Hi
I left Switzerland by mid of Feb this year to India. Before I left, I had requested the AHV office for the refund of my Pillar 1 contributions. However, couple of days ago I got an email from them stating that "the process may take up until the end of 2023 since various compensation offices in Switzerland have until October 2023 to credit the contributions paid in 2022". Also they had asked for copies of my salary statements of this year.
Is this normal? Does it take take too long to get a refund?
Anyone in a similar situation? Also, I read that the refund amount varied depending on the country you moved to. How was the case with someone who moved to India? Did you get 80% refund of the total amount ( yours + employer's) minus tax?
Thanks!
Hi Scie
I have recently initiated the same process for my Pillar 1 and it seems that the combination of bureauacy and slow income / pension processing means that it does take a year or so for the income in the given year to be 'registered' for a pension withdrawal. I would only suggest that you need to be a bit assertive with them on exact processing dates and that you would like a binding commitment on processing timeframes.
The payout amount should not vary based on the country you are going to, unless that they are suggesting that there are currency conversion fees associated with sending the money. Many suggest to move the money internally to a bank account in Schwyz, transfer the money into an account there, then remove the money internationally and you will be charged a lower tax rate (~1.5%) than many other cantons that charge a lot more.
I would not recommend requesting the govt to wire the money internationally. You need to try to do this yourself. Hope this helps.
There is no need to move the payout to another canton because the payout is Pillar 1 and not Pillar 2 or 3. The payout will be taxed using Geneva tax rate as the AHV Office is domiciled there.