Advance withdrawal from the pension fund to set up a company

Self-employment must be your main occupation in order to be eligible for the pension fund.

This means that you must not be employed, i.e. you must not be employed by an employer and receive a salary.

Furthermore, you are only self-employed if you set up a sole proprietorship or a general partnership. As the owner of a LLC or PLC, you are not considered a self-employed person in the legal sense by the social insurance authorities.

For sole proprietorships with a turnover of less than CHF 100,000 per year, registration in the Commercial Register is not mandatory. We recommend that you register your company when you establish it. It will increase the credibility of your project. You will also receive an official document that you can use in business transactions: the extract from the Commercial Register.

It is best to wait until you have received the certificate of incorporation before registering with the Compensation Office.

Once you have received the commercial register extract, compile a dossier with the necessary documents. Send the dossier and the completed questionnaire to your compensation office.

In the canton of Zurich, for example, you should receive confirmation from the compensation office that you have been accepted as self-employed after 6-8 weeks. However, this period varies greatly from canton to canton.

You must now send the confirmation from your compensation office to your pension fund or your bank (if you have a vested benefits account). You should then receive the money you have paid in from your pension fund.

Please note that you will still have to withhold about 5% (depending on the canton) of the amount paid out for your tax bill.

The pension fund assets must be paid out within 12 months of starting self-employment. After that, early withdrawals are no longer possible.

The application must be submitted to the Pension Fund within one year of starting self-employment. If the insured person is married or in a registered partnership, the written consent of the partner is required.

Wait until you have received the extract from the Commercial Register before registering with the Compensation Office. Then compile a dossier containing the following documents:

• Extract from the commercial register
• AHV confirmation
• Letter of resignation from previous job (copy)
• At least 3 offers or at least 3 invoices
• Logo, letterhead and business cards (optional)
• Brief description of your activity
• Possibly rental contract and other evidence