Paying too much to Swiss pillar 3a

An accounting mistake resulted in my paying more than the maximum legal amount into my Swiss 3a retirement account. Is this a big problem legally speaking? What are the consequences?

Hi there,

Contributing too much money to 3a retirement savings is not a serious offence and does not warrant serious consequences. Your tax office will simply alert you to the fact that you contributed too much, and may request that you transfer the excess back to non-privileged savings solutions like a 3b retirement account or a standard savings account.

Regardless of how much money you place in 3a savings, you can only claim the maximum legal tax deduction. All assets in excess of the legal maximum are subject to weatlh tax.

If your goal in placing large amounts of money in 3a accounts or life insurance policies is to earn more interest, it is worth noting that there are regular savings accounts which deliver similar interest to what you earn with 3a savings accounts - particularly if you have a larger amount of savings which you plan to keep at the bank for a long period of time.

Best regards from Moneyguru

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