Pillar 3a Catch-Up Payments: How to Fill Gaps from Past Years

Have you not paid the full amount into your pillar 3a in recent years? Perhaps due to a job change, further education, part-time work or simply because other things were a priority. Until now, the money was irrevocably lost — pillar 3a did not allow "catching up." That has changed.

Since 1 January 2026, the federal government has for the first time allowed contribution gaps in pillar 3a to be closed retroactively. This is the biggest innovation in private provision in years — and potentially affects hundreds of thousands of employed people in Switzerland.

What Exactly Is New?

If you paid in less than the maximum amount to pillar 3a in a given year, you can now close this gap retroactively. The key points:

• Retroactively up to 10 years — but only for gaps from the 2025 contribution year onwards. Older gaps remain unfortunately lost.
• Maximum amount 2025/2026: CHF 7,258 (employees with pension fund) or CHF 36,288 (self-employed without pension fund).
• Catch-up payments are tax-deductible — just like regular 3a contributions.

What Conditions Apply?

The catch-up payment is subject to clear conditions. All must be met simultaneously:

1. Earned income in the gap year: You must have had AHV-liable income in the gap year. Years with no gainful employment at all cannot be caught up.
2. Earned income in the catch-up year: You must also be employed in the year you make the catch-up payment.
3. Current year first: The maximum amount for the current year must be paid in full before catch-up payments are possible.
4. No age-related capital withdrawal: Anyone who has already withdrawn capital from a 3a account from age 59 (women) or 60 (men) loses the right to catch-up payments.
5. One gap = one payment: Each gap must be closed with a single payment — splitting over multiple years is not possible.

How Much Can I Catch Up?

An important restriction applies here: the catch-up payment is limited to the small maximum amount — i.e. CHF 7,258 per year (as of 2026). This also applies to the self-employed; the large maximum amount does not apply here.

How Does the Catch-Up Payment Affect Taxes?

The tax deduction applies in the year of payment — not retroactively for the gap year. So if you close a gap from 2025 in 2026, the catch-up payment reduces your taxable income in the 2026 tax return. Not that of 2025.

This is not a disadvantage — on the contrary: you can deliberately control which year you make the catch-up payment. Have a particularly high income? Then the catch-up payment is most worthwhile in exactly that year, because you can "save yourself down" into a lower tax bracket.

Who Benefits Most?

How to Proceed Concretely

What Else You Should Know

The 10-year rule builds up over time. Since only gaps from 2025 count, you can catch up a maximum of one year in 2026. In 2027, then two years, and so on. The full effect unfolds only from 2035.

Conclusion

The new catch-up option makes pillar 3a significantly more flexible. Those who have not maximised their contributions in recent years get a second chance. But: the rules are precise, and depending on your situation, an individual calculation is worthwhile.