Partial retirement in Switzerland: cutting your hours without cutting the plan
| 01 | First, whether you may start at all |
| 02 | The cap on how much you may start |
| 03 | Steps are counted, and the two kinds are counted separately |
| 04 | What keeps running while you work the rest |
| 05 | Two things that catch people out |
| 06 | What SORVA does and does not model |
Going to 60 percent at 62 and starting part of your pension is, first of all, a question about your pension fund's rules rather than about Swiss law. The law opens the door once you have had your 63rd birthday. Only your fund's regulations can open it earlier, from your 58th birthday, and not every fund does.
If the door is open, a second rule decides how much you may take. It is the reason "I will just draw half my pension" often turns out to be wrong.
In one line: the share of your pension you may start is capped by the share your salary falls by, so dropping from 100 to 60 percent lets you draw at most 40 percent.
First, whether you may start at all
Two different ages are at work here, and mixing them up is the most common mistake.
Your workplace pension (Pillar 2) may be drawn from your 63rd birthday under the law. Your fund's regulations may go down to your 58th, and they may also set their own reference age, which is not always 65. The regulations are the document that decides your case, so that is the one to read.
Starting early has a price that applies to everyone who does it: the pension is smaller for the rest of your life, because the same savings have to stretch over more years.
Your state pension (AHV) works differently and is not tied to cutting your hours at all. It may be drawn from the month after your 63rd birthday, either in full or as a share of between 20 and 80 percent, whether or not you reduce your workload. An AHV pension always starts on the first day of a month, never on the birthday itself. So at 62, going part time does not unlock the AHV. Nothing does.
The cap on how much you may start
Here is the rule that shapes the whole decision.
Before your fund's reference age, the share of your old-age benefit you may draw may not exceed the share by which your salary falls. Cut your workload from 100 percent to 60 percent and your salary falls by 40 percent, so you may start at most 40 percent of your pension.
You can always take less. You cannot take more, and you cannot keep working full time and draw a slice anyway. The size of the step is bought with hours.
Steps are counted, and the two kinds are counted separately
You do not have to do it all at once, but you do not get unlimited goes either.
- As a pension, you may draw in up to three steps, and your fund may allow more than three.
- As capital, a lump sum, you may draw in at most three steps, and your fund may not loosen that.
- Everything you take as capital within one calendar year counts as a single step, so splitting a lump sum across December and January is one step, while splitting it across two calendar years is two.
- Those three times are counted across your whole pension at one employer, even if your salary is insured with two funds there.
Those are two separate counts, not one shared budget of three. It is worth asking your fund which of the two you are spending.
The part that catches planners out: the year you finally stop counts too. If you take capital in that year, it is one of your three. So plan two partial capital draws, not three, unless you take the last slice as a monthly pension instead.
One more condition applies to the first move: the first part you draw must be at least 20 percent of your old-age benefit, whether you take it as capital or as a pension. Some funds allow less, so plan with the figure in your own regulations.
What keeps running while you work the rest
Half retired is still working, and three things carry on.
Your AHV contributions. They are owed on the salary you still earn, until the end of the month in which you reach your reference age. There is a catch below half time, covered in the next section.
Your pension fund savings. They continue on the reduced salary, which is smaller than the cut alone would suggest. That asymmetry belongs to part-time work generally, and it is explained in Part-time work and your Swiss pension.
Your Pillar 3a. Partial retirement does not change your limit. What decides it is whether you are still in a pension fund and still have earned income. And in the year your work ends, the full yearly contribution may still be made.
If your salary falls by at most half after your 58th birthday, your fund may let you keep insuring your previous salary, at your request. That is something your fund may offer rather than a right you have, so it exists only if your regulations provide it.
Example (illustrative, not your result): someone at 63 whose fund offers partial retirement cuts from 100 percent to 60 percent. Their salary falls by 40 percent, so they may start up to 40 percent of their pension, and 40 percent clears the 20 percent minimum for a first step. They keep paying AHV on the 60 percent they still earn, and they keep paying into Pillar 3a. Three years later they stop entirely and take the rest. Whether the remaining part comes as a pension or as capital, and what it costs in tax, is a separate decision.
Two things that catch people out
Dropping below half time. At 60 percent you still count as gainfully employed. Work under half the usual hours and that can change: if the AHV on your work, employer share included, comes to less than half of what you would owe as a non-employed person, the compensation office treats you as non-employed and bills the difference. A second step from 60 percent down to 40 percent is where this usually appears.
A recent buy-in. If you buy in, that money cannot come back out as capital for three years. A first step taken as capital inside those three years is blocked. A step taken as a monthly pension is not. And if you later go back up in workload after drawing benefits, the most you may buy in is reduced by what you have already drawn.
Your canton's view. What the law allows and what your canton's tax office will recognise are two questions. Some cantons attach their own conditions to a partial retirement, such as how large each cut must be and how far apart the steps are, so check yours before you fix the dates.
What SORVA does and does not model
SORVA does not model retiring in stages. It models one stop date, and our pricing page lists staged retirement among the things it leaves out.
What it does do is map your money year by year across the AHV, your pension fund and your Pillar 3a on your own numbers, and put two stop dates side by side. Your fund's regulations settle the staging; the year-by-year picture tells you what each stop date costs the years after it.
See what a different stop date does to your own numbers: create your plan at sorva.ch, free during the public beta.
Common questions
Can I go part time at 62 and start part of my pension?
Only if your fund's regulations allow retirement before 63, which they may do from your 58th birthday. The law itself opens at your 63rd. Your AHV cannot be drawn at 62 either way, and starting any pension early makes it smaller for life.
How much of my pension can I draw if I go to 60 percent?
At most 40 percent, because the share you draw may not exceed the share your salary falls by. You may take less than 40 percent if you prefer.
How many times can I retire in steps?
Up to three steps for the pension, and your fund may allow more. For capital it is at most three and your fund cannot extend it. Everything taken as capital in one calendar year counts as one step, and the year you finally stop is one of the three if you take capital then.
Do I still pay AHV while I am partly retired?
Yes, on the salary you still earn, until the end of the month in which you reach your reference age. Below half the usual hours, your compensation office checks whether the AHV on your work reaches half of the non-employed contribution, and bills the difference if it does not.
Can I still pay into Pillar 3a after a first step?
Yes, as long as you still have income from work, and at most until five years past your reference age. Whether you are still in a pension fund decides which of the two yearly limits applies to you. In the year your work ends, the full contribution may still be made.
Sources & review: BVG (SR 831.40) Art. 13 Abs. 2 and Abs. 3, Art. 13a Abs. 1 to 4, Art. 13b Abs. 1 and Abs. 2, Art. 33a, Art. 79b Abs. 3; BVV 2 (SR 831.441.1) Art. 1i; BVV 3 (SR 831.461.3) Art. 7; AHVG (SR 831.10) Art. 40; AHV/IV Merkblatt 2.03 (non-employed contributions). Partial retirement under Art. 13a and 13b has been in force since 1 January 2024 (AHV 21, AS 2023 92).
Figures and articles reviewed against the Fedlex consolidated texts and the BSV/AHV information sheets by sorva-swiss-expert. Last updated: 14 October 2026.
Educational information, not financial advice. Projections are estimates based on your inputs and current Swiss regulatory parameters, and actual outcomes may differ. Ask your fund for your own numbers.