Parliament confirms 13th pension payment to be paid once a year in December
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Parliament confirms 13th pension payment to be paid once a year in December
The 13th old-age pension payment will be paid out as planned from December 2026, the Swiss Senate confirmed on Wednesday.
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On March 3, 58.2% of Swiss voters backed the left-wing “Better living in retirement” initiativeExternal link, which proposes an additional monthly pension payment to help pensioners struggling to make ends meet.
+ Swiss vote: ‘yes’ to higher pensions, ‘no’ to retiring later
The initiative will come into force in 2026. It will cost around CHF4.2 billion ($4.7 billion) a year. Value-added tax (VAT) is to be increased by 0.7 percentage points in Switzerland to finance the 13th monthly pension payment.
+ Swiss VAT to rise by 0.7 points to finance 13th pension payment
The additional money will be paid to everyone entitled to an old-age state pension. The supplement will have no impact on the amount of monthly old-age pensions, and will not be taken into account in the calculation of income qualifying for supplementary benefits.
The House of Representatives will not take a position on the financing of this pension. The preparatory commission considered that the fund’s financial situation did not require an immediate source of financing, and that parliament should take its time to analyse the situation.
Translated from German by DeepL/sb
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