Retirement savings 3a: save on taxes with these tips

In your retirement, the mandatory payments in the first and second pillars will generally cover only around 60 percent of your final working income. However, your costs generally increase in retirement, as expenses such as health insurance premiums rise. As a result, many people find it difficult to maintain their accustomed standard of living after retirement. This makes private retirement planning all the more important. The good news is that every Swiss franc paid into pillar 3a private retirement savings by the end of the year can be deducted from your taxable income. It is not absolutely necessary to pay in the statutory maximum amount of CHF 7,258 (for employed persons who are insured in a pension fund; status as of 2025). Smaller, regular contributions also add up over the years. The tax-saving effect is therefore an important factor, independent of the interest on your retirement capital.

Pay into a retirement savings account 3a and save on taxes at the same time

The easiest way of reducing your tax burden through retirement planning is by paying into a retirement savings account 3a. The contributions made to the fixed retirement savings account 3a can be deducted from taxable income within the maximum amounts provided for by lawThe money can be left in the interest-bearing account or invested in retirement funds. You do not pay either wealth tax or income tax on this capital until your retirement assets are paid out, and you benefit from interest or possible returns on any investment in retirement funds. Taxes are only incurred upon premature or ordinary withdrawal of pillar 3a capital. However, you can also optimize your tax burden here by bearing a few pointers in mind.

Withdrawal from pillar 3a means that the payout is taxed immediately – separately from other income at a reduced rate. The pension fund provider (i.e. the bank or insurance company) must report the outpayment to the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) immediately. The FTA calculates the tax due. Are you still trying to decide whether to invest your pillar 3a retirement capital in a retirement fund? Find out more in our article “How to get more out of retirement planning”.

Save on taxes when your retirement assets are paid out – our tips

• Adopt a forward-looking approach to your retirement provision: instead of making all payments to a single 3a retirement savings account, you can distribute your contributions across several 3a accounts. As a rule, it makes sense to open a new account when your balance is worth around CHF 50,000. If you have several accounts, you can have the withdrawal of your assets spread across several years: you can arrange for the first payment to be made five years before reaching statutory pension age. The staggered withdrawal of assets from the different accounts can reduce the progressive increase in tax and generally means you pay less tax.
• Married couples or registered partners should not withdraw their pillar 3a assets in the same year. The payments are added together, and the total withdrawn amount is used to calculate the tax burden.
• Don’t withdraw the capital from your pension fund and pillar 3a account in the same year. Withdrawals from pillar 2 and pillar 3a are added together and taxed cumulatively. Here too, it makes sense to arrange for payments to be made over several years if possible.
•  Important note: when withdrawing retirement assets from the second and third pillars, always find out about the tax policy in your canton of residence.

As a general rule, the earlier you begin retirement planning, the better. This is because you then benefit from the interest and compound interest effect in the long term. Our example calculation demonstrates in very simple terms why it’s never too soon to start saving for retirement.

Note: the “expected return” shown here is not a reliable indicator of the actual future return.

You also save on tax every year. Using our calculators, you can calculate information such as your annual tax savings via pillar 3a contributions and the tax on capital withdrawals from the second and third pillars.