What is your pillar 3^a contribution gap worth?

What is this 3a buy-back simulator for?

Since article 7a of the OPP 3 ordinance (SR 831.461.3) came into force on 1^st January 2025, a year in which the maximum pillar 3a contribution was not reached is no longer lost for good: it can be made up retroactively, within a rolling ten-year window. This 3a buy-back simulator puts a figure on what that possibility represents in practice, in francs of tax recovered.

The calculation is straightforward: every franc bought back is deducted from the taxable income of the year in which the payment is made. The saving therefore equals the amount bought back multiplied by your marginal rate — the sum of the federal, cantonal and communal rates that applies to your last franc of income.

How much can be bought back per year?

The buy-back is capped at the difference between the maximum contribution for the year concerned and what was actually paid in that year, subject to the limit of the small contribution — 7'258 francs at 2026 values. This cap also applies to self-employed people without a 2^nd pillar, whose ordinary contribution may nevertheless reach 36'288 francs. These amounts are published by the Federal Social Insurance Office and are unchanged for the 2026 tax year.

Can you really go back ten years?

No, not in 2026. The window is indeed ten years, but it recognises only gaps arising after the scheme came into force. The first year that can be bought back is 2025, and it can be bought back in 2026. The window then fills up year after year, reaching full capacity in 2035.

The simulator therefore projects a cumulative potential over the length of the window, and not a sum that can be mobilised immediately. That is an important distinction to keep in mind: the rule is that only one annual gap may be made up per calendar year.

Which conditions must be met?

Four cumulative conditions, none of them optional:

• Having been entitled to contribute in the year concerned, that is, having earned income subject to OASI (AHV/AVS) contributions in Switzerland.
• Earning income subject to OASI contributions in the year in which the buy-back is made.
• Having paid the maximum contribution for the current year in full before proceeding with the buy-back.
• Not drawing a retirement benefit from pillar 3a.

To these are added a written request to the pension institution and the principle of a single buy-back per annual gap.

Why is the gap between cantons so large?

Because the deduction acts on the marginal rate, and that rate varies considerably from one canton and one commune to another. On identical income, a taxpayer resident in a high-tax canton can recover more than double what a taxpayer in a low-tax canton recovers, for a strictly identical payment. This is also what our pillar 3^a tax-saving calculator shows for the ordinary contribution.

Another effect worth knowing: paying two contributions in the same year — the ordinary one and the buy-back — lowers that year's taxable income and may move you into a different band. The saving on the second franc is therefore not always obtained at the same rate as the saving on the first.

Is a buy-back compliant with Muslim ethics?

The mechanism is neutral: there is no borrowing, no interest and no contractual uncertainty. You pay your own money into your own contract. The question of compliance rests entirely on the vehicle that receives that payment. On an interest-bearing 3a account, a buy-back multiplies the base that produces riba; on a securities-based 3a invested in funds screened against the AAOIFI ratios, it is one of the most effective levers available to a Muslim investor in Switzerland.

The right sequence is therefore: check the form of the contract with our pillar 3^a comparison tool, correct the underlying vehicles if necessary, then buy back. Our guide to the halal pillar 3^a explains how to make a contract compliant.