No, there is no VAT on product costs. The VAT only applies on the 0.39% from Finpension, which gives 0.42%. So, you add the product costs on top of the 0.42%.
7.7%
The reduced rates for âvital goodsâ (food, medicine) doesnât apply to banking services 
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Isnât Viac (WIR Vorsorgestiftung) in Basel?
In my opinion it doesnât matter where the foundation is domiciled, it matters where you as âcashing outâ-resident live. I meant to read that AI or AR are cheapest cantons to live in when withdrawing your pension funds.
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I confirm that itâs where you live on December 31st of the year when you withdraw the funds that impacts the taxation and not the domicile of the pension fund ^^.
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Domicile of pension fund/foundation will effect effective tax rate
- when residing outside of Switzerland AND
- being ineligible for a refund of withholding tax.
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there wouldnât be a cottage industry of schwyz pension funds specializing in tax evasion/optimization for emigrating expats if that were true. but that cottage industry does exist, soâŠ
I have seen a foundation that is domiciled at a âc/oâ address of an individual. When you look the address up on Google Street View, itâs nothing more than a small residential block of flats somewhere in canton Schwyz.
Whereas valuepension has at least found âhomeâ at their (?) accountsâŠ
That said, Iâm wondering how many people do transfer their benefits to Schwyz and pay the hundreds of CHF privilege to cash them out from there - even though the withholding tax would be only provisional for them (in other words, depending on their own tax residency, be irrelevant in the end).
Hi Cortana, you are right. Please excuse the mistake. I mixed it up with another service provider. But Basel is even worse than Zurich for withholding tax (10.3% in Basel compared to 8.3% in Zurich and 4.8% in Schwyz).
In case anyoneâs interested, I found this interactive map on Swissinfo which clearly shows which Swiss withholding taxes (pillar 2 or pillar 3a) you can reclaim depending on which country you move to:
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Would be also interesting to know which countries donât tax the payout at the same time
Ideally you both get to reclaim swiss taxes AND donât pay any tax to the new country, Iâve heard this is possible in Thailand, maybe Malta (assuming you donât remit cash to the island). Any other interesting destinations?
I know Portugal has a pension-friendly tax regime, but I havenât been able to find exact information on how that applies to pension benefits (ahead of retirement).
I hadnât paid in my 3a for 2020 yet & thought Iâd check Finpension out.
Itâs a great app (I actually prefer it over the Viac one) & the product suits my tastes for 3a a lot.
Checked the website for the product fact sheets. All good.
Opened my account & made the transfer. (Simple!)
Love the freedom to choose even one ETF only and not have to combine, thereby avoiding IMO unnecessary re-balancing. I chose 99% SPI Extra, as I want some additional exposure to these kind of companies in my âtotal portfolioâ.
-0.1% Fees & 99% instead of 97% invested arenât going to make me move my exisiting 3aâs from Viac any time real soon (wait n see if/how Viac reacts, wait n see if Finpension has any âhiddenâ surprises of its own), but I will definitely be using Finpension for my ânew depositsâ from now on.
Edit: not âSPI Extraâ, but âCSIF (CH) Equity Switz Small & Midcap ZBâ
Edit again: âSPI Extraâ which is called âCSIF (CH) Equity Switz Small & Midcap ZBâ
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it is interesting.
I am with viac but perhaps it is a good option to open an account in Finpension. When I do not live in Switzerland (retirement)I will pay less taxes to withdraw my 3rd pilier, right? or the detour to Schwyz may not even be necessary if there is a double taxation treaty in my country of residence?
Does anyone know how much it costs to pass your 3 piliar from viac to Finpension?
As far as I know the transfer from viac costs nothing.
There are no fees directly. However, several of the CS funds have redemption fees that will be triggered when the shares are sold. On top of that, there is the opportunity cost of not being in the stock market for at least one month.
Itâs my first post ever, so welcome everybody! Thanks to the community for a lot of valuable information.
Iâm considering starting 3a deposits into Finpension while keeping my older 3a account at the same time (which I assume is possible).
Question about one of the funds that Finpension (effectively CS) offers: Equity World ex CH Quality
targeting stocks with historically high return on equity, stable year-on-year growth, and a low leverage ratio
Seems comparable with some of the momentum factor ETFs (?). So far, fund has been generating returns above the standard MSCI World ex Switzerland index. Despite higher TER, it seems like an interesting option. What do you think?
It depends on whether withholding tax is refundable or not.
Countries can have a double taxation treaty but nevertheless not allow refund of withholding tax.
Rather to Quality factor ETFs, Iâd say.
hi Roland,
Excuse me for asking, but where did you find the SPI Extra ETF? On their webpage, I only see a weird âSPI Multi Premia Blueâ⊠https://finpension.ch/en/3a/strategies/index-tools/
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What confuses me about the funds on offer, some are offered as two variant, one with a H in the name and the other without. Such as these two:
CSIF (CH) III Equity World ex CH Blue - Pension Fund ZB CH0130458182 Factsheet
CSIF (CH) III Equity World ex CH Blue - Pension Fund ZBH CH0217837381 Factsheet
They look identical from the factsheets to me. What is the difference?
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Ha, surprisingly easy answer. Thanks!
I am a bit surprised that they seem to be identical from a cost basis.
And I discovered now that both have a spread when buying and selling (0.08% / 0.03%), but I guess these are covered by Finpensions all in fee.
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