Essentially you bought a long term insurance plan, your money went in commission. Never invest in any insurance product.

If you can chose to set up a 3rd pillar from either an insurance company or bank, what does it mean? That with the insurance u waste ur money (unless u have an accident, or buy a house, or die) and with the bank u hold on to it without any insurance service?

And also, 11k out of 18k of commission? Is that even legal?

You probably signed a long term contract with all the commission up front, thats why you should never invest with insurance savings plans. You signed the contract.......

Unfortunately what they say is true. The initial years amount goes for commision. It makes sense only if you pay until 10+ years, then money goes to your 3rd pillar ( that too because of compoung interest).

Maybe an option would be to still pay them 3b for 10 years ( or 15) and get the money out after that without tax. Maybe someone can shed light into it. But I am not sure if it makes sense to pay for another 6 more years when you do not plan to come back.

If you had legal insurance (assurance juridique) it would be worth call to ask them to send a letter to your provider. Unfortunately most legal insurances do not cover securities and investments litigation...

Otherwise an official complaint letter may help get you back some of your premiums.

Going forwards, best to use 3a accounts with a flexible investment policy that you control (or a financial advisor) to try to benefit from rare market corrections as this we saw this past march. These are usually not offered by banks or insurance companies though... Same with your vested benefits account btw.

3b only provides limited tax benefits in a couple of cantons (GE and FR). Stay away from mixed investments and insurance solutions. The wrappers used are very expensive for clients as you have seen.

For pure life insurance, Switzerland is very pricey, there are international solutions from the major companies that are less than local providers.

Can you name a few ? Thanks.

Hi, I`ve been googling and heard conflicting information about my pension options.
I`ve been here for two years, working like a madman. Now, with a project finished, I decided to take a half-year break, quit, do some German courses, work on my health and decide what to do next. My former employee sent me a Withdrawal letter, asking what to do about my pension funds. From what I understand, I now have to open a vested benefit account, where the money will wait until I get a new employer.
My question is: I was told that during the next 6 months I should pay around 100 CHF monthly into this fund, because otherwise I will face penalties later on. Is this true?
Thanks

I am tax resident in K. Zürich.

I am considering making voluntary payments into my Pillar 2.




Several years ago, I borrowed some money from my Pillar 2 to buy my apartment, where I still live. I have not yet repaid this.



I understand that I must repay this amount before I can purchase additional "retirement assets". I know you usually have to pay it in chunks of at least CHF 10,000.


I also understand that the maximum annual contribution to a Pillar 2 is 20% of "pensionable salary".



I assume that I could inone year, repay all of the "withdrawal for home ownership" AND up to 20% of the "pensionable salary".



Let's say I repaid 10K this year, how would it be treated for tax purposes?


Would it reduce my Nettolohn?


I see line 10.2 on my Lohnausweis,


"Beiträge für den Einkauf - Cotisations pour le rachat - Contributi per il riscatto"



but my German, French and Italian Tax Jargon are not up to snuff, so I don't know if that refers to a repayment or borrowing the cash in the first place?


Does anyone know how I could simulate this in "Private Tax"? Even if Private Tax was in English I wouldn't understand how to do it.

__________________
And then Snowden drapes a red hood over himself and his computer screen—this is to avoid visual surveillance—and starts typing.

I think that is correct. The pension money is not really your money yet, and you can't be trusted to invest/ spend it wisely if get your hands on it, unless you leave the country.

You should contact the company that will run your vested interest account and ask them.

I got my answer.

The money I used to pay a deposit on my apartment only gets me the tax relief equal to the tax I paid on it when I withdrew it in the first place. I think I paid only 3.5% at the time.

My understanding is that there is no ceiling for the voluntary payments into my Pillar 2. I have contributed up to 80% of my annual salary without any issue.