www.allianz.ch
Pension or lump sum
May 2015
Information sheet for insured persons
Before retirement you are faced with the question of whether to take a life-long
pension or a one-off lump sum. Take your family situation, finances, wishes and
objectives into account in your decision.
Principle.
BVG insurance gives you the choice between taking a life-long pension and withdrawing a lump sum. You can also opt for a combination
of the two. The decision you take is definitive and can no longer be altered. It therebefore pays to take the following criteria into account.
Criteria for deciding between a pension and a lump sum.
Pension
Lump sum
Flexibility
Restricted flexibility for large, one-off purchases
Financial scope for larger purchases
Security
• Regular, secure income for the rest of your life
• No investment risks of any kind
• Capital immediately available
• Requires careful and active asset management
• Life expectancy is not predictable
→ Will there be sufficient funds?
Health
The higher your personal life expectancy,
the more it pays to have a pension
Ideal when your life expectancy
is not high due to known illnesses
Death/position of
offspring
• Right of spouses to a surviving dependants’ pension
• Unused funds are available to your offspring/heirs
• A cohabiting partner can be better taken into account
• If you withdraw a lump sum, you lose any entitlement to survivors’
(60 % of the retirement pension)
• Children have a right to at least 20 % of the mandatory
retirement pension until they reach the age of 18 at the latest
(or 25 if they are still in education or training)
• Any capital not used for survivors’ pensions falls to the pension
fund
benefits from the pension fund
Taxes
Pensions are taxable in their entirety
Payouts are taxed separately from other
income and at a lower rate
Adjustment
for inflation
The pension funds adjust retirement pensions to take inflation into account provided this is within their financial capabilities (there is no obligation to do this, so this does not constitute protection against inflation)
Compensation for inflation is possible depending on the return on
the capital
Income
Pension as only income (in addition to the AHV)
You would do well to have additional funds available
As a general principle, a pension is recommended for retired people who will have to cover the greatest part of their future income from the AHV
and the pension fund. Withdrawal of a lump sum makes sense when additional funds are available and you have sufficient investment experience.
Es gelten die vertragsrelevanten Bedingungen der Allianz Suisse.
Lump sum option
Notice required
If you decide to withdraw some or all of your retirement assets
as a lump sum rather than taking a pension, you have to notify
the pension fund of this (specifying the portions of your assets to
be taken as a pension and withdrawn as a lump sum) before you
reach the normal retirement age or take early retirement.
Please note:
Assets in the pension fund can only be withdrawn provided the
insured person is not disabled on retirement.
Procedure
How to proceed:
Complete either the form entitled «Pensionierung: Antrag auf
Bezug der Altersleistung in Kapitalform» («Retirement: request
to withdraw retirement benefits as a lump sum») or «Pensionierung: Bezug der Altersleistungen» («Retirement: taking
retirement benefits»).
Combination
It is possible to combine withdrawing a lump sum with a pension.
This gives you a secure income to cover your living costs, and the
rest is available to you as capital.
The following combinations are possible
(lump sum / pension): 25 % : 75 % / 50 % : 50 %
Revoking your decision
If you have requested the withdrawal of a lump sum, you can no
longer revoke this once you reach the normal retirement age or
take early retirement. Once the lump sum has been paid or the
first pension has been taken, you can no longer revoke your decision. In the case of a lump-sum withdrawal, the written agreement
of your spouse or registered partner is required.
Investment risk
If you withdraw a lump sum, you assume the investment risk in full
and have to accept any fluctuations in the value or your assets and
in the returns from them.
Purchase
If you have made a purchase within three years prior to retirement,
please note:
The exclusion period for a lump sum payment within three years
of the purchase applies, from a tax point of view, regardless of
whether the capital results from the last purchase, and – with
respect to several concurrent pension arrangements for an insured person – regardless of whether the lump sum payment results
from the same or a different pension plan.
The lump sum payment during the exclusion period results in the
subsequent cancellation, by the competent tax authority, of the
tax reduction for purchases made, by means of offsetting against
the insured person’s taxable income.
In accordance with the tax practice for each Canton, the relevant
tax authority carries out a 2nd pillar complete general overview of
the pension arrangement of a person, so that the tax-deductibility
of the pension arrangement purchase shall only be acknowledged
in this respect when, collectively, no over-financing exists through
other pension arrangements.
Options
Lumpsum
100%
50%
25%
100%
75%
Pension
50%
Notification before retirement
The contractual terms and conditions of Allianz Suisse apply.
Notification before retirement