The Embassy of Switzerland and the authorities in Switzerland are aware of challenges Swiss citizens who contributed to the OASI while working in Switzerland may be facing while claiming their entitlements in New Zealand.

According to the policy and practice of the New Zealand authorities, renders originating from compulsory contributions to overseas retirement schemes (such as the OASI/AHV/AVS originating from compulsory contributions while working in Switzerland) are routinely deducted from the NZ Superannuation by the New Zealand authorities. For further information, see the website of the Ministry of Social Development.

Switzerland is not responsible for this situation and has repeatedly expressed its dissatisfaction with the deduction policy to the Government of New Zealand.

On the other hand, voluntary contributions to overseas retirement  schemes (such as contributions to the so called “voluntary OASI scheme” / “freiwillige AHV” / “AVS facultative”) are no longer deducted from the NZ Superannuation by the New Zealand authorities, following a decision by the Social Security Appeal Authority on an appeal case back in 2005.

The Embassy of Switzerland is not involved in the process of claiming an old age render from Switzerland. If you have any doubts or questions, please address them directly to the Central Compensation Office CCO of the Federal Department of Finance as the Embassy is neither mandated nor in a position to give information. You will find the contact details of the Central Compensation Office CCO at the end of this article.

Please find information about Swiss old-age renders and early retirement on the website of the Central Compensation Office CCO.

If you are living abroad and do not have your place of residence in Switzerland you can apply for your Swiss old-age render following one of the links below, depending on your personal situation:

If you are a Swiss citizen:  

Remark: please scroll down to the application for an old-age render for persons residing outside Switzerland at the bottom of the page.

If you are a New Zealand citizen:

Remark: please scroll down to the reimbursement request form.

As outlined under the title “Deduction of Swiss render from NZ Superannuation” above, New Zealand does no longer deduct Swiss old-age renders originating from voluntary contributions into the voluntary OASI/AHV/AVS scheme from New Zealand Superannuation.

The following description explains the procedure: 

1. The Swiss old-age render OASI/AHV/AVS can be claimed as outlined above under the title “How to claim your Swiss old-age render from OASI/AHV/AVS”.
   
   

2. At the same time as number 1 a confirmation named “Request for render estimation without voluntary contributions” can be ordered with the form below from the Central Compensation Office CCO, stating the total amount of the old-age render and also stating the hypothetical old-age render amount without contributions to the voluntary insurance scheme:
   Form - Request for render estimation without voluntary contributions (PDF, 1 Page, 25.6 kB)

   
   Based on the request, the Swiss Compensation Office SCO establishes a confirmation which will be sent by post to your address.
   Confirmation (PDF, 1 Page, 186.2 kB)

   
   Please note that your request will be dealt with by the SCO in their order of arrival and that it can take some time until you will get your confirmation.   

   
   Once you get this confirmation from the Swiss Compensation Office CCO, it has to be converted into a .pdf-file by means of a scanner.
   
   

3. The NZ Superannuation can be obtained with Work and Income New Zealand. For information about NZ Superannuation and how to get it, please consult the following website.
   
   Remark: Please let Work and Income know that your Swiss old-age render from OASI/AHV/AI is based or partly based on voluntary contributions into the voluntary OASI/AHV/AVS scheme and therefore not deductible from NZ Superannuation.
   
   

4. The confirmation has to be submitted to Senior Services International of the Ministry of Social Development at the following e-mail-address: international.services@msd.govt.nz in format .pdf as explained under point 2.
   
   Website: Senior Services International
   
   Please mention the appeal against a decision of the Benefits Review Committee 2005 NZSSAA 53 (17 May 2005):
   Social Security Appeal Authority of New Zealand.
   

   Remark: In case you do not have the possibility to convert the confirmation of the Central Compensation Office CCO into a .pdf file and send it to Senior Services International, Work and Income New Zealand can do it for you at any of their offices.
   
   

5. Please note that the Swiss render originating from voluntary contributions into the voluntary OASI/AHV/AVS scheme and therefore not deducted from NZ Superannuation are subject to taxes in New Zealand. For further information on tax issues, please contact New Zealand Inland Revenue or your tax specialist.
   

Work and Income New Zealand might ask you every year to submit the amount of your Swiss old-age render from OASI/AHV/AVS for the calculation of the deduction from your Superannuation.

In order to obtain the necessary confirmation, you should proceed as outlined under chapter "How to proceed to have your render from OASI/AHV/AVS, originating from voluntary contributions into the voluntary OASI/AHV/AVS scheme, not deducted from New Zealand Superannuation" under point 2 and with the form published under the same point.

Please note that the scanned form, duly filled in and signed, can be submitted to the Swiss Compensation Office SCO by e-mail; the Swiss Compensation Office will reply to your request within 10 working days. 

This information is only available in the official Swiss languages. 

Factsheet in German (PDF, 2 Pages, 245.5 kB)

Bundesrat Ueli Maurer, Vorsteher des Eidgenössischen Finanzdepartements, im Ständerat am 5. Dezember 2017

«Neuseeland hat uns noch einmal bestätigt, dass die Daten, wie alle anderen Daten, die im automatischen Informationsaustausch ausgetauscht werden, ausschliesslich für Steuerzwecke verwendet würden. Man kann also davon ausgehen, dass es, wenn es um solche Renteneinkommen geht, einfach eine Nachbesteuerung geben würde, aber keine strafrechtlichen Verfahren.»

«Wir vertrauen selbstverständlich darauf, dass Neuseeland diese Daten, so, wie das uns zugesichert wurde, nur zu allfälligen Nachbesteuerungen verwenden wird und sonst nicht. Das wurde uns auch schriftlich zugesichert, was uns die Möglichkeit geben würde einzugreifen, wenn es anders wäre.» 

Factsheet in French (PDF, 2 Pages, 263.3 kB)

Le Conseiller fédéral Ueli Maurer, Chef du Département fédéral des finances, au Conseil des Etats le 5 décembre 2017

«La Nouvelle-Zélande nous a confirmé une fois de plus que les données, comme toutes les autres données échangées lors de l'échange automatique d'informations, seraient utilisées exclusivement à des fins fiscaux. On peut donc supposer que, lorsqu'il s'agit de tels revenus de pension, il y aurait simplement un rappel d’impôt, mais pas de procédure pénale.»

"Nous avons évidemment confiance que la Nouvelle-Zélande n'utilisera ces données, comme cela nous a été assuré, qu'aux fins d’un rappel d’impôt. Ceci nous a également été assuré par écrit, ce qui nous donnerait la possibilité d'intervenir si tel ne devrait pas être le cas.»

Factsheet in Italian (PDF, 2 Pages, 205.5 kB)

Il Consigliere federale Ueli Maurer, capo del Dipartimento federale delle finanze, nel Consiglio degli Stati il 5 dicembre 2017

“La Nuova Zelanda ci ha confermato ancora una volta che i dati, come tutti gli altri dati scambiati nello scambio automatico di informazioni, sarebbero utilizzati esclusivamente a fini fiscali. Si può quindi presumere che, se si tratta di redditi da pensione, ci sarebbe semplicemente un ricupero d’imposta, ma nessun procedimento penale.”

“Abbiamo naturalmente fiducia che la Nuova Zelanda, come ci è stato assicurato, userà questi dati solo per gli eventuali ricuperi d’imposta. Questo ci è stato assicurato anche per iscritto, il che ci darebbe la possibilità di intervenire se non fosse così.”