Hi everyone ,

I read about AHV reimbursement while living in Switzerland, and now that we've left Switzerland I'm reading about it again, and trying to figure out if we can get a refund and how exactly to do that.

I contacted the Social Security Administration where I live ( U.S. ) as their website actually said they could process these claims for us. I had my doubts, but thought it would be easier to go through them rather than the AHV office.

Unfortunately, the US Social Security office was quite rude and basically said if we're not retirement age, a widower or disabled there's nothing they can do for us and refused to file any old-age pension forms.

So, now I suppose I need to contact AHV in Switzerland.

My question is this , and it seems very basic but I can't find the answer to it definitively - Does a person need to be 64/65 years of age to collect the AHV pension fund refund ??? We are not of retirement age, so do we need to wait until then to try and claim this pension or refund ?

What kind of professional can we talk to about this ? A tax attorney ?

My husband also has pillar 2 and hasn't been able to figure out how to get that back either. He even talked to the person who was supposed to be in charge of all these things, and his transfer back home , and she just had no idea about any retirement stuff or pillars.


Any help or pointing us in the right direction is greatly appreciated. Thanks !

TheLaughingCow

p.s. I did file for the little grey AHV card while living in Switzerland. So, I do have that at least, and I know which pension company/fund has a hold of the money.

https://www.englishforum.ch/leaving-...itzerland.html

According to this thread... it’s not possible as the US has an agreement with CH.

Thank you for the reply ! Very much appreciated

For the second pillar its quite simple really. By now the amount should be in "vested benefits account". His old pension fund should have asked him to provide them with a bank account for this and failure to do so typically results in the pension fund choosing one for him.

So ask old HR people for the pension fund management company and ask there.

Then once you know which bank/institution the account is with, you ask them the form to withdraw and follow the process.

VERY IMPORTANT: you will pay tax on this amount based on the Canton in which the bank/institution has their legal residence. So if at all possible, try to move all the funds to a vested benefit account in Schwyz before closing it. It has the lowest tax rate.

This thread may help:
https://www.englishforum.ch/finance-...s-germany.html

Yes, I had read about this on EF previously and told my husband about it several times, but unfortunately he didn't act early enough. There was a lot going on with moving, worrying about our sick family member, and the Pandemic.

We get nailed on taxes from the Swiss side and the U.S. side for the second pillar. When he did talk to someone about it, and realized how much would be taken in taxes, and it was probably too late to do anything , he seemed to take it hard .

Anyhow, yes, now that we have more time to concentrate on things like this he's again trying to talk to people in HR.

I don't think it'd be possible to move the benefits to an account in Schwyz now, but I'm not sure.

Anyhow, thank you for the reply .