Imagine
Are both husband and wife allowed to contribute max to third pillar (6800) and deduct from tax? What if husband only invoices 5k?
From what I could find, it doesnât seem like thereâs a lower limit?
(most people with low work-related income wouldnât do it, because the tax advantage isnât there, but indeed if you have high non-work income it could make sense)
Yes, as both technically have a normal employment income and are contributing to a pension fund, the normal 3a limit applies (7â258 each).
If the husband still contributes to a pension fund via the payroll provider despite the very low income, 3a contribution is still possible but I think itâs capped to the husbandâs net income. If the gross income is 5k, the net income might be 4â500, so he could contribute that amount to 3a. Iâm not completely sure whether other factors (e.g. work-related tax deductions) might further reduce the maximum 3a deduction.
If the husband doesnât contribute to a pension fund due to the low income (itâs not mandatory below an income of 22â680), 3a contribution is possible up to 20% of the net income, which might be around 900 in this example.
(The wife can definitely still deduct the normal 3a maximum, independent of the husbandâs income).
afaiu the rule is OPP3 Art. 7, it talks about being able to deduct from income (doesnât seem to restrict to work-income).
Is there some jurisprudence or extra regulations that explains the cap to salaried income?
ZHprivateTax seems to cap âZulĂ€ssiger Abzugâ to the net work income, even if there is additional wealth income. I would expect that to be correct but I donât have any other reference to confirm that.
I donât know whether itâs realistic to be in a pension plan with such a low income anyway, though, so this might be mostly hypothetical.
That was exactly the trigger indeed for my original question. I was only able to find that as long as the AHV / pensionskasse contributions have real substants, there is no minimum threshold before being able to deduct the full 3rd pillar max.
Self-employed have different rules:
If you donât belong to a pension fund, youâre allowed to pay in up to 20 percent of your net earned income into Pillar 3a every year. The maximum amount is currently CHF 36,288 (as of 2026). This is five times as much as pension fund members are allowed to pay into Pillar 3a (CHF 7,258).
OP said:
So they follow the rules where you do have a pension fund.
If the tax authorities and AHV services consider you as an independent employee, youâll be able to deduct the higher limit (up to 20 percent of your net annual income, max. CHF 36,288)
Hi all,
Great thread. One thing that often gets missed in these discussions: Pillar 3a capacity is driven by earned income, not by wealth. A few clarifications that may help.
Pillar 3a contributions are tied to income subject to AHV/AVS: salary, self-employed income, and the like. Private investment income (dividends, interest, capital gains, rental incomeâŠ) doesnât count toward your 3a allowance.
Concretely: someone with CHF 400k in portfolio income but low earned income may have almost no 3a contribution room at all.
Your maximum 3a contribution depends on whether you are affiliated with a pension fund (BVG/LPP / Pensionskasse) during the year:
With an active pension fund (2nd pillar): you can contribute up to the standard capped amount (CHF 7,258 for 2026).
Without a pension fund: the âself-employed / no BVGâ rule applies, meaning up to 20% of net earned income, subject to a higher cap.
The key question isnât whether your salary is above or below the BVG entry threshold. Itâs whether you are actually affiliated with a pension fund for that year. Someone earning below the threshold can still be affiliated voluntarily; conversely, someone earning above it may not be enrolled, depending on their setup. Affiliation is what matters.
This is where the trap lies. If someone invoices through a payroll provider and is properly enrolled in BVG/LPP, theyâre typically treated like an employee with a pension fund and can usually contribute the full standard maximum.
But if someone only earns a small amount (say CHF 5-10k), they may still pay AHV without having an active pension fund affiliation. In that case, the 3a maximum becomes 20% of net earned income, which can be very small.
If youâre in a borderline situation, or working through a payroll provider, it may be worth checking whether voluntary pension fund affiliation is available under your setup. If it is, that single factor can shift you into the standard 3a regime (full capped amount) rather than the 20% rule. The difference can be substantial.
Pillar 3a is a work-income-based tool, not a wealth-based one. The two determining factors are AHV-subject earned income and pension fund affiliation. Everything else follows from those.
Hope this helps.
Is this a paste from an LLM? It really feels like it. (I had similar output when I did research contributing to the thread).
Letâs use your own voice (and disclose it when you paste LLM output, or even better find the primary sources, validate them and write the reply yourself 
)
Funny, because I was thinking the same thing and had a similar response when asking ChatGPT the question.
Itâs the âpreferableâ answer for me, but Iâm not (yet) convinced.
Checked my 2025 Lohnausweis from the Payroll Service Provider and it clearly mentions âBerufliche Vorsorge - 2. SĂ€uleâ and â10.1 Ordentliche BeitrĂ€geâ with a CHF amount. It also mentions â10.2 BeitrĂ€ge fĂŒr den Einkaufâ but no amount there (i.e. zero) given I did not make a voluntary contribution.
Thereâs also a line for â9. BeitrĂ€ge AHV/IV/EO/ALV/NBUV ââ with an amount behind it in CHF.
It would be a pleasant surprise (if formally confirmed) that you can do a full 3rd pillar contribution even with low/moderate income (incl. AHV contributions).
My understanding was that doing part-time work through a payroll service provider technically speaking does not push you into the self-employed bucket as long as you contribute to AHV (regardless of how small the amount) and as a result you can do a full 3rd pillar contribution (even in excess of your paid income). This only based on the condition that the invoiced work is credible (i.e. real client(s) and reasonable rates) - i.e. no âfakeâ small invoice just so you qualify for Pillar 3.
If thereâs anybody here with some firm (incl. link to source) confirmation of this, Iâd be very appreciative.
Correct but whether youâre self-employed or employed doesnât directly affect the 3a contribution limit. Itâs about whether youâre contributing to a pension fund.
Are you really wondering about the (very niche) case where your employment income is significantly below 7k but your pension fund still accepts contributions, or about employment income being relatively low but still above 7k? I think the latter case is pretty clear from the tax perspective. You may need to check how low the insured income can be at the pension fund of your payroll provider, though.
Yes, to cut to the chase, Iâm wondering what (if not simply 0.01 CHF) the min AHV/2nd pillar contribution is which allows you to make a full 3rd pillar contribution to harvest the tax deduction.
Can you check your pension fund regulations, itâs probably stated there.
for instance there are funds with 2.5k minimum, so itâs not impossible (this is for regular employee tho): Nouveau plan AN Plus : plus de prĂ©voyance pour chaque salaire - Stiftung Auffangeinrichtung BVG
Iâll do that but the question puzzles me as surely the rules are tax rules (as they determine tax deductability), not pension fund rules?
If your pension fund regulation doesnât allow insuring, e.g., a 5k income, the tax question is moot (unless you can switch to another pension fund/plan).
The pension fund of the payroll service provider I am using is a âlightâ pension fund (I suspect on purpose). I.e. not fantastic benefits, but also low premiums.
If the tax rule has no min. on AHV contributions to qualify for a max 3rd pillar payment, why do the 2nd pillar pension fund regulations matter at all? I admit I may be asking this question due to ignorance on my side, but I truly donât understand it.
The main decision between
is based on whether youâre contributing to a pension fund.
If you arenât contributing to a pension fund (for whatever reason, e.g., because youâre below the minimum of your pension fund), the case is clear and you can deduct 20% of the AHV net income, up to 36â288.
If you are contributing to a pension fund, youâre basically eligible to the 7â258 deduction. Here weâre not sure whether that deduction is additionally limited to the AHV net income. ZHprivateTax seems to limit it, but I couldnât really confirm that in the legal conditions. And TaxMe (BE) doesnât seem to limit it.
Real source data now. Key part:
The key distinction for Pillar 3a is not how much AHV you paid, but which regime you fall into:
If you have AHV-liable earned income and belong to a 2nd-pillar pension fund, you fall under the âsmallâ 3a limit: CHF 7,258 per year from 2025/2026.
If you have AHV-liable earned income but do not belong to a 2nd-pillar institution, you fall under the âlargeâ formula: 20% of earned income, capped at CHF 36,288. So with only CHF 5,000 of earned income, that would be only CHF 1,000, not the full CHF 7,258
In my case, the payroll service providerâs Lohnausweis clearly showed I made 2e Saule contribtions. It seems to me that, regardless how low, youâre then qualified for a full 3rd pillar contribution and related tax deduction.