Topping-up your 3a pillar retroactively: what's the catch?
On 6 November, 2024 the Federal Council approved an amendment to the law governing tax deductions related to pension plans, effective from 1 January 2025. The new amendment will authorise tax-deductible top-ups into 3a pillar accounts for missed or incomplete payments from 2025 onwards.
The retroactive payments will only be possible if the following conditions are met:
- having earned an income subject to AHV/AVS, i.e. being legally allowed to have a 3a pillar;
- only after having already contributed to the maximum allowed payment for the running year;
- the payments are limited to the period of last 10 years (starting in 2025);
- several years can be topped up with one payment;
- the retroactive payment is limited to a maximum equivalent to the 'small' 3a contribution;
- a withdrawal for retirement reasons puts an end to the top-up payment possibility.
Therefore, this possibility only really concerns generations that will be retiring at the earliest in ten to twenty years from now. This also opens questions about possible changes in taxation rates upon withdrawal at retirement age, we therefore advise to take this news with a pinch of salt.
(source: Confédération suisse, Rachats dans le pilier 3a)
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