Switzerland Agreement and foreign pension information 106-04033000

In Switzerland, social security is based on a three-tier model of compulsory contributions, usually through deductions from paid employment, compulsory and voluntary occupational schemes and private savings.

Contributions insure individuals against disability and unemployment and provides for income in the form of a pension once the person reaches retirement age.

The first pillar of the Swiss system covers most workers and the self-employed and includes minimum pensions and non-contributory benefits for those with low income.

The legislation and collection of contributions is the responsibility of the Swiss government, but administration and payment of pensions is the responsibility of the centralised institutes for social security and employment and individual cantons.

Wife Pension was sunsetted in 1995 and, along with Bereavement Allowance, ceased to be paid from 2020. See:

• Wife Pension
• Bereavement Allowance

The Agreement with Switzerland started on 1 January 2008. There are no previous versions.

For Australia:

Department of Social Services (DSS)

For Switzerland:

Federal Department of the Interior

• Eidgenössisches Departement des Innern (EDI)
• Département fédéral de l'intérieur (DFI)
• Dipartimento federale dell'interno (DFI)

For Australia:

Services Australia

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for double coverage provisions.

For Switzerland:

Central Compensation Office

• Zentrale Ausgleichsstelle (ZAS)
• Centrale de Compensation (CdC)
• Ufficio Centrale di Compesazione (UCC)

For Australia:

Centrelink International Services (CIS)

Note: the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for double coverage provisions.

For Switzerland:

• Central Compensation Office in Geneva
• Disability Insurance Office for people living abroad
• IV-Stelle für Versicherte mit Wohnsitz im Ausland (IVST)
• Office AI pour les assurés résidant à l'étranger OAIE
• Ufficio AI per gli assicurati residenti all'estero (UAIE)

Under the Agreement with Switzerland, information held about customers may be exchanged between the liaison agencies to determine entitlement to payments under the Agreement (Article 21.1).

Information can only be exchanged (Article 23.1) if a person:

• wishes to make use of the Agreement, or
• claims a benefit after the Agreement started (that is, after 1 January 2008), or
• was in receipt of a payment when the Agreement started and provides authorisation in writing

Forms for authorisation were obtained from those in receipt of payments when the Agreement started. A specific authorisation form is included with claims for Swiss pension for non-Swiss nationals. See Claim forms and processes.

For information on bulk data exchange, see International Data Exchange Program and auto indexation of foreign pensions.

The following liaison form is completed by Centrelink International Services (CIS) and sent to Switzerland:

• AUS187CH - Australia/Switzerland Social Security Agreement

For help with creating and completing the liaison form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

Switzerland does not have a standard liaison form. Instead, a cover letter is used containing information provided by the Swiss authorities and/or requested from them. The letter is sent to Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Switzerland sends a copy of the customers Notice of Grant (NOG) and uses the standard European form E205 (Certificate concerning insurance history in Switzerland) to confirm insurance periods in Switzerland.

Under the Administrative Arrangements each country will arrange for an agreed report to be and sent with claims for disability pensions.

Medical examinations may also be undertaken upon request for foreign pension claim purpose. Generally, the liaison agency will contact Services Australia with the request. There is no provision for reimbursement of costs to either country.

The customer should contact Services Australia if they receive a direct request from the liaison agency to undertake a medical examination. Advise the customer to go through Services Australia’s foreign pension medical assessment process. Where the customer has already undertaken a medical examination based on a direct request from the Agreement partner without consulting Services Australia, the customer should contact the liaison agency to discuss any possible reimbursement options.

If a customer is claiming reimbursement of costs based on undertaking a medical examination requested by Services Australia for foreign pension purpose, consider all evidence provided. For example, if incorrect advice was provided to the customer by Services Australia that caused them to seek an independent medical examination which caused the customer to be out of pocket.

See Customer compensation and Act of Grace.

See Agreement Country Document Catalogue (ACDC) for samples of forms, foreign documents and translations.

The Agreement with Switzerland includes double coverage provisions. Certificates of coverage are used to confirm exemptions.

Any enquiries about double coverage or certificates of coverage should be directed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website.

Any queries about taxation of pensions or the requirement to lodge a tax return should be directed to:

• In the other country - the tax authority in the other country
• In Australia - the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website

For general information on taxation, including issuing Australian payment summaries.

Tax treaty

Australia has a double tax agreement with Switzerland, which avoids the need for the customer to pay tax in both countries.

A person who is 'resident' in one country (according to the definition in the tax agreement) generally only pays tax on pensions in that country.

Tax deductions from income by one country may be allowed as a credit against tax payable in the other country.

Tax deduction

Swiss pensions are not taxed at the source.

The gross rate of Swiss pension, before any deduction, is maintained.

Swiss tax year

Switzerland uses the calendar year (1 January to 31 December) as the tax year.

Australia does not have a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) with Switzerland.

See general information on health insurance and Medicare coverage.

Any queries about:

• Health Insurance coverage in the other country – tell the customer to contact the health insurance authority in the other country
• Medicare coverage - direct them to Medicare

There are no health insurance deductions taken out of Swiss pensions.

German, French and Italian are the major languages used in Switzerland. Romansch is an official language but is not widely used.

See naming conventions and pronunciation for:

• German
• French
• Italian

Telephone country code is +41.

Street address

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

Bovetstrasse 4/8 [Street name + number/apartment or floor number]

3007 Bern [Postcode + name of town]

SWITZERLAND

Post Office Box address

Title FirstName Surname [Addressee]

Postfach [P.O. Box]

3000 Bern 8 [postcode + name of town + post box number]

SWITZERLAND

Note: the second last line must say P.O. Box. Any additional number for the P.O Box location must appear on the last line after the postcode and town.

A claim for Australian payment may include Italian Patronati documents or references. There are Patronati arrangements in Switzerland due to the many Italians working there. There may be instances where an Italian born claimant has Swiss contributions but has never resided in Switzerland. They live in Italy but travel over the border into Switzerland for work only. Customers who are resident in one country cannot use contributions from another country to claim Australian payment. See Italian Patronati.

Switzerland recognises same-sex registered partnerships.

For Australia, the Agreement with Switzerland (Article 2.1) covers:

• Age Pension
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Carer Payment (CP)
• Parenting Payment Single (PPS)
• Double Orphan Pension (DOP)

Note:

• Only severely disabled DSP customers may be granted under the Agreement outside Australia (Article 2.1(b))
• While CP is covered, the Agreement cannot be used to be paid CP outside Australia and the person must be autonomously qualified in Australia. This means that a person cannot be granted or transferred to CP under the Agreement (Articles 5.6, 17.1 and 19.4)
• Only a ‘widowed person’ may be granted PPS under the Agreement. 'Widowed person' means a person (either gender) who stops being a member of a couple because of the death of their legal partner (de jure) and who is not currently a member of a couple (Article 1)
• The DOP and Bereavement Smart Centre Processing Team assess and code all DOP claims. Re-categorise DOP claims to ZIAM_DOP_NCL. For help, see Bereavement/Double Orphan Pension Helpdesk
• While BVA cannot be claimed after 20 March 2020, claims lodged prior to this date may still be received. See Bereavement Allowance (BVA)

Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements use the same methods and processes as domestic claims.

Forms to claim an Australian payment in Switzerland can be obtained by:

• downloading the relevant form from the Services Australia website. See Resources
• contacting Centrelink International Services (CIS)
• contacting the Swiss authorities

Australian forms needed

Forms are available in either bilingual English/French or English/German.

All claims:

• AUS140CHF/AUS140CHG - Australian Pension Claim – Social Security Agreement between Australia and Switzerland
• Mod(iA)CHF/Mod(iA)CHG - Income and assets - Switzerland

DSP only:

• AUS142CHF/AUS142CHG - Work Capacity - Customer Information - French/German
• AUS109 - Treating Doctor's Report - outside Australia
• AUS175 - Medical Assessment Report - Disability Support Pension (Outside Australia)

Note: Switzerland arranges for the AUS175 to be completed on a case-by-case basis

Forms can be lodged at the Swiss Compensation Office in Geneva.

Under Section 6 of the Administrative Arrangements, the Swiss liaison agency will:

• accept and date stamp the AUS140 form
• accept the ModiA form and any other Australian forms and/or supporting documentation
• when required, arrange medical forms to be completed
• verify the customer’s identity and personal details, and
• send the form(s) and any supporting documentation to Services Australia with a liaison form specifying periods of coverage in Switzerland and information regarding Swiss pensions

See the Exchange of information and liaison forms.

If a person is not an Australian resident and in Australia on the date the claim is made, they may use the Agreement to meet the residence rules for claims if, on that date, they are:

• an Australian resident, a resident of Switzerland or another Agreement country that accepts claims for Australian pension under another agreement (Article 17.1(a)), and
• physically present in Australia, Switzerland or that third country (Article 17.1(b))

Claims under the Swiss Agreement

Claims for Australian payment under the Swiss Agreement may be lodged in certain other Australian Agreement countries.

See Claim Lodgement Matrix (CLM).

Accepting other Agreement claims

Switzerland will not accept claims for Australian benefits under other Australian social security agreements.

Claim lodgement consideration

There are no specific considerations under the Swiss Agreement.

The normal rules for working out the date a claim is 'made' and the start day apply to a claim under the Agreement with Switzerland. However, the Agreement also allows:

• the date of lodgement of a claim for an Australian payment in Switzerland to be used as the date of lodgement in Australia (Article 27.1), and
• the date of lodgement of a claim for Swiss payment as the date of lodgement of the corresponding Australian payment (FP claim = AU claim) provided that the customer declared an affiliation with the Australian legislation (Article 26.1)

For coding help, see:

• Claims for Australian payments under International Agreements) and
• Start Day (CLK)

The Agreement allows:

• totalisation of periods of qualifying Australian residence and periods of coverage in Switzerland to meet any minimum periods to qualify for an Australian pension, for example, 10 years for Age Pension (Article 18.1)
• the total of any non-continuous Swiss periods of coverage to be considered to be continuous to meet any continuous residence requirement to claim an Australian pension (Policy)

Note:

• Only Swiss insurance that can be used to claim a Swiss payment can be used, for example, not refunded contributions. (Article 18.4)
• Overlapping Australian residence and Swiss periods of coverage are only counted once (Article 18.2)
• Adjoining periods of Australian qualifying residence and Swiss periods of coverage, with a break of up to 3 months in between, can also be considered to be continuous (Policy)

See Resources in International Social Security Agreements for examples of totalisation.

• means a period of insurance, for example, a period during which contributions were paid, or any equivalent period, as defined in the Swiss legislation
• where equivalent periods may include deemed periods, such as for child rearing or military service
• where both actual and deemed periods may be used when totalising for Australian qualification purposes, as long as they are certified and don’t overlap
• must be certified by the Swiss Competent Institution

To be able to use the totalisation provisions, a person who is not an Australian resident at the date of lodgement must have at least 12 months Australian Working Life Residence (WLR) in Australia of which 6 months must be continuous (Article 18.3(a)).

Note: unlike WLR for rate, this period cannot be rounded.

No minimum WLR is required if the person is an Australian resident at the date of lodgement (Article 18.3(b)).

The Agreement allows the ongoing residence requirement for DSP and PPS to be met by customers who reside in Switzerland (Article 5).

The Agreement with Switzerland (Article 19.1) refers to the overall rate calculation contained in section 12(1) of the Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999.

This means customers paid under the Agreement have:

• a proportional rate paid according to their Australian Working Life Residence (WLR)
• the Rate Limiter/Limited Rate applies, and
• additional child amounts are included in the proportional rate. These amounts are paid automatically as a component of the Australian pension if the customer is qualified (s14A, SS(IA)A 1999)
• their Swiss pension proportionalised (Randisi concession) for use in the income test using the denominator of 300 (Article 19.1)

Note:

• Autonomous customers who are paid a proportional rate and in receipt of a Swiss pension will also have the Randisi concession applied to their Swiss pension (Article 19.2)
• This does not apply to Double Orphan Pension (DOP) (Article 17.2)

Non-proportional rate extension

Customers paid under the Agreement and temporarily outside Australia, cannot have their non-proportional portability rate extended if they are unable to return to Australia.

Returns to Australia

The proportional rate continues to apply for the first 26 weeks of a temporary return to Australia (Article 19.3).

If there is no change to the country of residence, any movement is considered temporary and a review is set to automatically change the rate after a continuous period of 26 weeks. If a delegate determines that a person has changed their country of residence, coding the Country of Residence (CRES) screen will automatically apply the correct rate calculation.

• For returns to Australia before 9 June 2018, manually code the Temporary Return to Aust Ind on the Residence Savings (RSS) screen

Customers in Australia under the Agreement are paid a direct deduction rate (Article 19.4).

The Agreement includes a comparison rate in Australia.

Departures from Australia:

The inside Australia rate continues to be paid for the first 26 weeks of a temporary departure from Australia (Article 19.7).

Under the Agreement, provided the customer remains qualified, Australian payments are payable indefinitely in both countries, that is, for temporary or permanent absences (Article 5.1(b)).

Third country portability under the Agreement

Portability to third countries for a customer paid under the Agreement is the same as for an autonomous customer leaving Australia (Article 5.2(b)). See Portability of payments.

If necessary, a customer who receives an autonomous payment that stops being payable due to portability reasons but is covered by the Agreement may be able to transfer to the Agreement if they are in Switzerland when their normal portability period expires.

Portability under the Agreement then applies.

Note:

• This does not apply to Carer Payment (CP)
• The customer must meet the transfer requirements and satisfy any payment specific requirements under the Agreement, for example, being severely disabled for DSP. This means that non-severely disabled customers cannot transfer to the Agreement to extend portability to Switzerland

Once a customer transfers to the Agreement, they are then considered to be paid by virtue of the Agreement and all Agreement rules apply to the customer, including portability and rate of payment.

See Transfers to international social security agreements.

A person who has sufficient Australian qualifying residence (or an exemption) can transfer from the Agreement to autonomous only if they are an Australian resident and in Australia.

On return to Australia, system processing will automatically transfer to from the Agreement to autonomous if the person is an Australian resident who has only used the Agreement to extend their portability while outside Australia.

Former resident provisions may affect customers who transfer to autonomous if they leave Australia again within 2 years of becoming an Australian resident.

Australian payments may be issued to customers outside of Australia. If the customer intends to be outside of Australia:

• long-term (12 months or longer), their Australian payment may be issued to an overseas bank account. See Overseas Bank Account Details (OBAD) for payment requirements by country
• for less than 12 months, payment will generally continue to their normal Australian bank account every 2 weeks

See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia.

For Switzerland, the Agreement covers Swiss old age, survivor insurance (AHV/AVS) and disability insurance (IV/AI). The Agreement overcomes restrictions on the payment of pensions to non-Swiss nationals outside Switzerland by treating Australian citizens the same as Swiss nationals.

Main payments

• Old Age Pension (AGE):
• Altersrenten
• Rentes de vieillesse
• Rendite di vecchiaia
• Disability Pension (INV):
• Invalidenrenten
• Rentes d'invalidité
• Rendite d'invalidità
• Survivor Pension (SUR):
• Hinterlassenenrenten
• Rentes de survivants
• Rendite per superstiti

Survivor pension can be paid as Widow/er pension or Orphan pension:

• Widow/Widower:
• witwer/witwen
• de veuve/de veuf
• vedova/vedovo
• Orphan:
• waisen
• d'orphelin
• d'orfano

Supplementary payments/Allowances

• Helplessness allowance (CAR):
• Hilflosenentschädigung
• Allocation pour impotent
• Assegno per grandi invalidi
• Supplement for Intense Care (part of Helplessness allowance) (CAR):
• Intensivpflegezuschlag
• Supplément pour soins intenses
• Supplemento per cure intense
• Rehabilitation measures (REB) (including cash benefits):
• Eingliederungsmassnahmen
• Mesures de readaptation
• Provvedimenti d'integrazione
• Extraordinary pensions:
• Ausserordentliche
• Extraordinaire
• Straordinario
• Swiss Lump Sums:
• Small rates of pension:
  - Einmalige Abfindungen
  - Indemnités forfaitaires
  - Indennità forfettaire
• Refunds of contributions:
  - Rückvergütung
  - Remboursement des cotisations
  - Rimborso del contribute
• Supplementary pension:
• Ergänzungsleistungen (EL)
• Prestations complémentaires (CP)
• Prestazioni complementari (CP)
• Personal Assistance Allowance:
• Assistenzbeitrag
• Contribution d'assistance
• Contributo per l'assistenza

The following known payments are paid by the Swiss authorities but are not covered under the Agreement:

• Restitution payments

For help with:

• Assessment of Swiss pensions, see Assessment
• Coding of Swiss pensions, see Eligibility and Coding

The requirement to claim Swiss pensions applies to Swiss AGE and INV.

• Customers may voluntarily claim SUR, including Orphan pension using the SUR claim pack.

See Foreign pension claims.

Eligibility and coding of foreign pensions tab contains detailed information on Swiss payments that are subject to CFP legislation.

Claim packs are available for AGE, INV and SUR.

Claim packs are issued through the Foreign Pension System (FPS). See Assisting customers to claim a foreign pension.

Note: SUR claims may result in a reassessment of existing AGE/INV rather than grant of SUR. If so, when notified, SUR should be coded as FIN-NOM on Foreign Claim Details (FGD) screen and AGE/INV adjusted.

Specific requirements for Swiss claims

The customer is to complete and provide the following:

Note: non-Swiss nationals must complete the general authorisation form before information can be exchanged.

AGE only:

• Application for an old-age pension for persons residing outside Switzerland

INV only:

• Application for AI Benefits for Adults

SUR only:

• Application for a survivors pension for persons residing outside Switzerland

Requests for additional information

If information provided with the claim for Swiss pension is incomplete, Switzerland will send requests for information direct to customers.

Under the Administrative Arrangements, Swiss forms can be lodged in Australia at any service centre. See Processing a foreign pension claim.

• All foreign pension claims and supporting documentation must be scanned, and
• The original foreign claim form, and copies of supporting documentation must be sent in paper form to Centrelink International Services (CIS). See Processing a foreign pension claim.

Centrelink International Services (CIS) only:

CIS will complete the following or arrange for the following to be completed as necessary and attach the documents to the foreign pension claim to send to the agreement country. See Agreement Liaison Detail (ALD) for method of transmission.

CIS staff do need to sign the relevant section in the claim form.

All claims:

• AUS187CH - Australia/Switzerland Agreement on Social Security

For help with creating and completing the liaison form, see Agreement liaisons, NZ CICs and exchange of information.

The return of the general authorisation form must be recorded.

• Code the DEX Authorisation: field on the Foreign Claim Details (FGD) screen as 'Y'
• Forms should be scanned to the customer record and original sent with the Swiss pension claim

INV only:

• E213 - Detailed Medical Report. See Foreign pension medical assessments
• Copy of existing Australian medical information

Enquiries regarding claims for Swiss payments in Switzerland or a third country should be directed to the Swiss social security authorities.

Swiss payments may be paid by direct deposit in Australia.

Any queries about the non-payment of Swiss pension should be directed to the Swiss pension authorities.

Agreement pensions are paid as 12 regular monthly payments.

Other benefits or private pensions are normally paid monthly or annually.

Swiss pensions must be recorded in the source currency - Swiss Franc (CHF). Official statements provide the foreign currency amounts.

Amounts recorded in source currency on the Foreign Pensions Details (FPD) screen must not be changed to the Australian dollar amount.

Note: payments into Australia are paid in Australian dollars.

Swiss payments are generally increased for Consumer Price Index (CPI or cost of living) in principle in January every 2 years but may be earlier if CPI is more than 4%.

For information on bulk data exchanges and auto adjusted CPI increases, see International Data Exchange Program and auto indexation of foreign pensions.

• directly deducted (Article 19.4) and ignored in the income test (Section 8(8)(zc) Social Security Act 1991) for customers paid under the Swiss Agreement who are in Australia
• proportionalised and assessed as ordinary income (Article 19.1) for customers paid:
• under the Swiss agreement who are outside Australia
• autonomously who are on a long-term outside Australia rate
• ordinary income (not proportionalised) for customers paid:
• autonomously who are inside Australia
• under another agreement other than Switzerland or New Zealand who are inside or outside Australia

See Rate Calculation for when a direct deduction or proportional rate is applied.

Note:

• This does not apply to Double Orphan Pension (DOP) (Article 17.2). DOP is a non-means tested payment
• Each member of a couple is deemed to receive half of the total amount received by the couple (Article 19.5)

Extraordinary pension may be granted to residents in Switzerland who do not meet the minimum period of contributions for an ordinary pension.

Helplessness allowance (CAR) and Supplement for Intense Care (may be paid with Helplessness allowance) and Personal Assistance Allowance (may be paid with INV and continues if transfer to AGE, where the adult insured person who receives a Helplessness allowance lives in their own home).

• Swiss lump sums

Swiss lump sums maybe a refund of contributions or payout of a small pension.

Article 19.8 of the Agreement stipulates foreign non-remunerative lump sums are assessed as ordinary income for 12 months from date of receipt (s1073 Social Security Act 1991).

Where a customer is granted a lump sum payment in lieu of an on-going pension payment: If the customer has a claim in progress on the FGS screen, FGD screen must be updated to FIN-NOM when FID coding is completed.

• Supplementary pension
• The supplementary pension is financial assistance in case where the total pension and income customer receives does not cover the minimum living costs
• Note: Supplementary pension for spouse/wives (Zusatzrente für Ehefrauen / Rentes complémentaires pour épouse / Rendita completiva per moglie) ceased in 1997
• It is exempt under the income test for customers paid under Agreement and autonomously, who are resident in Switzerland (Article 20.1). The exemption applies to a person at grant or if the person leaves Switzerland to a third country, provided they have not become an Australian resident since last residing in Switzerland
• Rehabilitation measures (REB)
• Consists of rehabilitation during the onset of invalidity or even as a preventative measure when there is a potential threat of invalidity. The rehabilitation measures take place in Switzerland (in exceptional cases outside of Switzerland)
• Daily cash benefit is payable to a person who during rehabilitation if, during at least 3 consecutive days, is prevented from engaging in paid employment by the rehabilitation measures, or if they are incapable of carrying out their usual activities
• Cash benefits are exempt from the income test (Policy)
• Pension for children
  Pension for children is a supplement to the old age pension for insured persons who maintain children up to the age of 18 (or 25 if they are in education). If both parents receive an old age pension, they are entitled to two child's pensions
  Swiss pension for children is known as:
• Kinderrenten
• Rentes pour enfant
• Rendite per figli

Pension for children may be exempt if the child meets the dependent child definition (section 8(8)(j) Social Security Act 1991), see Payment for dependent children. Otherwise, assess the same way as the main agreement pension.

• Swiss Restitution payments

Restitution payments may be paid as compensation for internment or persecution during wartime.

Payments are made to Holocaust survivors from the agreed Settlement Fund set up by Swiss banks.

Restitution payments paid for National Socialist (Nazi) persecution, are exempt income (s8(8)(n) Social Security Act 1991 and s8(11) Social Security Act 1991 (Determination 2 of 1999, effective 20 January 1999)). Otherwise, payment is assessed as ordinary income.

The Agreement includes embargo provisions (Article 29.1) but they are not used.

Arrears debts for customers and their partners are raised under s1228A Social Security Act 1991 and recovered via normal methods under the Act. See Comparable foreign payment lump sum arrears.

A contravention debt may also occur if the customer does not advise of the grant of their Swiss payment within their notification period. See Foreign pension coding.

Life Certificates may be issued by Switzerland on an ad hoc basis.

Swiss Life Certificates can be certified by an officer of Services Australia.

For information on helping customers with Life Certificates, see Assisting customers to claim a foreign pension.