I read a couple of threads on the pension in this forum, and they are very helpful.
I am a non-EU citizen leaving Switzerland and will stay in Norway for a couple of more years.
After reading the threads, my understanding is :
I can't take out the mandatory part of my pension - including pillar 1 and some in pillar 2 and if I retire in EU, my pension payments will take into account the pension funds I left in Switzerland.
But if I leave EU a couple of years later and retire in a non-EU country, what would happen in case I keep the pension funds in Switzerland? Will I get some pension from Switzerland? Does it worth it or shall I try to withdraw the pension funds from Switzerland when I leave EU - I guess it will be a bit complicated given that I won't be living in Switzerland anymore?
If you move to an EU / EFTA country where you will be mandatorily insured against the risks of old age, disability or death in accordance with local statutory requirements, you can request to have only the extra-mandatory portion of your vested benefits paid out. The mandatory portion will remain in a vested benefits account or policy in Switzerland until the conditions for a payment have been met.
Relocating to a non-EU / EFTA country
If you emigrate to a non-EU / EFTA country, you can ask to have all your vested benefits paid out as a lump sum.
- The Pillar 2 part, you can keep in Switzerland, and when you get to pernsion age 60-65 or whatever, you will receive a pension based on the total amount. This is paid regardless where you are living. Alternatively you can withdraw it cash, but you will lost a lot, as they will cancel all the tax benefits you got when you were paying the money from your payslip each month. If it's 1-2 years maybe best to cash it as the expected future pension will be tiny, if it's a lot maybe best to leave it and have a 'swiss' pension when you retire (on top of other pensions you will accumulate).
- Pillar 1 part: First of all, the unemployment part, disability part etc are 'lost' you cannot claim them. Only the pension part you can perhaps. If you are moving outside the EU, you can take it all, because Pillar 1 does not pay anything if you are living outside Switzerland when you retire. However, if you are moving inside the EEA (and some other countries, eg USA) OR you have a passport of one of these countries, you cannot get a refund, but the years you worked in Switzerland will count towards the state pension of these countries. So basically, you cannot get refund of Pillar 1, put when they calculate the Norwegian pension they will add extra for your time in Switzerland.
As far as I know there is no time limit, so there is nothing preventing you from waiting and deciding at a later date. For Pillar 2, you cannot keep the amount at your employer once you left, they will ask you to move it to a bank 'vested benefits account', and they will pay your pension at 60 or you withdraw from there the cash.
So here's a related question, then. I've just moved to Switzerland and will likely be here a while (depends how work goes). I have elected to pay optional National Insurance contributions in the UK for as along as I'm here. However, from your description the Pillar I is essentially the same thing so am I in effect paying the contributions twice?
I have been trying for a while to get a definite answer, at the various " official " website sources (ie., not forums). It's still a mystery. My conclusions are:
-a- if you are living outside EU/Switzerland, you get 100% of the benefit of paying voluntary UK class 2 contributions.
-b- if you are not working and living in EU/Switzerland, you get 100% of the benefit of paying voluntary UK class 2 contributions.
-c- if you are living in EU/Switzerland AND are working , noone knows.
I suspect there may be potentially an element of "double paying" perhaps. I am basing this on:
-- both UK and CH state that: if you worked in another EU/CH country, the years there may count towards the state pension of this country. Obviously, i dont imagine the state authorities will double-count and you will receive 35 years in UK and seperately 35 years in Switzerland.
-- the form for UK state pensions states to provide the details eg social security number, of all the countries you worked in, so that they can contact them and potentially increase your penion.
-- there is a difference in the Voluntary contributions you have to pay in the UK to buy the extra years. Around £2.75/week if you are working in EU/Switzerland; but £14 otherwise, so I imagine there has to be a difference, otherwise why the big "discount"??
-- In any case, one may just buy the extra years and see... For £2.75 per week, it's the cost of a coffee. (But at the same time, the UK state pension at the moment is also tiny too!)
If you remain at work in Switzerland your pension fund would be transferred to the new fund without penalty.
If you withdraw from your Pillar 2 fund you will only get about half, as the other half will be paid back to your previous employer. Leave the money in the fund and you will get one 20th of a complete pension when you retire. But maybe HR rules say she must close your account, hence the need for a Norwegian pension fund.
So if I transfer my pillar 2 to Norway (can I do that?) or cash it out when I leave EU, I will get almost all of them (of course, after paying the tax).
This seems to be consistent with my understanding from reading the other posts...
HR is right that they need to close the pension account in their pension fund if you leave the company. However, nothing prevents you from opening a pillar 2 account with a bank as suggested by Sbrinz and have your HR transferred there ... and take out once you reach the pension age.