Pillar 3a retirement: when to withdraw and save taxes
At retirement, Pillar 3a, pension fund and OASI come together. Compando explains which deadlines apply, what to consider in an early retirement and how a coordinated withdrawal order can lower the tax burden.
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1. When can I withdraw Pillar 3a at retirement?
For the withdrawal at retirement, the same deadlines apply as for the general withdrawal: at the earliest five years before the individual reference age, and with continued employment at the latest five years after. For men, the reference age is 65; for women, it is being raised step by step to 65 for the 1961 to 1964 cohorts.
Situation | 3a withdrawal possible |
|---|---|
Ordinary withdrawal | from the reference age |
Early withdrawal, men and women born 1964 or later | from 60 |
Early withdrawal, women born 1961–1963 | five years before the individual reference age, partly from 59 |
Continued work after the reference age | deferral up to five years afterward |
Within this window, you largely determine the timing yourself. How you choose it can significantly affect the capital withdrawal tax.
2. Must I dissolve Pillar 3a at the reference age?
Not necessarily right away. If you are no longer employed when you reach the reference age, you withdraw the balance at the latest then. If you stop working earlier, you do not have to dissolve Pillar 3a immediately: the balance can remain until your individual reference age.
Example: Someone who gives up employment at 62 can defer the Pillar 3a withdrawal until the reference age instead of triggering the capital immediately.
A deferral beyond the reference age is only possible with continued employment, at most five years. You trigger the withdrawal actively with your pension institution; if no timely withdrawal takes place, it pays out according to the legal provisions, whereby tax planning options are lost.
3. Can I keep contributing to Pillar 3a after the reference age?
Yes, provided you still earn OASI-liable income from an employment. Contributions are then possible for at most five further years, with a reference age of 65 therefore up to 70 years. Whether the smaller or larger maximum contribution applies depends on whether you belong to a pension fund.
Employment after the reference age brings several advantages:
- additional pension building through further contributions and possible investment returns
- further tax deductions
- more room to stagger the withdrawal over several years
With part-time work, you choose the withdrawal time deliberately; the regular contribution deadline of 31 December also applies in the last year of employment. Whether further contributions are still worthwhile in this late phase is decided by income, marginal tax rate and pension fund membership.
4. What applies in an early retirement?
Many people want to stop working earlier, for health reasons or for more leisure. Financially, an early retirement often has greater consequences than expected. When you can withdraw at the earliest differs by pension area:
Pension | Earliest early withdrawal |
|---|---|
OASI pension | from 63, transitional-generation women 1961–1969 from 62 |
Pension fund | from 58, if the regulations allow it |
Pillar 3a | five years before the reference age |
For the women's transitional cohorts, special reduction rules from the OASI-21 reform additionally apply to the OASI early withdrawal.
An earlier exit mainly slows further build-up in the pension fund and creates a longer period without income from work. Up to the reference age, OASI contributions as a non-employed person can also arise. If you underestimate this, a pension gap arises in old age.
5. How do I stagger multiple 3a accounts at withdrawal?
A single 3a account is generally dissolved in full at the age-based withdrawal; partial withdrawals are not provided for. To spread the withdrawal over several years, you therefore build up several separate 3a accounts early and dissolve them individually in different tax years.
The reason lies in the tax tariff: capital benefits are taxed separately from other income at a special rate, but several withdrawals in the same year are added together for the rate determination. Distributing them over several tax years can therefore lower the tax burden noticeably.
Example calculation: A 63-year-old accountant from St. Gallen stops two years before the reference age and owns three 3a accounts at CHF 120'000. If he spreads the three withdrawals over the years until the reference age instead of triggering all CHF 360'000 in the same year, the capital withdrawal tax falls by around CHF 5'000 in the example, without the pension capital becoming smaller (model value 2026 for a single person in the city of St. Gallen, without further capital withdrawals; varies by place of residence and tax year).
6. Should I adjust the investment strategy before withdrawal?
If you have a securities solution, steer the equity share deliberately before the withdrawal instead of shifting everything into the account at 60. What matters is the planned withdrawal time per account.
- Money you withdraw within one to three years should fluctuate less.
- Accounts you dissolve only later may stay invested longer.
- Plan a restructuring proactively, not as a reaction to a market crash on the stock exchange.
- Check the costs and deadlines of your provider beforehand.
Which equity share suits the remaining investment horizon is determined by your personal risk profile.
7. How do I coordinate Pillar 3a, pension fund and OASI?
At retirement, capital withdrawals from Pillar 3a, pension fund and vested benefits accounts often coincide in the same time window. If they are triggered in the same tax year, the tax burden can rise through the progression. You separate Pillar 3a from this in time by withdrawing it in a different tax year than the pension fund or vested benefits capital.
The timing of the OASI withdrawal also affects income and liquidity after retirement. Whether a deferral is worthwhile is decided not only by taxes, but also by financial needs, life expectancy and the rest of your provision. For jointly taxed married couples, the capital withdrawals of both partners in the same tax year work together for the rate determination.
Retirement, pension fund, Pillar 3a and OASI are financially closely interlinked. If you plan the withdrawals early and over several years, you have the greatest room for maneuver on taxes and liquidity.
Calculate pension capital until retirement
If you are still before retirement, the Pillar 3a calculator shows in four scenarios which pension capital builds up until the withdrawal.
