actually been deducted. The compulsory part needs (now) to stay in switzerland, in a "Vested benefits account" at a bank, and the rest is returned to my normal bank account.

I'll try to find the link to the official leaflet they gave me, it's quite helpful.

Oh, right, the 1st pillar, nope, it needs to stay here as well, and your colleague can't forget to let everybody know of their new address (and any subsequent changes), so that when they reach retirement age, the swiss government can send them their pension

I do believe that for the UK system at least, under the new rules, you can claim this for continuity of NI contributions for the purpose of a UK state pension (for what its worth).

Daniel

I do believe you are right but I must say why have we two posts that are practically identical? Go search for the thread Pension payments on leaving to the EU and I have answered the OPs question there. Also see the comment re UK.

Also note that your employer has nothing to do with this it is the pension fund that will be working on it and are the experts not local HR...

Sorry not meant to plagiarise. I am suffering from servere neurological previous post blindness syndrome or "SPPBS" for short.

You are right, I am referring to "HR" as shorthand for "ask HR to ask the fund and hope they dont get the answer to a different question and it all take months by which time it is too late anyway.

Daniel

Well my HR dept got back with the answer from Servisa/Swisscanto (ie the kantonal banks pension fund).

"Es ist korrekt, dass bei der definitiven Ausreise aus der Schweiz in einen EU-Staat nur noch das überobligatorische BVG-Kapital bezogen werden kann und der obligatorische Teil auf einem Freizügigkeitskonto plaziert werden muss. Herr Templeman kann dies aus seinem aktuellen Vorsorgeausweiss per 01.01.2008 (Anhang) ersehen. Vorhandenes Kapital total per 01.01.2008 CHF [100%] davon BVG-Anteil CHF [10%]. Die Differenz davon ist der überobligatorische Teil der bezogen werden kann CHF [90%]. "

ie They confirm that only the compulsory part must stay in CH, and that for me this is only about 10% of the total pot.

Daniel

My friend(UK national) is now leaving to work in Indonesia and she has only been here (Vaud) for 10 months. She has tried to claim her AVS and was told by the Clarens office that she cannot get a refund until she reaches age 55. She was told that, despite not working in UK for the past 20 years, it is based on nationality. Unfortunately, this element has not been covered in previous posts. Is this the case?

Her employer, (obviously) has not been helpful and no information has been given on her 2nd pillar pension. How can she go about claiming this? Can she get a refund on this?

It's not that she doesn't like switzerland, the job offer she has is just too good to turn down.