Hello mate... Fancy seeing you here, hope all is well... It's always worth maxing a 3rd Pillar for the tax deduction, especially if you plan on staying here for a lot longer - it's a worthwhile safety net amongst other more focused savings and investments you might enter into over the years.  As a non-Swiss resident, It's also well worth doing your own independent savings scheme outside of Switzerland where you can choose more aggressive tax-free investment strategies, and also keep them going if you relocate without any exit penalties or deferments... and of course I can help you set those up me old mukka - drop me a line if you want to have a chat in more detail over a beer.  Sorry, not done a curry for ages... will hopefully do one soon and catch up either way.

if you planed to stay at least 10 years in Switzerland, it might be interesting, if not you gonna have a very bad surprise.

Cheers

Dear Peaky,

If you plan to stay long in switzerland, it will indeed be interesting for you to have a 3b pillar, which also has different advantages compared to the 3A.

It can be done for a shorter period, no 64-65 years of age obligation

Can be cancelled before the expiry for any reason

Tax free at the expiry or after 5 years

Can be just savings or include a life insurance

Most of my customers use it for

Tax advantages and earnings

Mortgage amortization

Their children, saving for studies, to pay a driving license or a car

Personal projects for later, real-estate, worldtrip, start a businees, etc….

For reminder, here are the 3b maximum amounts that you may deduct from your taxes.

 Single: 2200.-

Married: 3300.-

Per child : +900.-

This is a quick overview, if you have any additional questions, feel free to ask,

 cheers

Cheers guys for the responses.  Good info.  Mind you with current fiancial climate being here long term is a difficult one to judge.

@Dean, looking forward to the next curry!  At the moment not really in a position to make agressive investiments but it is something certainly worth considering later down the line, so will bare it in mind!

Hi, you have to know that in case if you decide to cancel your 3rd pillar you might loos part of your savings. The reasin is that bank can garantee you full sum only by the age of pension. Elsi bank is investing your savings and if by the moment of cancelation they lost - you lost as well. 

It is all in the contract anyhow.

the reason why it s a long term saving is that if you cancelled your contract before 5 years, you gonna loose almost 60% of what you invest.

It s because, 3b pilar is a life/death insurance, the first 2 years of the contract, your money will pay the insurance part and the broker commission, then the saving will start after the 3rd year.... if you ask for an offer, read carrefully the projection and what they called valeur de rachat, year by year.

I don t recommand this kind of saving for expat community, the tax benefit is not big enough to compensate the inconveniance of this product.

Disclaimer:

I am not a lawyer, I do work for the government and have some legal expertise, but not concerning taxes. I used to work at a bank, but many years have passed. Take my advice with a grain of salt.

My french is a bit rusty, so... caution.

First, taxation differs from canton to canton. So again, caution.

Tax guide of Geneva:

http://ge.ch/impots/system/files/documents/PP/Guides%20fiscaux/guide_2012.pdf

Tax guide of Basel-Canton (where I live) as a comparison:

http://www.baselland.ch/fileadmin/baselland/files/docs/fkd/steuern/form/pdf/2013/2013_wegleitung.pdf

So lets start with the fun:

The deduction of CHF 2'200.00 in Geneva (for a single person) is according to page 36, position 52.15. For me, this deduction is CHF 2'000.00 (page 34), position 625.

So depending on your financial situation, you might already be able to deduct the CHF 2'200.00 if the interests on your savings already is equal or more of that sum. So if you have income from savings of CHF 1'000.00, you might get a additional benefit of CHF 1'200.00. Chances are, your income is above the limit and an additional insurrance won't help a bit.

So say, you are blow the limit, does it make sence to make a life insurance or not. This is a question I would not dare to answer. To answer this question, I would need to know much more about you than I really want. Like, what is your financial situation, what kind of investments do you like, what is your personal situation (are you married, have you got kids, etc.). Again, I don't want to know these personal details, but to advise you, one would need to know that.

Unlike others in this thread, I would not give advise without better knowledge of your situation.

Lifeinsurance is the most commun, but not the only way to invest money in 3b.

Personally, I am not a fan of life insurances, as most of them are not pure risk insurances. Lifeinsurances are (again, personal opinion) not flexible enought for me to consider. Anyway, my income from savings is already higher than them max deductable sum, so this never something I did personally consider.

I hope I didn't write something wrong, feel free to correct me and don't forget my disclaimer ;)