The top ten questions about OASI pensions

Men reach ordinary retirement age, known as the reference age, at 65. For women born in 1960, the reference age of 64 continues to applies this year. From 2025, the retirement age for women will be raised in increments of three months per year to 65 as part of the OASI reform.
Women born in 1961 will thus retire at the age of 64 years and three months. Women born in 1962 will have to work six months longer and women born in 1963 nine months longer. From 2028, the reference age for women born in 1964 or later will be 65.

Flexible pension withdrawal

Men and women can have their OASI pension paid out up to two years before reaching the reference age or postpone drawing it for up to five years. An early withdrawal leads to a lifelong pension reduction, and a deferral leads to a pension increase.

As of this year, you can also opt to withdraw or defer part of your retirement pension only instead of your entire pension. This means that you can draw your pension in up to three stages between the ages of 63 and 70 – for example, 20 percent of your pension from the age of 63, a further 30 percent from the age of 65 and the remaining 50 percent from the age of 67. This is intended to simplify partial retirement. 

Special rules apply to women born in the years 1961 to 1969. They can draw their pension early, starting at the age of 62 (more on this further down in this article).

No pension without an application

You won’t automatically receive your OASI pension once you reach ordinary retirement age. You need to fill out an application form from the OASI compensation office responsible for you – ideally six months before you retire so that the first pension is paid out on time.

As a rule, the compensation fund into which you last paid your contributions is responsible for you. If your spouse already receives a pension, you must register with the compensation office that pays your spouse’s pension. 

In 2024, the maximum individual pension was CHF 2,450 per month, which amounted to CHF 29,400 per year. As of 1 January 2025, the maximum pension will increase by CHF 70 per month to CHF 2,520 or CHF 30,240 per year. If you’ve continually paid OASI contributions since 1 January of the year in which you turned 21 and you have relevant average income of at least CHF 88,200 (from 2025: CHF 90,720), you’ll receive this maximum pension.

All pensioners whose average income is CHF 14,700 or less and who have no contribution gaps receive the minimum pension of CHF 1,225 (from 2025: CHF 1,260) per month. The relevant average annual income comprises earned income, parenting credits for bringing up children and care credits for caring for close relatives.

In March 2024, the Swiss electorate voted in favour of the initiative for a 13th OASI pension payment. This means that all recipients of a retirement pension will receive an additional pension from 2026. It remains to be seen whether this will be paid out once a year or whether the monthly pension will be increased by 8.33 percent instead.

Calculating OASI pensions is complex. The best approach is to ask your OASI compensation office to calculate your expected pension. From the age of 40, you can request an early calculation of your pension free of charge every five years. You can find the corresponding application form here. Or you can use the free OASI online calculator to obtain a non-
­bind­ing estimate of your pension.

A cohabiting couples’ OASI pension may amount to up to CHF 4,900 per month if both partners are entitled to the maximum pension. By contrast, married couples’ OASI pensions are capped: a married couple may receive a maximum of 150 percent of the maximum pension for a single person, i.e. a maximum of CHF 3,675 (from 2025: CHF 3,780) per month. If the sum of both individual pensions exceeds the maximum amount, the pensions will be shortened proportionately. A 13th OASI pension will be added to the ordinary pension from 2026.

The pension of the spouse who retires first is calculated based on his/her average annual income and credits. When the second spouse retires, the income during the years of marriage is split, that is, half is credited to each spouse.

Earned income is often unequally distributed between men and women. Therefore, many male pensioners receive the maximum individual pension until their wife retires. Female pensioners, on the other hand, often only receive the minimum pension until their husband retires.

Couples who don’t yet receive an OASI pension and who divorce should apply for pension splitting immediately after the divorce.

As part of the OASI reform, the federal government has defined a transitional generation that will benefit from measures to compensate them for the higher retirement age. This transitional generation comprises women born between 1961 and 1969. They have two options: they can retire at the higher retirement age and receive a lifelong supplement to their OASI pension, or they can draw their OASI pension earlier and benefit from a lower pension reduction.

Pension supplement option

The amount of the supplement depends on each woman’s year of birth and relevant average annual income. Women born in 1964 or 1965 with a low average income of CHF 58,800 or less will receive the maximum supplement of CHF 160 per month. These are the first age cohorts for whom the retirement age of 65 applies. This means that they’ll have to work a full year longer.

For example, women born in 1964 and 1965 with an average annual income of CHF 65,000 are entitled to a supplement of CHF 100. Starting from an annual income of CHF 73,501, the supplement is CHF 50. For the sake of comparison, a woman born in 1961 with an average income of more than CHF 73,500 will only receive a supplement of CHF 13 per month. This is because she’s only obliged to work three months longer than before and she has a relatively high income.

The supplement won’t be subject to the usual capping on married couple’s OASI pensions, and it will be paid out in addition to the maximum pension.

Early pension withdrawal option

Women in the transitional generation can also opt out of the higher retirement age and draw their pension earlier. They can make an early withdrawal from the age of 62. In addition, their pension will be reduced to a lesser extent than usual if they withdraw it early.

Example: The regular retirement age for a woman born in 1962 is now 64 years and six months. This means she has to work half a year longer than before the OASI reform. Should she nonetheless retire at 64, her pension will only be reduced by 1.8 percent instead of the usual 3.4 percent, assuming that her average earned income is more than CHF 73,500. Her pension won’t be reduced at all if she has an average income of CHF 58,800 or less and draws her pension up to one year early.

Important: The more advantageous reduction rates won’t apply until 1 January 2025.

Contribution gaps occur if you haven’t paid OASI contributions every year since 1 January in the year in which you turned 21, for example if you haven’t always worked in Switzerland or if you didn’t pay even the minimum OASI contribution while you were studying.

If one spouse doesn’t work, his/her OASI contribution will be considered to be paid for the years in which his/her gainfully employed spouse pays OASI contributions amounting to at least twice the minimum contribution.

For each missing contribution year, your pension will be shortened by 1/44. That corresponds to around 2.3 percent.

You can only pay missing OASI contributions retrospectively within five years of their due date. However, if the five years have already passed, you don’t necessarily have to worry that your pension will be reduced. If you paid voluntary OASI contributions at the age of 18 to 20, the compensation office will use these contributions to close any gaps. As of this year, you can close contribution gaps by continuing to work after 65. However, this is only possible under certain conditions, which are described in more detail in the OASI leaflet. 

You can draw your OASI pension at the earliest two years before ordinary retirement age (reference age). If you opt for an early withdrawal one year before reaching the reference age, your pension will be reduced by 6.8 percent for the rest of your life. If you draw your pension two years earlier, it will be reduced by 13.6 percent. You can also draw only part of the pension (20 to 80 percent) early and take the rest later. Women born between 1961 and 1969 (the transitional generation) can still opt to draw their pension from the age of 62 and benefit from more favourable reduction rates.

Whether an early withdrawal is financially worthwhile depends primarily on the your life expectancy. Consider the following example: A single man who retires early draws his pension at 63 instead of 65. This reduces his pension by 13.6 percent. If he’s entitled to the maximum pension, he’ll only receive CHF 25,400 instead of CHF 29,400 per year.

The early withdrawal pays off if the pensioner dies relatively early, for example at the age of 70. By the time of his death, he’ll have received an OASI pension amounting to CHF 177,800 in total. If he had opted for a regular withdrawal, the total amount would have been only CHF 147,000 when he died (see table).

This logic flips at the age of 78. From that age onwards, the sum of all your OASI pensions will be higher if you started withdrawing your pension at the age of 65. The current life expectancy of a 65-year-old man is 85. On average, women live to be around 88 years old. Therefore, an early withdrawal is worthwhile above all for pensioners who assume that their life expectancy is significantly lower.

The situation is different for women in the transitional generation because their pensions are reduced to a lesser extent if they make an early withdrawal. If, for example, a woman born between 1961 and 1969 retires one year before her reference age, her OASI pension won’t fall at all, or only by 2.5 or 3.5 percent, depending on her average income.

Otherwise, the reduction for pension withdrawal one year early would be 6.8 percent. In return, however, she must forgo the pension supplement to which she is entitled if she doesn’t retire until she reaches the reference age.

Tip: Don’t base your decision for or against an early withdrawal solely on your assumed life expectancy. Your personal situation in terms of income, assets and taxes is almost as important. Private savings such as pillar 3, assets in savings accounts and liquid securities are often a better suited means to bridge any income gap arising due to early retirement. Pillar 3a assets can be paid out from the age of 60.

You remain obliged to pay OASI contributions until you reach the reference age. So people who retire early must continue to pay annual OASI contributions until that age, like other non-gainfully employed people.

To calculate contributions, annual pension income is multiplied by 20 and added to net assets. If the resulting sum amounts to less than CHF 340,000, the annual minimum contribution of CHF 514 is payable. The maximum contribution is CHF 25,700 per year; it is due for a total of assets and 20x pension income of CHF 8,740,000 or more. For married, non-gainfully employed couples, half of their joint assets and pension income is taken as the calculation basis.

If you retire early, you should register as non-gainfully employed with the OASI compensation office responsible for you. Otherwise, you risk having a contribution gap that could reduce your retirement pension.

If you retire gradually or still receive income for part-time work after early retirement, you can save several thousands of Swiss francs in OASI contributions under certain circumstances.

If you defer your OASI pension, you’ll receive a higher pension for life. Deferral must be for no less than 12 months and no more than five years. You can defer your entire pension or between 20 and 80 percent of it, and you can opt on a one-time basis to increase the percentage you draw. If a man doesn’t draw his full pension until he’s 70, it will be 31.5 percent higher than if he draws it at 65.

Important: If you’d like to defer your pension, you need to inform the relevant OASI office accordingly at the latest one year after you reach regular retirement age. Otherwise you won’t receive the pension supplement when you subsequently draw your pension.

Incidentally, you don’t have to decide how long you want to defer drawing your OASI pension for. As soon as the one-year minimum duration has expired, you can ask for your pension to be paid out at any time. You can also revoke your deferral within one year after reaching the reference age. In such a case, your regular pension will be paid out retroactively.

Pensions are subject to income tax. You can avoid this if you have sufficient other income and don’t yet depend on your pension. This is therefore an argument for drawing your pension as late as possible. However, you need to live to be at least 85–86 for the sum of all the pension amounts you receive to be higher than if you retired at ordinary retirement age (see table earlier in this article).

Gainfully employed people over the age of 65 must pay OASI contributions on any income that exceeds the contribution-free allowance of CHF 1,400 per month or CHF 16,800 per year. If you have several jobs and receive separate salaries, you can claim the allowance for each of these employment relationships. This applies, for instance, if you are employed by two employers at the same time; or if you are employed and also earn money with a self-employed activity.

Since the beginning of the year, it has been possible to pay contributions after the age of 65. As a result, you can obtain a higher pension, for two reasons. Firstly, working after retirement age increases the relevant average income used to determine the amount of your pension. Secondly, contributions after the age of 65 can also be used to fill contribution gaps under certain conditions. Your average income rises even further if you voluntarily opt out of the contribution-free allowance and pay OASI contributions on all your income. However, if you’re already entitled to the maximum pension, you can’t increase it any further by paying contributions after the age of 65.

Important: In order to benefit from a higher pension, you must ask your OASI office to recalculate your pension. One recalculation is permitted for persons between the reference age and the age of 70.

If a married person dies, their surviving spouse’s retirement pension is recalculated. The surviving partner receives the same retirement pension that a single person would receive, but with a widow’s or widower’s supplement of 20 percent. However, widows and widowers receive a maximum pension of CHF 2,450 per month, including this supplement.

Widowed persons who also meet the criteria for a survivor’s pension receive the higher of the two pension amounts.