Flintstone wrote:

- quote -

From a presentation made to me a while ago on a short stint
in Germany:

Column 1 was the country social insurance (social security,
unemployment and disability). Column 2 was the employer's
retirement plan. Column 3 was the individual's private
savings.

Many of the West European countries offer tax incentives for
savings. Does Switzerland?

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Flintstone wrote:

- quote -

They are suggesting that you set up a self-funded pension
plan. The Swiss pension scheme is divided into three
"columns". The first column is a state pension, the
equvalent of Social Security in the U.S. The scond column
is an employer pension. The third column is a private
pension, roughly the equivalent of an IRA in the U.S.

--Chris Ballard

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2005) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

I have recently moved to Switzerland but do not speak very
much German. I am earning a high wage and have also received
a very high tax bill. I have been told that I need to start
a Third Column and that this would mean that I pay less tax.

I am unable to discover exactly what a third column is or
whether there are other alternatives such as investment.

Can anybody here explain this to me?

Moderator:
My guess is that a Third Columm has to do with having
children. My personal belief is to shack up. But I,
like Johnny Carson and Richard Prior, just keep getting
married.


<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2005) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >