Swiss pensions for students and new graduates: LPP and pillar 3a
To verify This page has 2 items that could not be confirmed on an official page. Check them yourself before relying on them:
If you work during or after your studies: when the second pillar (LPP/BVG pension fund) applies, what pillar 3a is and how much you can deduct from tax in 2026, and what happens to your pension money when you leave Switzerland.
Key facts
- Three pillars. 1st pillar AVS/AHV (state, compulsory: see AVS/AHV); 2nd pillar LPP/BVG (pension fund through your employer); 3rd pillar private savings, of which pillar 3a gives a tax deduction.
- LPP entry threshold: compulsory for employees subject to AVS earning at least CHF 22,680 a year (BSV, figure valid from 2025 and unchanged for 2026).
- LPP age: cover starts with gainful employment from age 17 at the earliest, for death and disability only; retirement savings start on 1 January after you turn 24 (BSV).
- Pillar 3a maximum for 2026: CHF 7,258 if you are in a pension fund; if you are not, 20% of earned income, at most CHF 36,288 (BSV, admin.ch, vd.ch). Unchanged from 2025.
- Leaving for an EU/EFTA country: you can take the non-mandatory part of your pension fund money in cash, but the mandatory LPP part generally stays in Switzerland unless you prove you are not compulsorily insured there (LOB Guarantee Fund).
1. First pillar: AVS/AHV
Covered on its own page: AVS/AHV. Your AVS number and payslip lines: Swiss tax ID and payslips.
2. Second pillar: LPP/BVG
- Compulsory for salaried people already subject to AVS with an annual income of at least CHF 22,680 (BSV). This equals three quarters of the maximum AVS pension.
- Cover starts with gainful employment, from age 17 at the earliest. Until 24, contributions cover only death and disability; from 1 January after you turn 24, savings for retirement are added (BSV).
- Contracts of three months or less and many small student jobs fall outside compulsory LPP: details and payslip lines in Swiss tax ID and payslips. For student job rules see Working while studying.
- Your employer chooses the pension fund. Employers without one join the Substitute occupational benefit institution (Fondation institution supplétive LPP, aeis.ch). Several employers: if no single job reaches the threshold but your total annual salary is above CHF 22,680, you may insure yourself voluntarily with the Substitute institution or with the fund of one of your employers, if its rules allow (LPP art. 46).
When you change job or stop working: your pension money (exit or vested benefit, prestation de sortie / libre passage) moves to your new employer's fund or to a vested benefits account. If you forget where it is, the Central Office 2nd Pillar run by the LOB Guarantee Fund can help locate it: pension funds and vested benefit institutions report all accounts to it every January, and it links them with the people entitled (LFLP art. 24a and 24d).
3. Third pillar: pillar 3a
- The third pillar is voluntary (ch.ch). Pillar 3a is the tied form that gets a tax deduction; pillar 3b (free savings) has none (BSV).
- Maximum for tax year 2026 (BSV, admin.ch 17 Nov 2025, vd.ch 2026 deductions table):
- CHF 7,258 if you are affiliated to a 2nd-pillar pension fund;
- 20% of net earned income, at most CHF 36,288, if you are not.
- These maximums are also the payment limits (admin.ch). In Vaud the deduction applies to federal, cantonal and communal tax; you need the provider's official attestation of payments (vd.ch).
- Only employees and self-employed people can pay into 3a and deduct it (OPP3 art. 7). Students with no earned income cannot.
- Since 2025 you can buy back missed 3a years: only for gaps in the last 10 years, only for years in which you were entitled to pay into 3a, and only if you pay the full normal 3a amount in the year of the buy-back. Gaps from before 2025 cannot be filled (OPP3 art. 7a and transitional provision).
- If you are taxed at source, claiming a 3a deduction may need a correction request or an ordinary assessment: see Tax at source in Vaud. To verify the deadline with the ACI.
4. Leaving Switzerland
Pension fund (2nd pillar):
- Moving to an EU or EFTA country: you can withdraw the non-mandatory part in cash. To get the mandatory LPP part in cash you must prove you are not subject to compulsory old-age, disability and survivors' insurance in your new country (LOB Guarantee Fund). Otherwise it stays in a Swiss vested benefits account or policy.
- The LOB Guarantee Fund (liaison body) handles that check with the foreign authority, using country forms or a general EU/EFTA form (sfbvg.ch).
- Moving outside the EU/EFTA: you can ask for the full amount in cash when you leave Switzerland for good; the EU/EFTA restriction above does not apply (LFLP art. 5 and 25f).
- Tax: pension payouts to people living abroad are taxed at source. To verify amount and refund options with the ACI and your new country.
AVS (1st pillar): nationals of some countries without a social security agreement can ask the Central Compensation Office (ZAS/CdC) to refund contributions after leaving (ZAS). See AVS/AHV.
Pillar 3a: early withdrawal is possible in the cases where a vested benefit could be paid in cash, which includes leaving Switzerland for good (OPP3 art. 3 para. 2 let. d, LFLP art. 5). Ask your 3a provider for its form.
Deregistration steps: Leaving and deregistering. Staying on after your degree: Staying after graduation.