Gaps in state pension: what you need to know
Contribution gaps in state pension (OASI) can seriously affect your retirement. Find out how to avoid, calculate and close any OASI contribution gaps.
29.04.2025
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1. What are OASI contribution gaps?
In Switzerland, the state pension is known as old-age and survivor’s insurance (OASI). Gainfully employed people are required to start making contributions from 1 January following their 17th birthday, while those who are not employed must start making contributions from 1 January following their 20th birthday.
In order to receive a full state pension in old age, you need to pay contributions every year until you retire. The annual minimum contribution to the state pension scheme is currently 530 francs (as of 2025). For employees, this corresponds to a gross annual salary of 5,000 francs.
An OASI contribution gap means that you have paid no or too few OASI contributions in a given year. Common reasons for these contribution gaps include breaks in employment and part-time work.
Good to know: contributions at a young age
Contribution years before 1 January following your 20th birthday are not included in the calculation of your state pension. But you can use contributions made during these early years to make up for missing contributions in a maximum of three subsequent years. However, this only applies if you can no longer make back payments for the corresponding years.
2. What happens if I have gaps in my state pension contributions?
Any gaps in OASI contributions will result in a lower pension. This is because the state pension is calculated based on the number of years you have contributed, among other things. If there are any years in which you have not paid in enough contributions, your pension will be reduced accordingly. For each missing year, the OASI pension is reduced by 2.3%.
How much is the state pension reduced for each missing year?
The following example calculation shows the impact of OASI contribution gaps on the pension. The calculations assume a maximum annual pension of 30,240 francs (as of 2025).
| Missing contribution years | Percentage reduction per year | Annual state pension (CHF) | Difference from maximum pension (CHF per year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | 30,240 | - |
| 1 | 2.3 % | 29,544 | 696 |
| 2 | 4.6 % | 28,849 | 1,391 |
| 3 | 6.9 % | 28,173 | 2,087 |
| 4 | 9.2 % | 27,458 | 2,782 |
| 5 | 11.5 % | 26,762 | 3,478 |
As this example shows, every year with an OASI contribution gap costs you some of your pension in old age. It’s therefore advisable to avoid gaps in your pension contributions or close any gaps in good time.
You will receive a full pension if you have no OASI contribution gaps. For a maximum pension, you must have earned an average of 90,720 francs over all the years you paid in contributions (as of 2025). The payments you make from 1 January after your 20th birthday are the ones that count.
3. How to avoid OASI contribution gaps
Employers usually have to pay OASI contributions for you if your annual income is 2,500 francs or more. Your employer deducts the OASI contributions directly from your salary and transfers them to the compensation office. In other situations, you need to arrange to pay the contributions yourself. Here are some tips on how to avoid OASI contribution gaps:
Even if you are studying or doing an apprenticeship, you are liable to pay contributions from 1 January after your 20th birthday. Are you earning nothing or less than 5,000 francs during this time? In that case, you should register with the OASI compensation office and pay the minimum annual contribution of 530 francs.
Are you planning a career break? If so, you must register with the OASI compensation office as non-gainfully employed. The contributions you pay are then calculated based on your assets and pension income.
Married couples are an exception
Are you married or in a registered partnership and not working? In that case, you do not have to pay OASI contributions, provided that your partner is gainfully employed and pays at least twice the minimum contribution into the state pension. This means at least 1,060 francs (2 × 530 francs).
If you earn less than 2,500 francs a year from an employer, they do not have to pay OASI contributions for you. Jobs in the cultural sector or in private households are excluded. In these cases, even lower wages are subject to contributions. Do you earn more than 5,000 francs a year from several employers, but less than 2,500 francs from each of them? It’s likely that you have a contribution gap in the state pension. You can pay the minimum contribution yourself or ask your employers to pay OASI contributions. Remember: if your employer pays contributions, 5.3% of your salary will be deducted for the state pension scheme.
If you are self-employed, you are required to pay annual state pension contributions. You pay the contributions directly to the compensation office of your choice. The compensation office calculates the contributions based on your income. You usually pay these contributions in the form of payments on account (based on your estimated income) and a final settlement at the end of the financial year.
Are you planning on going abroad for a while? If so, you should find out about your obligation to contribute to the state pension in good time. The rules vary depending on the country. You can find more information here.
Anyone who raises children or cares for relatives makes an important contribution to society. However, caring for others often means a reduction in employment. To ensure that no contribution gaps arise, OASI provides for special credits in these cases. These credits are not paid out, but are taken into account as fictitious income when calculating the pension. Check the requirements for these care credits early on.
4. How to calculate your state OASI contribution gaps
Not sure whether you have pension contribution gaps? Follow these steps to check for any OASI contribution gaps.
1. Request an OASI pension account statement
To check whether you have OASI contribution gaps, you need to request a free statement of your individual OASI account from your compensation office. You will need to provide your insurance number and your address.
Good to know: not sure which compensation office you are registered with? The information register provides you with information online about the compensation funds that have an individual account in your name.
2. Check your contribution years
Once you have received your individual account statement, you will see a list of all the years (column 5) and the reported income subject to contributions (column 6). For each year (starting from the year in which you turned 18 or 21), check whether your income is higher than the minimum income in the corresponding year. Here’s a list of the minimum incomes for previous years. Also check whether the income on the statement matches the gross salary on your salary statement.
If no income or too little income is entered for a year, this usually means there is a contribution gap. This does not include years in which the “Employer or income type” column contains a care credit. The exact amount of the care credits is not shown on the statement, but is only determined when the pension is calculated.
Source: Information Centre OASI/DI
Example: the statement contains no contribution gaps. Although the minimum income of 4,667 francs (column 6) was not reached in 2015 (column 5), a care credit (column “Employer or income type”) is entered for this year.
3. Correct any mistakes
Does your statement contain incorrect information? You have 30 days after receiving the statement to submit an appeal. To do so, contact your compensation office.
How often should I check my state pension statement?
Ideally, you should check your OASI statement every four to five years. This way, you can keep track and close any gaps within five years.
5. Can I make up for missing contribution years towards my state pension?
Whether you can make up for missing OASI contributions depends on when the gap arose.
You can make up for missing contributions within the last five years by making voluntary back payments.
If the gap occurred more than five years ago, you can no longer pay the missing contributions and the pension reduction will remain in place.
As an immigrant to Switzerland, you have an OASI contribution gap for all years after your 20th birthday in which you did not live or work in Switzerland. Unfortunately, you have no way of closing these gaps. In principle, you can make up for missing contributions for up to five years. However, this rule only applies to people who were subject to OASI contributions during this period – i.e. those who lived and worked in Switzerland.
What does this mean for your pension? You will receive partial pensions from the countries in which you previously worked (provided you have paid into the respective social security systems) as well as from Switzerland. Your pension is therefore comprised of multiple partial pensions.
6. How can I close OASI contribution gaps?
To close OASI contribution gaps, you need to contact your compensation office. They will tell you how much you owe for the missing year and how you can make the payment.
Do you have OASI contribution gaps that you can no longer close? That’s unfortunate. However, you can mitigate the consequences in a number of ways.
OASI contributions after retirement age
Since 2024, under certain conditions it has been possible to make up for missing contributions from earlier years by making additional payments after reaching statutory retirement age.
Private pension
If you can no longer make up for missing OASI contributions, your state pension will be permanently reduced. You can partially compensate for this reduction with a private pension, for example pillar 3a. The pension experts at Optimatis, the brokerage partner of Comparis, will help you choose the right pension solution for you. The consultation is free and with no obligation.
This article was first published on 29.04.2025
