Frequently asked questions

The advantages of having a vested benefits account with us:

• No account management fees – fair fees
• Attractive interest rate
• No notice periods for termination
• A preferential tax rate when your retirement savings are paid out
• Optimized potential returns with securities-based saving

You will find further information on our website and in the brochure "Your vested benefits savings – our solutions".

We have delegated the operative management of Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation to Helvetia. As a provider of 2nd-pillar solutions, Helvetia has extensive expertise and experience in all matters related to occupational benefit schemes. Among other things, Helvetia handles administration of the foundation on our behalf.

Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation is a joint venture of – currently – ten cantonal banks. We deposit your pension assets with one of these cantonal banks.

So, when you open your account, you have to select a cantonal bank on the application form; we then deposit your pension assets with the cantonal bank of your choice. Under the provisions of the regulations, the selected cantonal bank is designated the "intermediary cantonal bank" for the pension assets. The interest rates of the affiliated cantonal banks are published on our website.

As a customer of Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation, you decide which affiliated cantonal bank you deposit your pension assets with. We collaborate only with cantonal banks that are covered by the state deposit guarantee. In the unlikely event that a cantonal bank were to encounter financial difficulties, you can rest assured that your pension assets are guaranteed in entirety. The only thing that can happen in such a case is that disbursement or transfer of your pension assets is delayed until such time as all necessary measures have been taken.

The civil status certificate (for Swiss nationals) and confirmation of registered civil status (for foreign nationals) summarize the latest officially registered personal data. They are valid proof of personal data such as a person's name, civil status or – for Swiss nationals – Swiss citizenship.

Swiss nationals can obtain a civil status certificate from the registry office of the town in which their citizenship is registered. Foreign nationals can obtain confirmation of their registered civil status from the registry office at their domicile. The documents can be ordered by e-mail or over the phone. Some nationals, e.g. Germans, must order the civil status certificate via their consulate.

You can obtain confirmation of your current domicile over the counter at your local residents' registration office. The document can also be ordered in writing, by e-mail or by filling in an online form.

A vested benefits account must be closed when you start a new job and therefore become subject to the occupational benefits insurance again. In this case your vested benefits have to be transferred to the new pension fund. You or the new pension fund may request the transfer. Unless the employee benefit institution explicitly requests transfer of a partial amount, the entire vested benefits have to be transferred.

A vested benefits account may be closed in the following cases:

• The prerequisites for early withdrawal under either the statutory provisions or the pension fund regulations are met (see Art. 8).
• You are making a premature withdrawal to finance owner-occupied residential property and you meet the conditions for premature withdrawals and pledges given in the information sheet.
  
• If you take up self-employment in your main occupation, you are no longer subject to mandatory occupational benefits insurance and, during the first year of self-employment, may apply to the vested benefits foundation to have your benefits paid out.
  

If you take on new dependent employment and your salary exceeds the LOB entrance threshold (Art. 3a Para. 1 OPO 2), your vested benefits account must be closed and the assets transferred to your new employer's pension fund.

The vested benefits account can be closed at the request of the policy holder, provided the statutory provisions and those of the Regulations are fulfilled.

The policy holder must close the account in writing. On our Website you will find the form Application for closing a vested benefits account, which you can fill out online. The completed application form and any necessary documents must be submitted to us no sooner than 90 days prior to the desired disbursement date.

Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation has no notice periods for termination. In order to protect your assets, we reserve the right to request additional documents and signatures from you. Once we have received all necessary information and the reason for disbursement has been substantiated, the benefits will be disbursed within 30 days.

The benefits are generally transferred to an account in Switzerland kept in the policy holder's name.

The account may be closed without a request from the policy holder in the following cases:

• Your new employee benefit institution requests transfer of your pension assets.
• If the pension assets have been pledged, we are obliged to close your account if the pledge is realized in full.
• A court order issued in cases of divorce or of dissolution of a registered partnership may result in the (partial) netting of vested benefits. In extraordinary circumstances, Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation may unilaterally terminate the benefit arrangement at any time and without giving any reason.
  

2nd-pillar pension fund assets are not subject to inheritance law (Swiss Civil Code – CC) and are thus disbursed according to the order of beneficiaries given in the Regulations. That is why you must explicitly inform the foundation if you wish to diverge from the order of beneficiaries given in the Regulations (see Art. 12 of the Pension Fund Regulations of Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation).

Policy holders are advised to notify us of any persons they provide with substantial support (e.g. at least 20% of a person's cost of living, such as rent, etc.). If the policy holder dies, these persons will be treated as beneficiaries. Disbursement is not based on the provisions of inheritance law; for further information, we refer you to our Pension Fund Regulations.

At the Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation, there is an account management fee for customers with a savings account solution and securities fees for customers with a securities solution. There is also a processing fee for advance withdrawals in connection with the promotion of home ownership. In addition, closing fees are charged in the case of early disbursements for persons resident abroad. The fees are set out in the cost regulations.

The account management fee is charged to the vested benefits account at the end of the calendar year. If a policy holder withdraws from the Foundation, the account management fee will be charged at the time of withdrawal.

You can see on our website under the conditions of your cantonal bank whether it covers the account management fee.

The fee required to cover the costs of the administration and management of the foundation will continue to be determined by the Board of Foundation uniformly for all partner cantonal banks. In addition, for policy holders with a credit of up to CHF 1,000 no account management fee will be charged in future, as standard practice. However, each partner cantonal bank can now decide individually whether and to what extent it wants to cover the account management fee for its customers. This corresponds to the logic that already applies to the interest rate, i.e. each cantonal bank determines the interest rate. This decision by the Board of Foundation gives the cantonal banks more room for manoeuvre and greater flexibility.

If a policy holder joins or withdraws during the year, the fee will be charged pro rata. This means that policy holders only incur costs for the days on which they are actually affiliated with the Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation. If a policy holder withdraws from the Foundation, the closing fee will be charged at the time of withdrawal.

The account closing fee is charged to pension fund assets when early disbursements are made as a result of individuals leaving Switzerland permanently or giving up cross-border commuter status. If you have five years until retirement age and wish to withdraw your retirement assets, this qualifies as an ordinary withdrawal of retirement assets and will not attract an account closing fee even if you are resident outside Switzerland.

If, as a result of leaving Switzerland permanently or giving up cross-border commuter status, only part of your pension fund assets are withdrawn prematurely, a closing fee of just CHF 100 will be charged. If you make a second withdrawal, another CHF 100 will be charged. The maximum total closing fee is CHF 200.

The new account management fee is only charged on so-called par value savings, i.e. if your vested benefit assets are in a vested benefits account. If you have opted for securities-based saving, you do not have to pay an account management fee since a charge of 0.6% is already levied on invested assets under a securities-based saving plan.

Accounts containing assets below CHF 1,000 are exempt from the account management fee. The amount of CHF 1,000 represents an exemption limit. For example, if you have assets of CHF 1,022 in your vested benefits account, instead of CHF 36 you will only be charged CHF 22.

At the customer's request, we prepare the information needed to calculate the parties' claims and submit it to the applicable court. It is up to the court to calculate the specific amount in pension compensation resulting from a divorce.

In all subsequent steps, we are bound by the court's instructions. The same applies if a registered partnership is dissolved.

In cases of a divorce abroad, we are not responsible for checking whether the accrued pension assets were divided up in accordance with Swiss law. A foreign divorce decree only needs to be recognized or supplemented by a Swiss court if one of the parties demands disbursement of his/her share of the pension assets on the basis of the foreign court's ruling. When a divorce abroad is still very recent and a normal request for disbursement is made, we nevertheless reserve the right to have the divorce decree verified by a Swiss court. Despite this, it is not our obligation to monitor how pension assets are divided up.

Note: A divorce decree does not constitute proof of a person's current civil status. A current civil status certificate must be submitted before pension assets can be disbursed. It is thus the insured person's obligation to notify the relevant authorities of his/her current civil status and have them register it.

Contributions to the 2nd pillar are tax-privileged and capital payments are taxed separately from other income at a reduced rate that differs from canton to canton.

Taxes are payable on disbursement of the pension assets.

We are obliged to notify the tax authorities of such disbursements and we do so accordingly.

Asset transfers within the 2nd pillar are tax-free. Similarly, interest earned on 2nd-pillar pension assets is not subject to income tax, wealth tax or withholding tax.

If, at the time of disbursement, your domicile is outside Switzerland or you are leaving Switzerland permanently, withholding tax is deducted from the amount disbursed. As the foundation is domiciled in Basel-Stadt, that canton's tax rate applies.

You may apply to the Basel-Stadt tax office to have the withholding tax refunded, provided a corresponding treaty is in place between your new country of domicile and Switzerland. For more detailed information, you can contact the tax office of the Canton of Basel-Stadt.

The policy holder is obliged to notify the foundation of his/her current domicile at the time of disbursement.

Within the scope granted by law and the Pension Fund Regulations, you are free to determine the beneficiaries of your pension assets.

• The law (LOB) sets the general framework and the Pension Fund Regulations of Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation the narrower circle within which the policy holder may nominate beneficiaries. The provisions of inheritance law (Swiss Civil Code – CC) do not apply to occupational benefits.
• The main purpose of naming someone a beneficiary of occupational benefits in the event of the policy holder's death is to compensate for the loss of the breadwinner. The loss of a breadwinner is deemed to have occurred if the deceased person provided substantial support to another person prior to his/her death.

If the policy holder dies before the retirement benefits fall due, and has not submitted an application to change the order of beneficiaries given in the Regulations (see Art. 12 of the Pension Fund Regulations of Swisscanto Vested Benefits Foundation), the following are deemed to be beneficiaries in the order of precedence given below:

• The survivors: This means, in particular, the surviving spouse / registered partner and any minors and children still in education (until the age of 25). Foster children are included here only if the policy holder was responsible for their maintenance;
• Persons who were supported to a  substantial extent by the policy holder; or the person with whom the policy holder lived in a domestic partnership for an uninterrupted period of five years preceding his/her death or who is responsible for the maintenance of one or more joint children,
• Children who are of age and have completed their education; the policy holder's parents and siblings, in each case in line with the statutory division rules under inheritance law;
• The remaining legal heirs, with the exception of the public purse, in line with the statutory division rules under inheritance law.

You can use the form Application to change the order of beneficiaries given in the Regulations to describe in more detail the claims of your beneficiaries or, in special circumstances, to extend the group of survivors to include persons you provide with substantial support, insofar as this suits your intentions better.

Only funds can be transferred that have already been accrued under the 2nd pillar. These include retirement savings from

• a pension fund or
• a vested benefits institution
  

as well as

• repayments of premature withdrawals to finance property and
• disbursements following a divorce
  

Unfortunately, voluntary contributions of private assets are not possible.

The modalities of premature cash payment of pension assets are set down in the Vested Benefits Act.

The following personal situations make a premature withdrawal possible:

• Policy holders who leave Switzerland permanently (however, those leaving Switzerland for an EU or EFTA member state may only withdraw the supplementary portion of their pension assets in cash if the country concerned has compulsory insurance for old age, disability and survivors' benefits)
• Policy holders who take up self-employment as their primary occupation in Switzerland or the Principality of Liechtenstein
• Policy holders drawing a full disability pension
• Policy holders whose assets amount to less than their last annual contribution to their last employee benefit institution

In all these cases, the written consent of the spouse or registered partner is required for disbursement.

You can utilize your pension assets to purchase owner-occupied residential property. The following requirements – either statutory or under the Regulations – apply to advance withdrawals:

• The advance withdrawal may be made no later than three years prior to reaching retirement age, provided that the account holder can prove that they are still working. Otherwise or after this date, only payment of the retirement benefit as a lump sum is possible.
• Before reaching the age of 50, the policy holder may withdraw the entire pension assets. After age 50, the policy holder may withdraw no more than the pension assets accrued prior to age 50 or half the accrued pension assets at the time of withdrawal.
  
• Advance withdrawals are possible once every five years.
  
• Apart from the statutory time limits described above, we do not impose any time limits of our own. Disbursement is made after receipt of all necessary information and documents (for further details, please contact as by phone or in writing).
  
• We charge a fee of CHF 400.00 for each advance withdrawal for the promotion of home ownership.
  

Under the applicable law, premature withdrawals may be used to finance the following:

• the purchase / construction of owner-occupied residential property
• co-ownership in owner-occupied residential property
• repayments of mortgages for owner-occupied residential property
• the conversion/renovation of existing owner-occupied residential property
• the purchase of unit certificates in a housing cooperative or similar if used by the policy holder to co-finance an owner-occupied apartment
  

Repayment of advance withdrawals for promotion of home ownership is voluntary. The right and obligation to repay expires when retirement benefits are drawn but at the latest when retirement age is reached, on occurrence of another insured event or when the vested benefits have been paid out in cash.

Premature withdrawals for home ownership promotion may be repaid voluntarily at any time up to three years before the claim to retirement benefits falls due or the insured event occurs or the pension assets are paid out in cash. If the residential property is sold or if rights to the residential property are granted that, in economic terms, are equivalent to a sale you legally obliged to repay the premature withdrawal.

If, within a short period after the sale of the residential property, you purchase a new owner-occupied residential property, the following apples:

• Should you purchase a new residential property within two years of selling the original property, you can park the corresponding funds with us for a maximum of two years. If the sum is not reused to purchase a new residential property, the tax office will be informed of repayment of the advance withdrawal after two years. Please inform us of your intention.
  

If ownership of the residential property is transferred to our spouse, this is not considered to be a sale triggering repayment of the premature withdrawal. Instead, your spouse is subject to the same restrictions on sale as the policy holder. Specifically, that means the premature withdrawal is registered for the beneficiary both with the employee benefit institution and the land registry office.

Contact us by phone or e-mail us and we will send you the form "Promotion of home ownership". As we enter the personal details required by your mortgage bank directly in this form, it is not available for download from on our website.

What you will find on our Website, however, is our information sheet and the Supplement to the Regulations concerning premature withdrawals for the promotion of home ownership. These documents will provide you with preliminary information on the costs involved and the documents we require.