Contributions

Duty to pay contributions

The benefit schemes covered by the Vesting Law are affiliated to the Guarantee Fund which they finance (Art. 57 und 59 LOB).

A benefit scheme is governed by the Vesting Law (FZG) if it grants an entitlement to a benefit on the basis of its regulation, on reaching the age limit, on death or in the event of disability (insured event) (Art. 1 para. 2 FZG).

The following schemes must settle contributions to the Guarantee Fund:

All benefit schemes registered under Art. 48 LOB (compulsory benefits under LOB).
All unregistered benefit schemes with regulatory benefit commitments (strictly non-compulsory benefits).

Since the year 2000, unregistered benefit schemes which give benefit commitments have been required to settle contributions.

Please note the following points in particular:

The benefit scheme still has to pay contributions if its benefits are reinsured with an insurance company and even if the insurance company pays benefits out directly to the insured persons.
A regulatory benefit commitment exists not only if a regulation in the formal sense has been drawn up. It also applies in the event of a general practice on the basis of decisions of the responsible foundation body.
Purely voluntary benefits do not have to be settled with the Guarantee Fund. A pension benefit is only regarded as voluntary if it was decided with an appropriate reservation and can therefore be suspended again at any time.
The method of financing the benefits does not play a determining role in answering the question as to whether contributions by a benefit scheme are compulsory. These contributions may also be made entirely by the employer.
It is also immaterial whether contributions are (still) being paid. For example, benefit situations dating back to before 1985 which have not been continued after the entry into force of LOB (i.e. which were closed down) must be settled.
For questions concerning compulsory settlement with the Guarantee Fund, please refer to the Business Office.

Contribution rates

Previous years

Contribution statement

General

The “Notification / Statement of Contributions” form issued by the Guarantee Fund comprises two parts:

Part A relates to contributions for subsidies and is only to be completed by benefit schemes registered under Art. 48 LOB.
All benefit schemes are required to complete Part B.

When making the statement, please note the following points:

The closing date for sending in the statement and payment of the contribution is 30 June of the following year.
An application for an extension of the deadline must be submitted in good time in writing (the period cannot be extended beyond the end of the following year).
Major foundations are requested to pay an instalment as of 30 June within the framework of the presumed contribution (only if the statement form is received late).
The Foundation Auditor designated pursuant to Art. 52a LOB must also sign the settlement form. Confirmations by the auditors of third parties are not sufficient.
Contribution corrections for previous years (because of retroactive changes, for example) become liable for contributions or benefits only for the five previous assessment years if the difference is CHF + / - 5.-.

Part A

Part B

Basis of assessment

The LOB pension account

Correct keeping of the LOB pension accounts (also known as shadow account, but referred to below as the pension account) is an important basis for smooth settlement with the Guarantee Fund.

The pension account must give information at all times on the statutory minimum entitlements of the beneficiary. The pension account therefore has nothing to do with regulatory insurance claims as such, unless the benefit scheme only insures precisely the LOB minimum variant. In that case too the pension account only shows LOB pension credit balances.

The pension credit balances are therefore the statutory minimum savings contributions, i.e. 7, 10, 15, 18% of LOB remuneration depending on age. The pension account gives information on the LOB pension credit balance which consists in turn of the accumulated pension credits, the statutory minimum interest rate and any pension credit balances transferred from previous funds. That completes our definitions. It is important not to include pre-compulsory and supplementary contributions in the pension accounts. The insured persons account exists for that purpose and must be kept for every benefit scheme which works with additional benefits.

Vested benefits

For the purpose of settlement with the Guarantee Fund, the value of all vested benefits at the end of an assessment year is required. This figure can be found in the balance sheet or notes to the annual statement of accounts. The regulatory termination benefits are notified to the insured persons each year on the insurance certificate (Art. 24, Vesting Law, FZG).

Sum of pension benefits

The sum of the pension benefits paid out is shown in the operating account. For the calculation of the contribution to the Guarantee Fund, this sum must be multiplied by ten in order to arrive at an approximate pension cash value.

Contributions

Three practical example

(the figures are assumptions, as are the basic values)

Company's own benefit scheme

Benefit scheme for several companies

Unregistered benefit scheme