Missing years

Last update: 17.09.2024 08:35

Missing years are years in the AHV contribution period in which your account has gaps in contributions. This is because how much AHV pension you will receive in the future depends on how many contributions you have paid and for how long. Shortfall years are therefore years in which no contributions were paid into your individual AHV account.

Your employer pays the contributions if you are employed or you pay them yourself if you are self-employed. In the years without contributions, there are gaps in your contribution account – years are missing.

There are a number of reasons that can lead to years of absence. For example, if you don’t start working until you’re 21, study at university for longer or work part-time, this can lead to years of absence. Or if you take a sabbatical/time out abroad or are a single parent and not working, raising children while your boyfriend provides the household income, this will also result in years of absence. There may also be irregularities on the part of your employer, who may have deducted the contributions from your salary but not paid them to the AHV. Or you may have immigrated to Switzerland from another country and therefore not paid into the AHV for years.

Missing years of contributions have serious consequences for AHV. Your retirement pension is reduced by around 2.3 percent for life for each missing year of contributions. You should therefore avoid missing years at all costs. As a rule of thumb, you will receive around CHF 55 less pension each month for each missing year (based on the individual maximum AHV pension for 2019).

If you would like to know more, you can find out more about years of absence and contribution gaps at AHV orread the article on the “ pension discussion ” article.

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