Transferring pension funds from Switzerland

Hi,
I recently moved to Germany after having worked in Switzerland for 6 years. Swiss law gives me two options for my pension funds: 1) transfer them to my current German pension scheme; 2) transfer them in a vested bank account in Switzerland. Any idea what's the best option?

Thanks in advance for your kind help.

do you have a choice of German pension schemes or can you only elect the public pension system? If the latter, let the money rest in CH. If you, however, can for instance transfer this into a so-called "Basis Rente" here in Germany (which I guess you can) then it is another ball game and can be quite profitable for you. If you don't know, let someone (like me) find out for you in contact with the relevant Swiss authorities...

Cheerio

I dont understand why they need a Swiss bank account for this? One of my friends who worked in Germany for an year, got back the pension funds into his US account. I dont know why that's different in Switzerland.

It depends on agreements between countries. Also from Switzerland you can bring the pension money with you if you move to the US but this is not allowed if you move to an EU country. For EU only the options I mentioned are possible (and, of course, only for the part you paid in, with the rest you can claim a Swiss pension once you are 65). The Swiss vested bank account guarantees: 1) that the money will be secured (and interests will not be taxed), 2) that it will be paid back into a Swiss pension scheme if you go back to Switzerland, 3) that you will not be able to use it until you are 5 years younger than retirement age (unless you buy a house, in which case you can take it out and pay it back, if you want).

Personally, I would leave it where it is, but then, I´m no expert!

You never know what will happen in Germany in the future, and it´s a good idea to have money in at least two places, okay?

entropygrows: in similar case with UK pension claims I was able to find that certain German "Rürup"-pension plans where accepted by the British authorities for transfer. These would also fulfill your above mentioned requirements 1) and 3) in full. However, you could not take the money out when you leave Germany, wether to return to CH or any pther place. Another option could be a RIESTER-plan which would fulfill 1) in full, 2) would be possible and 3) more or less as well (with some small loopholes of which I do not know how grave they would appear to the CH authorities).
Maybe that'll help you further?

Cheerio