All persons living or working in Switzerland must pay OASI contributions from 1 January following their 20th birthday until retirement age.
This obligation begins at age 17 if you are already working and continues after retirement age if you remain gainfully employed.
The old-age pension you receive on retirement will depend on the amount of OASI contributions you have paid during your lifetime.
If you are not working
If you are a student; if you take early retirement; if you receive a disability insurance pension or daily allowances for illness or accident; or if you are unemployed, but your entitlement to benefits has ended you must pay a OASI contribution of minimum CHF 530 per year (depending on your situation). In addition to the OASI contributions, other mandatory contributions for disability insurance and compensation for loss of earnings are also included in this amount.
Please note: if you are not working, but your spouse or partner (in the case of a registered partnership) is working and pays at least twice the minimum annual contribution (CHF 530 x 2 = CHF 1,060), you are not required to pay anything.
If you are an employee
Half of your OASI contributions (8.7% of your salary) are paid by you and the other half by your employer. Your employer takes care of deducting the OASI contributions from your gross salary and pays them to the compensation fund.
Please note that you and your employer must pay the other mandatory contributions for disability insurance, loss of earnings compensation and unemployment insurance in addition to the OASI contributions.
If you are self-employed
You need to calculate and pay your OASI contributions (generally 8.1% of what you earn). Contact your local OASI office for more information.
Please note that you must pay the other mandatory contributions for disability insurance, loss of earnings compensation and unemployment insurance in addition to the OASI contributions.
If you postpone retirement
If you continue working after retirement age, you must continue to pay OASI contributions.
You will no longer have to pay unemployment insurance, as you are not entitled to unemployment benefits after reaching the statutory retirement age.
The contributions you pay during this period are calculated based on the part of your income that exceeds CHF 16,800 per year.
However, you may choose not to apply the tax-free allowance and pay contributions on your entire income instead.
If you work for two or more employers, this amount is deducted from your pay at every job.
If you are not gainfully employed for the whole year, the annual allowance is levied on a pro-rata basis.
Company A | Company B | |
|---|---|---|
Monthly salary | 1600.- | 1500.- |
Allowance | - 1400.- | - 1400.- |
Liable for contributions | 200.- | 100.- |
If you move abroad
If you move abroad, you generally no longer pay OASI contributions in Switzerland.
In some cases (e.g. if you move abroad only temporarily or if you work abroad for a Swiss employer), you may pay voluntary OASI contributions (e.g. from a country outside of the EU/EFTA).
For more information on how to proceed in your specific situation, contact your local OASI office or the Swiss representation abroad of your country of residence.
You can request a statement of your OASI contributions at any time. If you notice any errors or inaccuracies, you should ask the OASI office to correct the statement within 30 days of receiving it.
OASI contributions are mandatory in Switzerland. However, there may be gaps in your contributions, if for some reason you did not pay them regularly.
This might be the case for those who did not pay their OASI contributions during their studies.
Failure to regularly pay OASI contributions will reduce your OASI pension. For example, one year of unpaid OASI contributions will reduce your pension by about 2.3%.
You can pay into the system to cover missing contributions, but only if the gap occurred within the past five years. It is not possible to make up for older gaps this way.
If, on the other hand, you continue to work after reaching the reference retirement age, you can, under certain conditions, use the paid contributions to fill gaps and possibly improve your pension.
Contact your local OASI office for more information on compensating for missing contributions.
The page on old age and survivors’ insurance explains how Switzerland’s social protection system for old age and its three pillars work.
Contact your local OASI office for more information about your OASI contributions.
You may also find helpful information on the Federal Social Insurance Office’s list of FAQs about old age insurance.
A list of leaflets with specific information can be found on this OASI webpage.
Specific information concerning OASI contributions for people leaving Switzerland can be found on the Federal Social Insurance Office’s list of FAQs about old age insurance and in the OASI’s leaflets. You will find more information on the page about retirement abroad.
This webpage (available in German, French and Italian) provides more information on OASI contribution gaps.