Pillar 3a before 31 December 2026: limits and the new retroactive buy-in

With just a few weeks of the year left, pillar 3a remains one of the simplest ways to reduce your taxes while preparing for retirement. Since 2026, it has offered a long-awaited new feature: the option to make up contributions missed in 2025 through a buy-in. Here are the amounts, rules and deadlines you need to know, whether you are employed or self-employed in Geneva.

Maximum amounts in 2026 and 2027

The deductible ceiling depends first on one question: are you a member of a pension fund (2nd pillar)?

The 2027 amounts, set by the Federal Council on 2 October 2026, will apply from 1 January 2027; your payments this year therefore fall under the 2026 amounts.

• Self-employed: the relevant income is the profit from your business (the balance of the profit and loss account after tax adjustments), less your personal OASI/DI/IC (AVS/AI/APG) contributions.
• Couples: where both spouses or registered partners are gainfully employed, each has their own ceiling.
• Above the ceiling: any excess payment is not deductible and must be refunded by the pension provider.

What’s new: retroactive buy-ins into pillar 3a

On 6 November 2024, the Federal Council amended the OPP 3 ordinance, which governs the deduction of pillar 3a contributions, with effect from 1 January 2025. If you did not pay the maximum in a given year, you can now close that gap later with a buy-in, within 10 years. Only gaps arising from 2025 onwards can be bought in: 2026 is therefore the first year in which a buy-in is possible, for the year 2025.

Conditions

• You were entitled to contribute in the year being made up, i.e. you had income subject to OASI (AVS) in Switzerland.
• You are also entitled to contribute in the year of the buy-in and have first paid your full ordinary contribution for that year.
• You have not yet drawn an old-age benefit from pillar 3a.
• You send a written request to your 3a bank or insurer, stating the buy-in amount, the years concerned and the amount of each gap.

Ceiling and deduction

• The buy-in is limited, per year, to the ‘small contribution’ (8% of the upper limit under the Occupational Pensions Act), i.e. CHF 7'258 in 2026, even if you are not a member of a 2nd-pillar pension fund.
• Only one buy-in is allowed per tax year. It may cover several years of gaps, but each annual gap can be closed only once.
• The buy-in may be made with a different provider from the one holding your ordinary contributions.
• It is fully deductible from taxable income in the year it is paid. In Geneva, the first buy-ins will be deducted in the 2026 tax return, to be filed in 2027.

Deadline: credited to your 3a account by 31 December

To be deductible for 2026, your contribution must be paid no later than 31 December 2026. According to the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA), what counts is the date on which it is credited to the 3a account or policy, not the date it is debited from your bank account. Self-employed people whose financial year ends on 31 December must also pay before the end of the calendar year.

A Geneva particularity: Thursday 31 December 2026 is an official public holiday (Restoration of the Republic), as is Friday 25 December. Do not leave it until the last few days, and check your provider’s internal cut-off date.

In your Geneva tax return, attach proof of your payments. In the 2025 return, employees entered their pillar 3a contributions in Annex A, under codes 31.40 (taxpayer A) and 41.40 (taxpayer B). For a buy-in, enter the total amount of buy-ins made during the year. If you live abroad or do not hold a C permit, the deduction requires quasi-resident status and an application for a subsequent ordinary assessment (TOU).

Worked example

The cases below assume income subject to OASI (AVS) in Switzerland in 2025 and 2026. The first two are taken from the examples published by the Geneva Cantonal Tax Administration.

For the self-employed person, the 2025 gap amounts to CHF 24'000, but the 2026 buy-in remains capped at CHF 7'258. And since each annual gap can be bought in only once, the year 2025 cannot be bought in again afterwards: a choice worth planning.

What about the tax saving? The deduction reduces your taxable income for both federal direct tax and cantonal and municipal tax; the actual saving therefore depends on your taxable income, your family situation and your municipality. Only a simulation based on your own situation can put a figure on it.

Withdrawal and separate taxation

Pillar 3a assets can be withdrawn at the earliest 5 years before the OASI (AVS) reference age. If you continue working, you can keep contributing and defer the withdrawal until up to 5 years after that age. Early withdrawal is possible, in particular, in the following cases:

• purchase of owner-occupied residential property or repayment of a mortgage loan (once every 5 years);
• start of self-employment or a move to a different self-employed activity;
• a buy-in into your pension fund;
• permanent departure from Switzerland;
• a full disability pension from the federal disability insurance (AI), where the disability risk is not insured.

From the first withdrawal, the account or policy concerned is closed. The capital is then taxed separately from your other income: for federal direct tax, on the basis of one fifth of the ordinary scale; in Geneva, the cantonal tax administration also applies separate taxation at one fifth of the ordinary scale (the amount is declared under code 98.12). A pillar 3a withdrawal is always fully taxable; the tax due depends on the amount withdrawn and your personal situation.

Let us review it together

Applicable ceiling, estimating a self-employed person’s profit, whether a buy-in makes sense or how to plan withdrawals: a brief review before the year end can spare you many surprises. The SuisseFidu team will help you take stock and prepare your 2026 tax return. Feel free to book a 30-minute call.

This article provides general information as at the date of publication; it does not replace advice tailored to your situation.

Sources

• Amounts valid from 1 January 2026 (Federal Social Insurance Office FSIO, in French)
• The third pillar (Federal Social Insurance Office FSIO, in French)
• Minimum OASI/DI pension to rise by 20 francs, 2 October 2026 (Federal Council, in French)
• Federal Council introduces buy-ins into pillar 3a, 6 November 2024 (Federal Council, in French)
• Ordinance on tax deductions for contributions to recognised forms of pension provision (OPP 3), SR 831.461.3 (Fedlex, in French)
• Circular No. 18a: Tax treatment of pillar 3a contributions and benefits, 22 December 2025 (Swiss Federal Tax Administration FTA, in French)
• Pillar 3a buy-ins: what changes in the 2026 tax return (Geneva Cantonal Tax Administration, in French)
• Pillar 3a amounts (Geneva Cantonal Tax Administration, in French)
• How to deduct 2nd and 3rd pillar A contributions (Geneva Cantonal Tax Administration, in French)
• How to deduct 2nd and 3rd pillar A buy-ins (Geneva Cantonal Tax Administration, in French)
• Guide to the 2025 tax return for individuals (Geneva Cantonal Tax Administration, in French)
• Declaring capital benefits (Geneva Cantonal Tax Administration, in French)
• Official public holidays 2022-2027 (Republic and Canton of Geneva, in French)