Who we serve · 05
Leaving Switzerland
You are going, or you might be. There are accounts here that will not simply follow you, rules about what can be withdrawn and what must stay, and a set of decisions that are considerably cheaper to make now than from your new address six months later.
What people in this position ask
On the first call- What happens to my Pillar 2The occupational pension your employer runs. Contributions come out of your salary, and the pot is yours even if you change jobs. when I deregister?
- Can I take my 3a with me, and what is withheld if I do?
- Does it matter which canton the Vested benefitsFreizügigkeitsleistung: the pension money left behind when you leave a job and do not immediately join another Swiss scheme. It sits in a holding account until it has somewhere to go. account sits in?
- If I keep a Swiss broker, does that create a problem where I am going?
- Am I still allowed to hold what I hold once I am resident elsewhere?
- Should I do anything before I go, or is this all after the fact?
None of these has a general answer. Every one of them turns on facts about you, which is why the first thing that happens is a conversation rather than a recommendation.
What actually makes this hard
The honest version- 01
Withholding depends on where the account sits
Swiss withholding tax on a pension withdrawal is levied by the canton of the institution, not the canton you lived in. Where the account is held before you leave is therefore a decision, not an accident.
- 02
Part of it may not be released at all
Whether the mandatory portion can be paid out depends on where you are moving and whether you remain in a social security system that covers it. That is settled by rules, not by asking nicely.
- 03
Your new country has its own view of what you hold
Instruments that are ordinary here can be punitive elsewhere, and some destinations tax non-local funds severely. Knowing this before you buy is easy; unwinding it afterwards is not.
Much of this work is arrangement rather than growth, so how the share applies to it is one of the questions still to be settled. It is flagged on the fees page rather than glossed over.
Every term of the feeOnce you are resident elsewhere, whether we may continue to advise you is decided by that country’s rules. We establish the answer before you move, not after.
If this is you, the first call costs nothing.
Thirty minutes. You describe the position, we tell you what we would do and what it would cost, and one legitimate outcome is that you do not need MB Financial Advisory at all. Our fee is 10% of the gain, so a conversation that leads nowhere leads to no invoice either.