Just to check the logic here, based on all the info above...

Assuming an Australian, with sole nationality, leaves after 10 years, to Australia, and they earned 100,000/yr

10.25% went into AHV/IV/EO (5.125% employer and 5.125% employee contributions) 0.1025*1,000,000=102,500

BUT when you try to withdraw, you get ONLY your EMPLOYEE component of your PENSION contribution back, which is 4.8% (as the rest of 5.125 is disability and other insurances). AND its capped at an assumed generous salary of around 84,000 Swissies and the rest is kept by the fund for solidarity.

So. 4.8% of of 10 years at 84,000 is actually 40,320 not 102,500?

So, two questions come come to mind, assuming above is correct:

1. Isnt it then better to leave it all in, and let the larger it mature to retirement? (purely on the basis of the whole contribution pot stays there, not just half the pot which you can withdraw?)

2. what happens to the employer component if the employee asks for a refund - does it get refunded to the employer, or stay in the fund and mature to retirement or something else?

by the way request for reimbursemnt form IN ENGLISH! is here
https://www.zas.admin.ch/zas/en/home/particuliers/demander-une-rente-de-vieillesse/nationalite-d_un-autre-pays-.html


and the form for requesting an "Predictive calculation of a refund of contributions" is here
https://www.zas.admin.ch/zas/en/home...otisation.html

Found this interesting. Lot of information that being to mind additional questions on the actual practicalities...

But years lived in Australia count towards Swiss pension if you retire here.

The "success story" above seems to have been possible only because it might have been a lump sum worth less than 10% of the full pensionable amount (no idea how that is worked out).

With this reciprocal agreement, with 35 years worked in Australia, you can get, in theory, a full pension in Switzerland, although there is a long stream of technicalities and hoops which might modify the outcome substantially.
https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-dep...sked-questions

Happy New Year everyone. I ought only to admit that there can be better ways to go about the AHV affair. My experience was only to detail how to extract as much cash as one can on the spot. My partner and yours truly have been conditioned by the meltdown of the Eastern European banking system, which left some persons filthy rich and everyone else dead impoverished. So your mileage may vary.

And in the real world getting your contributions out of the Swiss system has nothing to do with Eastern Europe banks... You might as well start basing your decisions on the price of tea in China!

Well, some people prefer to have it on the spot in cash while the others are fine to let the state's agents manage the wealth for them. That's pretty much what the Aussie superannuation swindle is about.