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You can use the coordination deduction to calculate your insured salary for the 2nd pillar. The coordination deduction ensures that there is no overinsurance in the pension system. For this purpose, the coordination deduction regulates (coordinates) the pensions of the 1st pillar (AHV) and 2nd pillar (BVG).
Finally, the deduction prevents pension fund contributions (2nd pillar) from being levied only on those parts of the salary that are not already insured under the 1st pillar (AHV). In this way, the deduction protects you from overinsurance. While overinsurance is bad in many areas of life, it would probably be welcome in the case of pensions.
The Coordination deduction reduces the retirement pension and therefore has a major impact on all of us. In this article, we will therefore look at how the coordination deduction is calculated and also how the coordination deduction affects part-time workers.
The insured salary is also referred to as the coordinated salary. In order to calculate the insured salary or the coordinated salary, you deduct the coordination deduction from your gross salary.
Coordination deduction Example: You earn CHF 80,000 per year, but your coordinated salary is only CHF 54,275. Why is that? The current coordination deduction is deducted from your salary. CHF 80'000 - CHF 25'725 = CHF 54'275. This CHF 54'275 is your coordinated salary and thus contributes to your pension fund contributions.
Since the coordination deduction determines the amount that is insured in your pension fund, this is also referred to as the insured salary. You will find the term insured salary on your pension fund statement.
After the above example, you're probably wondering what happens at low or very high incomes?
After all, the deduction is considerably high and drastically reduces a low income. So let's look at the minimum insured salary first:
Minimum insured salary: CHF 3'675
The minimum coordinated salary is the difference between the maximum AHV pension of CHF 29,400 and the current coordination deduction of CHF 25,725.
Maximum insured salary: CHF 62'475
The maximum coordinated salary is the difference between the upper BVG limit of CHF 88,200 and the current coordination deduction of CHF 25,725.
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The Coordination deduction results in 7/8 of the maximum AHV pension (CHF 29,400 per year).
With this information, you can calculate your insured salary by subtracting the deduction from your gross salary.
Feel free to use the coordination deduction calculator above or do the math yourself.
Since the coordination deduction particularly affects part-time workers, here is some more info for part-time workers.
As mentioned above, the entry threshold for the 2nd pillar (BVG) is currently an annual salary of CHF 22,050. Anyone earning less than this is therefore not affiliated to a pension fund and is therefore purely dependent on the AHV pension (1st pillar).
It is advisable, if possible, to work at least a stint of 60% when working part-time in order to be insured in a pension fund.
Tip: Some pension funds optimise the coordinated salary for part-time employees. Depending on the employer or its pension fund, there is therefore room for manoeuvre here. This increases the insured salary and thus also the payments into the pension fund. When choosing an employer, this can therefore be an issue in the job interview.
"Intelligent people learn from the mistakes of others".
We have compiled our top selection for you from all our tests and experience reports:
You should now be able to answer the question "what is the coordination deduction". Furthermore, you know what and how high your insured salary is. With this knowledge, you would vote for the abolition of the coordination deduction in a political vote, wouldn't you?
The next time you apply for a job, you can ask about the pension fund and its deductions (especially for a part-time position). Even in an existing employment relationship, you can talk to your boss about the topic, perhaps the company will even consider a change to a better pension fund if this is a problem for you.
Honestly, in 4 weeks do you still know what the insured wage is exactly and how it is calculated?
I look forward to honest comments 🙂 .
Sources:
2 Responses
Dear Eric; thank you very much for the always well and understandably explained contributions; in my opinion, an error has crept in here, all the limit values mentioned are still from the year 2022. Due to the pension increase as of 01.01.2023, these have also changed accordingly. Best regards;
Thank you for pointing this out, the post will be updated immediately 🙂