Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Before taking unpaid leave, you have several options for maintaining your insurance cover with the Alvoso Pension Fund. You have the following options to choose from:
- Continuation of previous insurance cover
- Continuation of previous risk insurance
- Suspension of insurance
In principle, savings capital is saved during employment for a later pension. This savings capital is converted into a pension at the time of retirement. The conversion rate is applied. You will find your expected annual pension on your pension statement.
In addition to the retirement pension, disability and death are also insured. You will also find these individual benefits on your pension statement.
The employer, together with the employees’ representatives, determines which part of the salary is insured in the occupational pension scheme. The insured salary is shown in the individual pension statement provided for each insured person.
If you leave Switzerland definitively but would still like to have your pension assets paid out, withholding taxes apply.
The Secretariat of the Alvoso Pension Fund is located in Schlieren (Canton of Zurich). For this reason, the tax rates of the Canton of Zurich are applied.
The insurance certificate shows the amount that can still be purchased (purchasing potential). The purchasing potential indicates the maximum amount that you can pay into the pension fund voluntarily, in order to top up the regulatory retirement benefit. Voluntary purchase closes any gaps in your pension provision, increases your retirement pension and also saves taxes.
No, unfortunately not. The funds can only be used for residential property that is permanently owner-occupied. Holiday homes and holiday apartments are not included.
Every active insured person (not pensioners) who has retirement assets of at least CHF 20,000 and who has not made any purchases in the last three years can make an early withdrawal up to three years before normal retirement.
Advance withdrawals are possible at intervals of at least five years.
For insured persons from the age of 50, the capital available for advance withdrawal corresponds to the vested termination benefit at the age of 50 or half of the vested termination benefit available at the time of the advance withdrawal, if higher.
Capital withdrawals are subject to a one-off tax charge, whereas pensions are subject to both distributed tax and income tax.
Why not both? At Alvoso Pension Fund, capital withdrawals are possible in full or in part. A secure income for life after retirement is the main argument in favour of a retirement pension. Full or partial withdrawal of capital depends on individual life planning.
The Alvoso Pension Fund pays disability pensions if the insured person is at least 40% disabled as defined in Swiss Federal Disability Insurance (IV) (IV decision) and was insured with Alvoso when the work incapacity that caused the disability occurred.
The disability pension that Alvoso pays out to the insured person is shown on the insurance certificate. In the event of 40% invalidity, a ¼ disability pension is applied. An increasing degree of disability results in higher disability pensions.
The beneficiaries of a death benefit are named in the Beneficiary Regulations. The Beneficiary Regulations in an occupational pension scheme is independent of the law of succession (the Swiss Civil Code). A will, in which a potential distribution of capital has been written down, does not apply to occupational pension schemes and has no validity.