Accounts in Switzerland
Every kind of account and pension the planner offers in Switzerland: what each one is, when money can come out, how it is taxed, and the pages we read the rules from.
Swiss retirement savings outside the state pension sit in the workplace pension fund (the second pillar) and in personal pillar 3a accounts. Money taken out of either as capital is taxed once, apart from your other income, and until then it is outside the yearly wealth tax. Each place that money can sit has its own row in the money step: a pillar 3a account, a vested benefits account, and the part of your pension fund you will take as a lump sum.
The part of your pension fund paid to you as a pension goes in the pension step, and so does a private annuity. Everything else you own, including a pillar 3b life insurance, goes in the investment account.
Rules as of the 2026 tax year, read from the authorities on 2026-07-30. Each account lists the pages we read it from.
Accounts you can enter
A new plan starts with 92% in Investment account, 8% in Pillar 3a account, until you replace it with your own accounts. Where that split comes from: Swiss National Bank, household financial accounts, end of 2024.
Investment account
Interest and dividends count as income each year. Profit when you sell is not taxed at all, but the balance itself is taxed each year by your canton.
Shares, funds, bonds and savings held outside any pension account. Interest and dividends count as income each year, including what a fund reinvests, profit on selling is not taxed, and the whole balance counts for your canton's yearly wealth tax.
How it is taxed, rate by rate, is on the tax page.
- In the withdrawal orders
- With the ordinary accounts
- Pays out
- Whenever you like
- At the first death
- Your partner takes it over as it stands
Pillar 3a account
Nothing comes out before five years before your reference age. It then pays out whole, in the year you choose, and by your reference age unless you are still working. It is taxed apart from your income, together with everything else you take out that year, so several accounts paid out in different years cost less.
A pillar 3a account is Switzerland's personal pension, which you can pay into while you work, at a bank, in securities or as an insurance policy. Payments in are deducted from your income, nothing is taxed while it grows, and it is outside the wealth tax until it is paid out.
It pays out whole, in one year: the law does not let you take part of one account. That is why many people hold several, so they can be paid out in different years. Enter each as its own row and choose the age each one pays out. Left alone, the plan pays it out in the year you retire, moved into the years the law allows: from five years before your reference age, and later than the reference age only while you are still working, at most five years after it.
Everything the household takes out of pillar 3a, vested benefits and pension fund capital in one year is added up and taxed on its own scale, apart from your income: a fifth of the federal income tax scale plus your canton's own rate. What you do not need that year moves into your investment account, where it counts for the wealth tax from then on.
The plan does not use the early withdrawals the law allows for buying a home, leaving Switzerland or starting a business.
- In the withdrawal orders
- With the accounts taxed on the way out
- Before the earliest age
- Nothing comes out before 5 years before your reference age
- Pays out
- Must be paid out by an age the law sets. Paid out whole, in a year you choose
- At the first death
- Your partner takes it over as it stands
- Age it pays out From the earliest age it pays out to 5 years after your reference age. We assume your retirement age.
A pillar 3a or vested benefits account opens five years before your reference age and must be paid out by it, unless you are still working. We take your reference age as the age your main pension starts, or 65 if you entered none. For women born from 1961 to 1963 the law sets it a few months below 65, which we do not follow.
Could go either way/anyone holding a pillar 3a or vested benefits account who draws a pension at an age other than 65
Money taken from a Swiss pension account as capital is taxed on its own scale, and everything you take in one year is added up first, your spouse's too. We use the federal scale and your canton's own figures, measured where the canton's capital city is. Your own commune may charge a little more or less, and between the amounts we measured we draw a straight line, which can be a few percent out where a canton's rate jumps.
Could go either way/anyone taking pension savings as capital rather than as an income
Money inside a Swiss pension account is outside the yearly wealth tax. When it is paid out and you keep it invested, it becomes taxable wealth, and we do move it into your ordinary investments. We charge wealth tax there at one flat rate for all of Switzerland, so in a high wealth tax canton we show too little and in a low one too much.
Could go either way/up to CHF 6’768 a year/anyone taking pension savings as a lump sum and keeping the money invested
- Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV): Kreisschreiben Nr. 18a: Steuerliche Behandlung von Vorsorgebeiträgen und -leistungen der Säule 3a (read 2026-10-07)
- Fedlex: Verordnung über die steuerliche Abzugsberechtigung für Beiträge an anerkannte Vorsorgeformen (BVV 3) (read 2026-10-07)
The law behind it
Vested benefits account
Pension fund money parked after you left an employer. Nothing comes out before five years before your reference age. It then pays out whole, in the year you choose, and by your reference age unless you are still working, taxed like a pillar 3a payout.
A vested benefits account (Freizügigkeitskonto, compte de libre passage) holds your pension fund money when you leave an employer and do not join a new fund, for example when you retire early or stop working for a while. A vested benefits policy at an insurer is the same thing.
It follows the same rules as a pillar 3a account: nothing comes out before five years before your reference age, it pays out whole in the year you choose, by your reference age unless you are still working, and it is taxed together with the year's other pension capital on the separate scale. Someone who split their money over two accounts enters two rows, which lets them be paid out in different years.
- In the withdrawal orders
- With the accounts taxed on the way out
- Before the earliest age
- Nothing comes out before 5 years before your reference age
- Pays out
- Must be paid out by an age the law sets. Paid out whole, in a year you choose
- At the first death
- Your partner takes it over as it stands
- Age it pays out From the earliest age it pays out to 5 years after your reference age. We assume your retirement age.
A pillar 3a or vested benefits account opens five years before your reference age and must be paid out by it, unless you are still working. We take your reference age as the age your main pension starts, or 65 if you entered none. For women born from 1961 to 1963 the law sets it a few months below 65, which we do not follow.
Could go either way/anyone holding a pillar 3a or vested benefits account who draws a pension at an age other than 65
Money taken from a Swiss pension account as capital is taxed on its own scale, and everything you take in one year is added up first, your spouse's too. We use the federal scale and your canton's own figures, measured where the canton's capital city is. Your own commune may charge a little more or less, and between the amounts we measured we draw a straight line, which can be a few percent out where a canton's rate jumps.
Could go either way/anyone taking pension savings as capital rather than as an income
Money inside a Swiss pension account is outside the yearly wealth tax. When it is paid out and you keep it invested, it becomes taxable wealth, and we do move it into your ordinary investments. We charge wealth tax there at one flat rate for all of Switzerland, so in a high wealth tax canton we show too little and in a low one too much.
Could go either way/up to CHF 6’768 a year/anyone taking pension savings as a lump sum and keeping the money invested
When you leave a job, the law lets you place the pension money from that job with at most two vested benefits providers. We cannot tell which job each account's money came from, so we accept any number of these accounts. Spreading one job's money over more than two lets you take it out in more separate years than the law allows, which lowers the tax on the lump sums, so we would show less tax than you would pay.
Your real tax is higher/anyone who enters more than two vested benefits accounts holding money from the same job
- Fedlex: Verordnung über die Freizügigkeit in der beruflichen Alters-, Hinterlassenen- und Invalidenvorsorge (FZV) (read 2026-10-07)
- Fedlex: Bundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer (DBG) (read 2026-10-07)
The law behind it
Pillar 2 taken as capital
The part of your pension fund you will take as a lump sum, not as a pension. It pays out whole from 58 at the earliest, in the year you choose, taxed like a pillar 3a payout. Enter the pension part with your pensions, and only that part, so nothing is counted twice.
Most Swiss pension funds let you take some or all of your retirement savings as a lump sum instead of a pension, and the law lets you take at least a quarter that way. This row is the part you will take as capital. Enter the part you will take as a pension in the pension step, and only that part, so nothing is counted twice.
Your pension fund does not invest your money at market returns on your behalf: it adds interest each year at a rate it sets. So the plan grows this account at the rate you give, held for every year of the plan, before inflation. Left empty, it uses the legal minimum for 2026, 1.25%. That is a cautious figure: funds added 4.33% on average in 2025, and your pension statement shows what yours added. The federal commission has recommended 1.75% for 2027, and the decision is due in November 2026.
The plan pays it out whole in the year you choose, from 58 at the earliest, and taxes it with the year's other pension capital on the separate scale. Your fund's own rules may set a later first age.
- In the withdrawal orders
- With the accounts taxed on the way out
- Before the earliest age
- Nothing comes out before 58
- Pays out
- Paid out whole, in a year you choose
- At the first death
- Your partner takes it over as it stands
- Age it pays out From the earliest age it pays out to 5 years after your reference age. We assume your retirement age.
- Interest your fund pays From 0% to 10%. We assume 1.25%.
We pay out the capital part of a workplace pension in one year you choose, from 58. The law allows up to three payments in different years and your fund's rules may set a later first age. Splitting the capital over years can lower its tax, which we only show if you enter it as separate accounts.
Could go either way/anyone taking part of a workplace pension as capital
Money taken from a Swiss pension account as capital is taxed on its own scale, and everything you take in one year is added up first, your spouse's too. We use the federal scale and your canton's own figures, measured where the canton's capital city is. Your own commune may charge a little more or less, and between the amounts we measured we draw a straight line, which can be a few percent out where a canton's rate jumps.
Could go either way/anyone taking pension savings as capital rather than as an income
Money inside a Swiss pension account is outside the yearly wealth tax. When it is paid out and you keep it invested, it becomes taxable wealth, and we do move it into your ordinary investments. We charge wealth tax there at one flat rate for all of Switzerland, so in a high wealth tax canton we show too little and in a low one too much.
Could go either way/up to CHF 6’768 a year/anyone taking pension savings as a lump sum and keeping the money invested
- Fedlex: Bundesgesetz über die berufliche Alters-, Hinterlassenen- und Invalidenvorsorge (BVG) (read 2026-10-07)
- Der Bundesrat: Berufliche Vorsorge: Der Mindestzinssatz bleibt bei 1,25% (read 2026-10-07)
- Fedlex: Bundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer (DBG) (read 2026-10-07)
The law behind it
Kinds of pension
A pension paid to you as an income goes in the pension step, not here. Choose its kind there and the plan taxes it by that kind's rules; leave it on standard and it is taxed like a state or workplace pension.
Pension fund annuity (2nd pillar)
Taxed in full as income.
If you take part of your pension fund as capital, enter that part in the money step as pillar 2 capital and only the smaller pension here.
Workplace pension rights built up before 1987 are only 80 percent taxable, and we tax the whole amount. Anyone that covers is 80 or older today, so it falls outside any plan being made now.
Your real tax is lower/anyone aged 80 or over whose workplace pension was built up before 1987
- Fedlex: Bundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer (DBG) (read 2026-10-07)
- Fedlex: Bundesgesetz über die berufliche Alters-, Hinterlassenen- und Invalidenvorsorge (BVG) (read 2026-10-07)
The law behind it
Life annuity insurance, guaranteed part (pillar 3b)
Only part of each payment is taxed, and the year the contract was signed sets how much.
The taxed share depends only on the year the contract was signed, not on your age. It runs from 32% for contracts signed in the 1970s and 1990s down to 1% for those signed from 2017 to 2024, and is 4% for 2025 and 2026. Give the year it was signed, not the year it starts paying, which for a deferred annuity can be many years later.
A private Swiss annuity is now taxed only on its taxable share when you pick its type, but the policy's surrender value is still part of your wealth for the yearly wealth tax (and, before 65 without a job, for old age insurance contributions), even after the payments have started, and we leave it out. If you enter the annuity as a plain pension instead, we tax all of it and show more income tax than you would pay.
Your real tax is higher/anyone with a Swiss pillar 3b life annuity that still has a surrender value
Before 65, someone without a job pays old age insurance contributions on twenty times their pension income. For a private annuity that counts the whole payment, and we count only its taxable share, so a retiree under 65 with a private annuity pays a little more than we show.
Your real tax is higher/early retirees under 65 with a private annuity and no job
- Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV): Steuerbarer Ertragsanteil von Leibrentenversicherungen nach VVG (read 2026-10-07)
- Fedlex: Bundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer (DBG) (read 2026-10-07)
The law behind it
Life annuity insurance, bonus part (pillar 3b)
The bonus paid on top of the guaranteed amount, of which 70% is taxed.
Enter the bonus as its own pension, beside the guaranteed part, because the two are taxed at different shares.
A private Swiss annuity is now taxed only on its taxable share when you pick its type, but the policy's surrender value is still part of your wealth for the yearly wealth tax (and, before 65 without a job, for old age insurance contributions), even after the payments have started, and we leave it out. If you enter the annuity as a plain pension instead, we tax all of it and show more income tax than you would pay.
Your real tax is higher/anyone with a Swiss pillar 3b life annuity that still has a surrender value
Before 65, someone without a job pays old age insurance contributions on twenty times their pension income. For a private annuity that counts the whole payment, and we count only its taxable share, so a retiree under 65 with a private annuity pays a little more than we show.
Your real tax is higher/early retirees under 65 with a private annuity and no job
- Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV): Steuerbarer Ertragsanteil von Leibrentenversicherungen nach VVG (read 2026-10-07)
- Fedlex: Bundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer (DBG) (read 2026-10-07)
The law behind it
Foreign life annuity or private annuity contract (Leibrentenvertrag)
Only a small part of each payment is taxed, 7% at current rates.
The share is set again each year from the yield on Swiss government bonds. The plan uses the latest published share, 7%, for every year.
For a foreign annuity or a private annuity contract the taxable share is set again every year from Swiss government bond yields. We use the latest published share, 7 percent, for every year of your plan.
Could go either way/anyone with a foreign annuity insurance or a private annuity contract
Before 65, someone without a job pays old age insurance contributions on twenty times their pension income. For a private annuity that counts the whole payment, and we count only its taxable share, so a retiree under 65 with a private annuity pays a little more than we show.
Your real tax is higher/early retirees under 65 with a private annuity and no job
- Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV): Steuerbarer Ertragsanteil von ausländischen Leibrentenversicherungen sowie von Leibrenten- und Verpfründungsverträgen (read 2026-10-07)
- Fedlex: Bundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer (DBG) (read 2026-10-07)
The law behind it
Where other things you hold go
- The pension part of your pension fund (second pillar) and the AHV
- Enter them in the pension step. Both are taxed in full as income.
- Pillar 3b life insurance
- Enter it in the investment account. Its wealth tax and its tax-free payout come out the same there, but the plan also taxes the yearly income it would hold, so it shows a little more tax than you pay.
- Private life annuity (pillar 3b)
- Enter it in the pension step with its kind, guaranteed part and bonus as two pensions. Only part of each payment is taxed.