Pension when you have worked in more than one European county

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Hi, I have worked in Spain and in the UK in the past years. Since 2009 I am living and working in Switzerland. I would like to know where or who I should contact, here in Switzerland, in order to claim my UK and Spanish contributions or at least, to make them count for at the time of my retirement here in Switzerland. I know I have to claim through the pension institution in Switzerland , but before spend hours trying to find the right office/person to contact, I though to ask in here,because usually I get great advice from people that have been through all this before.

Thanks in advance

c

2
For UK pensions, look into QROPS scheme. Basically, you can transfer your UK pension contributions to a Qualified pension provider in Switzerland. An updated list of qualified pension schemes can be found here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/qrops.pdf

Any other info can be garnered from the HMRC site.

3
Only a week ago there was a long discussion on getting pensions while living here in Switzerland. Your Gemeinde or Commune have a person reponsible for answering the AHV / AVS questions.

The problem is not easy to answer as there are many variables. Basically you contact the last pension fund you used when working here and they start a search in all of Europe. Your different pensions are then calculated and paid individually every month into your Swiss bank / Post account.