FAQs | frequently asked questions

In Switzerland, all employees are insured against the risks of old age, death and disability with the pension fund of their current employer, provided that they meet the conditions for enrolment. Provided that you meet the above conditions, you are automatically enrolled with the Lonza Pension Fund for the Standard plan when you join the company.

According to Art. 4 para. 2bis of the Vested Benefits Act (FZG), employees are obliged by law to transfer all retirement assets previously accrued with a Swiss pension fund to their current pension fund to uphold their pension provision. Employees also have to transfer any vested benefits held with vested benefits foundations to their current pension fund. The employee is personally responsible for making this transfer as they are the owner of such an account. In this way, the savings process for retirement benefits under the second pillar (employee benefits) is continued.

Please instruct your previous pension fund to transfer your assets to PKL. You can use the following document for this purpose:

Anmeldung PKL (DE)

Registration PKL (EN)

After receiving your vested benefits, PKL will inform you in writing in the following month about the receipt and crediting of your vested benefits.

When joining the company, the following form will be enclosed with your employment documents:

Wahlplan Neueintritt (DE)

Election plan new entry (EN)

If you wish to participate in one of these two election plans, please complete and send this form as a PDF to pensionskasse@lonza.com within your first ten working days.

The annual retirement pension is calculated as a percentage of the accrued personal retirement savings. The additional contributions will increase the individual retirement savings and thus also the annual pension.

The Lonza Pension Fund will inform you in writing about the successful change of pension plan.

Your salary statement for the month in question shows the employee contributions to the pension fund that were deducted from your salary. Any corrections to employee contributions that may be needed are also documented in your personal salary statement. The employer contributions paid on your behalf are not shown in the salary statement.

The current pension certificate is decisive for the pension fund itself. This certificate shows the monthly and annual contributions by the employee (your personal contributions paid by you) and the employer (contributions paid by the employer on your behalf).

The insured salary is the effective salary less a coordination deduction. The effective salary corresponds to the annual income (basic salary and the target value of the incentive as well as the current average shift allowances). The coordination offset is determined in accordance with the BVG and corresponds to 87.5% of the maximum AHV retirement pension.

Please contact the pension fund employees directly if you have any questions about your pension certificate.

To do this, you can use the contact form or send us an email (pensionskasse@lonza.com).

Making purchases in the pension fund means that the insured person (employee) makes a voluntary deposit with the pension fund in order to increase their insured retirement benefits.

The regulations of the Lonza Pension Fund do not stipulate a minimum purchase amount. 

If you want to make a purchase in the pension fund, you have to complete and sign the form below and email it to pensionskasse@lonza.com.

Formular Einkauf (DE)

Voluntary purchase (EN)

You must also transfer the required purchase amount to the following account of the pension fund:

Bank details PKL

For further information on purchasing, please refer to the documents below.

Information freiwilliger Einkauf (DE)

Information voluntary purchase (EN)

Voluntary purchases will increase the personal retirement savings and therefore also the related retirement benefits. Purchases can also be deducted for tax purposes, i.e. they reduce the taxable income. Details must be clarified by the insured person with the responsible tax authority.

The insured person has to submit the confirmation of purchase from the pension fund to the tax office with their annual tax return.

The maximum possible purchase amount is indicated on the individual pension certificate, on the first page. If the maximum possible purchase potential is exhausted, no further purchases are possible.

The death and disability benefits insured on termination of the pension relationship remain insured without any changes until the beginning of a new pension relationship, but at the longest for one month (maximum extension period).

The vested benefits (VB) equal the full retirement savings that have been accrued with the employee benefits insurance until the insured person's departure (full vesting pursuant to the Vested Benefits Act).

If you do not yet have a new employer when your employment relationship ends, you are obliged by law to open a vested benefits account with a bank or take out a vested benefits policy with an insurance company and have your vested benefits transferred to this account.

If you fail to notify PKL of a new pension fund or vested benefits account, your vested benefits will be transferred to the BVG Contingency Fund after six months.

If the criteria for a cash payment are met, the insured person must submit the following documents:

a) An official confirmation must be submitted if the departing person is permanently leaving Switzerland or will no longer work in Switzerland as a cross-border commuter.

b) If the insured person is moving to an EU/EFTA country, the extra-mandatory portion of the vested benefits (VB) can be paid out in cash. The form required for applying for the additional cash payment of the mandatory BVG vested benefits can be obtained from the BVG Contingency Fund at www.verbindungsstelle.ch.

c) If the insured person is moving to a non-EU/EFTA country, the total vested benefits can be paid out in cash. A confirmation of residence issued by the new country of domicile must be submitted.

d) If the insured person takes up self-employment as their primary occupation and is no longer subject to the mandatory employee benefits insurance, a confirmation issued by the AHV Compensation Fund must be submitted.

As a general rule, a certificate of marital status or a statutory declaration of marital status and the certified signature of the insured person and, depending on their marital status, also the certified signature of their spouse/registered partner are required for all cash payment transactions.

After the transfer of your vested benefits, PKL will inform you in writing about the payment/transfer of your vested benefits.

The time required will depend on the quality of the documents that are submitted. If the required documents are submitted in full and correctly, the vested benefits are paid out within two weeks of submission. Payments are usually made on Fridays. If the documents are incomplete or incorrect, payment can only be made when the complete set of documents is received.

The reference age for women and men will be set uniformly at 65 years in the AHV as a result of the reform. The increase in the reference age for women from 64 to 65 years will begin on 01.01.2025 (from the year of birth 1961) and will take place gradually by three months per year. Thus, a uniform reference age of 65 will apply to women and men from 2028, when AHV 21 comes into force in 2024. The pension fund's pension regulations are based on the same reference age as the AHV.

Presentation for insured employees

Instead of the entire retirement pension, the insured person may - subject to the provisions of the currently valid pension regulations - request the payment of part or all of the existing retirement assets as a lump sum. In the case of retirement in partial steps, a maximum of three lump-sum withdrawals are possible.

If you decide in favour of a lump-sum payment, the "Capital option" form below must be completed and emailed to pensionskasse@lonza.com.

If you are married, your spouse must also sign the form to indicate their consent. The spouse's signature must be certified.

Kapitaloption (DE)

Capital option (EN)

If you take early retirement, you have the option of also drawing an AHV bridging pension from the pension fund until you reach regular retirement age. However, regardless of your number of service years, opting for an AHV bridging pension will further reduce the retirement pension.

In the event of a divorce or dissolution of a registered partnership, the pension fund assets that were accrued during the marriage are usually divided in two, unless there was a pension claim (retirement, disability).

To issue a correct confirmation on the feasibility of the division of pension assets, we need the following information:

• Date of marriage
• Vested benefits as at the date of marriage
• Date of instigation of divorce proceedings

The gap caused by the divorce can be compensated in whole or in part by purchases until the time that a pension claim occurs, regardless of the purchase restrictions that apply.

The insured person has to submit the confirmation of repayment from the pension fund to the tax office with their annual tax return.

Please contact the pension fund employees directly if you have any questions about a divorce or a feasibility confirmation.

To do this, you can use the contact form or send us an email (pensionskasse@lonza.com).

With a prepayment or early withdrawal, the agreed amount is debited to your individual retirement savings and transferred either directly to the creditor or to a blocked account. The prepayment is directly debited to your retirement savings and therefore reduces your retirement savings and your retirement benefits.

With a pledge, the agreed amount (pledging of a specific amount or the full retirement savings at the time the pledge is realised) remains with your pension fund and continues to earn interest. For as long as the pledge is not realised, the retirement benefits are not reduced.

The documents to be submitted for a withdrawal can be found in the following documents:

Antrag WEF-Vorbezug (DE)

Application for a withdrawal (EN)

Wegleitung WEF-Vorbezug (DE)

Guide to aplplying for a withdrawel of pensions assets (EN)

Information WEF-Vorbezug / Verpfändung (DE)

Information on early withdrawel / pledging for owner-occupied residential property (EN)

You can send the complete dossier by e-mail (pensionskasse@lonza.com) or by post to the following address:

Lonza Pension Fund

Münchensteinerstrasse 38

4002 Basel

This information is provided on page two of the current individual pension certificate.

If an early withdrawal is made to finance home ownership, a sales restriction is registered with the Land Registry. This sales restriction is deleted when the insured person has repaid the early withdrawal for home ownership or this person takes retirement.

No, there is no general repayment obligation. However, if the owner-occupied residential property is sold, the prepayment must be repaid to the pension fund before approval is granted to delete the sales restriction.

Yes. In order to reclaim the tax accrued on the advance withdrawal, an application must be submitted within three years to the tax authority that originally levied the tax. The following certificates must be enclosed with the application:

• Certificate for the repayment of the early withdrawal (form WEF-RZ)
• Register extract from the Federal Tax Administration on the pension capital invested in residential property
• Certificate of the tax amount paid on the basis of an advance withdrawal (federal, cantonal, communal)

Entitlement to a disability pension begins as soon as the insured person no longer receives a salary or salary replacement benefits that amount to at least 80% of the lost salary and for which the employer had paid at least half of the premiums.

If the insured person is partially disabled, the amount of the disability benefits depends on the degree of disability. The degree of disability equals at least the disability level applied by the IV.

Disabled persons are entitled to a disabled person's child's pension for children younger than 18, or younger than 25 if they have not yet finished their education.

If an insured person, old-age or disability pensioner dies, the surviving spouse is entitled to a spouse's pension. The surviving partner of an unmarried insured person or an insured person not living in a registered partnership is treated in the same way as a surviving spouse after his/her death.

If an unmarried person who has not registered a domestic partnership dies, the adult children of the deceased person are entitled to the lump-sum death benefit. If there are no children, the parents and siblings of the deceased person are entitled to equal shares of the lump-sum death benefit.

If an insured person dies before the start of retirement pension payments, the annual spouse's pension equals 60% of the disability pension. If an insured person dies after the start of retirement pension payments, the annual spouse's pension equals 60% of the retirement pension.

The personal values appear on page one of the current individual pension certificate. These amounts are listed under risk coverage.

A written declaration that a lump-sum payment is preferred must be submitted to PKL before the first pension payment is made.

Upon the death of an insured person, their children younger than 18 or younger than 25 if they have not yet finished their education are entitled to an orphan's pension.

Yes, partial retirement is possible. The degree of retirement is determined by the ratio of the salary reduction to the salary immediately prior to partial retirement. The first partial retirement step is at least 20%. A total of three partial retirement steps are possible. A reduction is excluded.

You can contact the pension fund employees directly for the preparation of an individual early retirement calculation and for individual advice.

To do this, you can use the contact form or send us an email (pensionskasse@lonza.com).

Your pension certificate will be send to you automatically in February of the following year. If you have not received the certificate or need a copy, please feel free to contact us via contact form or directly via e-mail (pensionskasse@lonza.com).

Please send us your new complete address via e-mail to pensionskasse@lonza.com. If you are a dependent of a pensioner reporting the change of address, we require a corresponding power of attorney. This applies in particular if mail is to be send as "c/o" to your address.

In the event of a divorce, Swiss divorce law provides for a separation of the retirement pension. In the case of a divorce pension, the obligated pensioner's part of the pension drawn is deducted and paid out by the pension fund to the beneficiary spouse. This payment is made beyond the death of the obligated pensioner. However, the competent court always decides on the effective benefit. The pension fund follows the order of the court.

Foreign court decisions must always be confirmed by a Swiss court before the pension fund can execute the pension separation.