No worries. 
I didn’t take it as arrogant at all.
I also don’t want to portray myself as the low-earning underdog on this forum (that I am). But unless you have an executive position, made voluntary contributions or have one of a relatively few high-paying jobs, I think that for the majority of people the mandatory part make up the bulk of their pension fund benefits.
Hi Contemplation,
did you have 3rd pillar? I would be interested in finding out if the bank/fund was also strict when cashing out, only refunding it AFTER the move, and maybe only to a spanish bank account.
You can contact Silvan Amberg, www.swisstaxexpert.com, he has great experience with these issues.
Just completed the withdrawal of the super-mandatory part of my Swiss pension fund pillar 2 from within the EU and paid only 0.93% tax on it. Find a description of the 18-months long process in a blog post (in German). I am now 56 years old and I am planning to either invest it or buy into a new pension fund again or do both after having returned back to Switzerland. Happy reading!
I know this must have been discussed previously on the forum, but I cannot find it. If already somewhere, thanks for sharing a link! My question is, what is the best country to be residing in order to minimize/eliminate taxes when moving out pillar 2a funds from Switzerland? Has anyone compiled an overview with what taxes you’d pay in Malta, Thailand, Mauritius, etc - and also specifically for pillar 2a? Also, does anyone have real-world experience doing this in a low/no tax geography?
This post & related thread has some info, I do not have personal experience however. When I did in the past leave Switzerland for some time abroad I simply paid the Swiss ‘tax at source’ and that was that. It never occurred to me that it would need to be declared at the destination country as well… The sums were small back then, I guess today there would be some questions from the destination country’s tax office.
I wouldn’t overly sweat it with emigration. Nor with the staggering your withdrawals often mentioned.
To provide a baseline and basis for research (and also, maybe, some peace of mind):
The challenge in answering the question, in my view becomes:
Assuming of course, you want to do it the correct and legal way.
(Exceptions may apply to benefits from public employers, due to different rules in DTA)
Some countries with pillar 2 DTAs with Switzerland only tax foreign residents on income earned locally. Indonesia is one example. Thailand only taxes foreign income which is transferred into the country. Chile only taxes the local income of expats for the first 3 years of residence.
So there are ways, but you have to consider all aspects. It comes down to whether the Swiss withholding taxes you could reclaim are substantial enough to make a major move worth your while.
Thanks. Certainly I want to do this in a legal and correct way. In fact, as many DTAs exist, it is much more a puzzle about where you do noy pay tax on pillar 2a in the destination country, than recouping the Swiss tax - which as SF says - is very reasonable at around 5% in SZ.
If I do not need the funds, the alternative then is to move my pillar 2a into Finpension after my Swiss employment ends and simply leave the money in CH until retirement, regardless of where I may reside. Then you pay CH tax upon official retirement, of course, but just at 5%, correct?
Chile does not allow for a refund of the Swiss tax withheld according to the list, though Thailand should (for 2nd pillar benefits only).
For a refund of WHT, the country’s tax authority would have to provide the confirmation on the refund form that reads…
“The tax authority of the country of domicile confirms having taken note of the aforementioned payment and, that the recipient of the payment is a person resident as defined in the double taxation agreement with Switzerland”
Are the Thai tax authority going to confirm that for a payment that wasn’t remitted into the country? I don’t know. But Thailand is quite popular with Swiss retirees, so first-hand experience should be easier to find than for many other countries. Googling it online, there seems to be a Swiss lawyer based in Thailand claiming you could receive that payout without being taxed in Thailand if done correctly (for which he is soliciting your business).
Here’s the court case where the federal court ruled in favor of the pension holder against the Kantonal tax office on the refund of wht.
Basically, at the time of withdrawing your pension, assuming also that it is a private one, you need to be physically and fiscally present in the destination country and then you should be able to claim back 100% of the WHT.
The countries with this eligibility can be found here:
It’s not entirely true the progressive rate can be found here:
Hi,
I am looking for a strategy to minimize my capital withdrawal tax when I pull the plug and leave Switzerland, in roughly 2 years.
Info: We will be moving from CH to another country that allows cashing out pillar 2 in full. It also allows us to refund withholding tax deducted on pillar 2 only based on this table (not pillar 3a):
We are a married couple so taxed jointly. In essence, we will have to deal with two pillar 2s and two pillar 3s.
Pillar 3
Since we can’t claim back the withholding tax based on the country we are moving to and we are living in Zurich, our best strategy is to:
Finpension charges 250CHF on early withdrawal due to emigration.
To minimize cost, including asset management fee, I’m thinking of moving our pillar 3s to True Wealth (average TER 0.13%, domiciled in Zurich) while we are still in CH. When we leave, move the accounts to Finpension (TER 0.39%, domiciled in Schwyz).
Pillar 2
Since we should be able to claim back 100% of the WHT on pillar 2 withdrawal, it matters less where the provider is domiciled. What matters more is the TER, early account closing fee, and investment choices. We will be making voluntary purchases so our pillar 2 will be locked for 3 years after the last purchase.
So far, FinPension looks pretty good.
Per withdrawal with finpension for more than 1 year: 500 CHF
Account management fee: 0.2-0.49% depending on strategies
So our strategy is:
1 year of departure: withdraw one pillar 3a
2 years of departure: withdraw the second pillar 3a
3 years of departure: withdraw all pillar 2
Have I missed anything? Does this make sense?
Sources:
Note that to my knowledge this is possible only from 60 yo.
If we keep multiple pillar 3a accounts, then we could do a "staggered withdrawal, right?
It’s not. You’re comparing the wrong things.
These are the rates for Swiss residents, e.g. the 1.4% rate at CHF 50’000 would apply to residents of the town of Schwyz - not to foreign residents withdrawing from a Schwyz-based pension benefits scheme.
crossposting
These are the rates for Swiss residents, e.g. the 1.4% rate at CHF 50’000 would apply to residents of the town of Schwyz - not to foreign residents withdrawing from a Schwyz-based pension benefits scheme.
Why link to 2020 data (or 2021 as I did above), when you can get the 2022 version basically straight from the source? 
Thanks a lot for the correction! Where can I find the WHT of a foreign resident withdrawing from a Schwyz domiciled pension fund?
Just my previous post above for Schwyz.
Finpension also provides a comparison between cantons for tax withheld at source (for payouts to non-residents).
(side note: honestly, I think this is one of these instances where consolidating the discussion into one thread may have made sense)
Thanks for the correction! Where can I find the relevant rates?