AHV and pension
Did your employer really pay in?
Your AHV account statement shows what was reported. How to order and read it, and what to do about a gap.
Gap check
- 2026Current year, nothing to check
- 2025Min. 5'000
- 2024Min. 4'851
- 2023Min. 4'851
- 2022Min. 4'747
- 2021Min. 4'747
- 2020Min. 4'701
2021 to 2024: can still be sorted out
If something is missing here, the office can still decide on contributions.For 2021 the period ends on 31.12.2026. The office must have decided by then, so get in touch soon.
2020: only with proof
Paying is no longer possible. If you can prove the wage deduction, the wage still goes on your account.
2025: often not booked yet
Generally only towards the end of the following year. Order the statement again then.
2026: cannot be on it yet
The current year is only booked the following year. Nothing to do.
For employees in Switzerland. Calculates no pension. Child-raising credits and a spouse's contributions are not on the statement and can still fill a year.
The statement shows which wages were reported to the AHV under your number. It is free and you can order it at any time. A missing year is not always a gap: the current year is never on it, and last year often is not yet. And if you can prove that AHV was deducted from your wage, that wage belongs on your account, even if the money never reached the compensation office.
Cost
Free
Ordering
Any time, in writing or online
Objecting
Within 30 days of delivery
Paying later
Only 5 years back
The 5 years run from the end of the year the contributions are owed for.
How to order it
Have your AHV number ready
You need your AHV number and your postal address. The number is on your health insurance card. How to find your AHV number if it is not.
Pick one office, ask for all accounts
Each compensation office that ever settled wages for you keeps its own account. You instruct just one, and it collects the statements from the others. In the form, choose the statement for all accounts. The InfoRegister shows which offices hold an account for you.
Wait for the post, note the date
The statement comes by post to your address, not to a PO box. The order page gives no fixed time. According to the BSV, fetching the data from the other offices alone takes 3 to 7 days today. Your 30 days for objections run from delivery.
The first statement shows all entries, later ones at least those since the last statement. If you want to see everything again, say so. You cannot view your account online yet; the federal government is still building that (project MOSAR).
Living abroad? Then you order through the Swiss Compensation Office, online, and according to its page it takes up to 2 months. If you work in Switzerland, you can also order from an office in Switzerland. What happens to your contributions is explained under AHV when you return home.
How to read it: tap a line
Rebuilt from the official pattern that binds all compensation offices. The headings are the real ones, which is why they are in three languages. Name, employers and amounts are invented.
Sample with invented data. Not a real statement.
A normal line
Code 1: employed. 03-12: March to December. The next column: the year 2019. Then the wage in francs, and on the right the employer who settled it.
Ort, Datum: Musterstadt, 12.03.2026
If you draw unemployment benefit and work in a household on the side, the same year can show both lines, daily allowance and wage. More in the post on interim earnings.
What a missing line means
It depends on the year. In 2026:
2026
Can never be on it
The current year is only booked the following year.
2025
Often not booked yet
Order again later. If you have doubts, ask your employer now.
2021 to 2024
Can still be sorted out
The office can still decide on contributions for five years after the end of the year, so for 2021 until 31.12.2026.
2020 and earlier
Paying is no longer possible
Contributions can be neither claimed nor paid. Exception: a proven wage deduction, see below.
Why 2025 is often still missing
Within 30 days after year end
The employer settles the wages with the office.
From about mid-year
Last year's wages can appear on the statement.
Towards the end of the year
They are generally booked.
A line is not always a full year
A contribution year needs a minimum income, in 2025 and 2026 that is CHF 5'000 a year. With few household hours you easily fall below it if it is your only job. For the last five calendar years you can still pay the missing contributions, ask your office.
Looks like a gap, but is not one
- Years with children
- Child-raising credits are never on the statement, they are calculated only for the pension. Such years can still count as contribution years.
- A spouse who paid
- If you were not working and your spouse paid at least twice the minimum contribution, your contributions count as paid.
- The young years
- Without gainful work, contributions start only on 1 January after your 20th birthday. Contribution periods before that can later fill gaps.
The statement shows no pension
It only shows what was reported. A missing contribution year generally cuts the pension by at least 1/44. What that looks like on a household wage is under pension as a household employee.
The AHV calculator gives you an estimate with your own years.
Deducted but never paid: with proof, the wage goes on your account
A wage from which the employer deducted AHV is entered on your account, even if the employer never paid the money to the office (AHVG Art. 30ter para. 2). The directive to the offices adds: they may not turn you away with the five years, even if the case is many years old. Whether to claim from the employer is for the office to check.
Your job is the proof. An entry is made only with full proof, or when the error is obvious. If the proof fails, the office may not enter the wage.
What helps as evidence
Shows the deduction
- Payslips showing the AHV deducted
- Wage statement (Lohnausweis)
Supports your account
- Bank statements showing the wage
- Employment contract and work reference
What is enough is for the office to decide case by case. The more papers, the better. What to look for on each payslip is shown by the check for your payslip.
And if nothing was ever deducted?
Then this rule does not apply, unless a net wage was clearly agreed: that counts the same, but must be proven just as well (Federal Supreme Court 9C_96/2010). Otherwise: if the office learns of it, it must claim the contributions from the employer (AHVV Art. 39), but only within the five years (AHVG Art. 16). If the claim arises from an offence with a longer limitation period, that longer period applies. More under working off the books.
The rule does not apply to the self-employed, the non-employed and employees of employers not liable to contributions: for them, only what was really paid is entered (AHVV Art. 138 para. 2).
What stays open
Whether the employer may later take your share out of your wage is not expressly settled in these texts. Ask the office or independent legal advice before you sign anything.
How to request the correction
Within 30 days: write
To the office that keeps the account. If the line is missing altogether, to your employer's office or your current one. No special form is needed, any written objection counts.
The office decides
It replies with a formal decision, with a corrected statement if needed.
Within 30 days: objection
If you disagree, you write to the same office. The objection is free.
Within 30 days: appeal
Against the decision on the objection, you go to the insurance court.
Missed the 30 days?
Not everything is lost, but it gets harder: at the time of the pension, a correction is made only if the error is obvious or you bring full proof (AHVV Art. 141 para. 3). So write anyway, as early as you can.
Two texts to copy
If your office has its own form or portal, use that. Otherwise this letter is enough, with copies, and you keep the originals. In the square brackets about the deduction, keep only what is true. Write to your employer only if you feel safe doing so; you can also go straight to the office.
The offices work in German, French or Italian. Before copying, pick the language of your office.
Letter to the office
Subject: correction of my individual account, AHV number [756.xxxx.xxxx.xx] Dear Sir or Madam, On [date] I received the statement of my individual account. For [year], the wage from [employer, address] is missing or recorded too low. I worked there from [month] to [month]. [AHV was deducted from my wage. / A net wage was agreed.] See enclosures. I request the correction (AHVV Art. 141 para. 2) and the entry of this wage (AHVG Art. 30ter para. 2). If you refuse, please issue a formal decision (Verfügung). Enclosures: [payslips, wage statement, contract, bank statements] Kind regards [name, address, telephone]
Message to the employer
Hello [name], I ordered my AHV account statement. For [year] it shows nothing from you, or less than my payslips. Could you please check with your compensation office whether my wage was reported, and send me your settlement for that year? If something is missing, it can often still be reported. Thank you and kind regards [name]
Frequently asked questions
How often can I order the statement?
Can my employer order my statement?
Why does my second statement show less than the first?
Can I buy missing years?
My former employer no longer exists. Is the wage lost?
Does a line on the statement prove everything was right?
Your payslips are your proof
Clino is free for employees. You create a profile and send your employers a link. If they use Clino, Clino prepares the registration and the payslips, and you have every payslip with its AHV deductions to hand.
Create a free profileMore on the page for cleaners.
Sources
- Leaflet 1.01 Statement of the individual account (status 1.1.2015, reprint 2024), in Germanwww.ahv-iv.ch/p/1.01.d
- Leaflet 1.04 Explanations of the statement (status 1.1.2025): codes, minimum income, limitation, in Germanwww.ahv-iv.ch/p/1.04.d
- Central Compensation Office: Explanations of the statement (12.2023), in Germanwww.zas.admin.ch/dam/de/sd-web/oe0Em9FY2XSf/explications%20ec_eai_de.pdf
- AHVG Art. 3, 14, 16, 29ter and 30terwww.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/63/837_843_843/de
- AHVV Art. 36, 39, 50, 52b and 137 to 141www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/63/1185_1183_1185/de
- Directive on the insurance certificate and individual account (Wegleitung VA/IK, status 1.10.2025), para. 2308, 2318 to 2325, 2330 to 2333, 2358 to 2360, 2401 to 2406, 2501 to 2517, Annex 5, in Germansozialversicherungen.admin.ch/de/d/6938/download
- ATSG Art. 52, 56 and 60: objection and appealwww.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2002/510/en
- Leaflet 3.01 Old-age pensions, sections 13 and 15, in Germanwww.ahv-iv.ch/p/3.01.d
- AHV/IV Information Centre: order the statementwww.ahv-iv.ch/en/Forms/Statement-of-the-individual-account
- InfoRegister of the Central Compensation Officeinforegister.zas.admin.ch
- SVA Zürich: order form, note on last year, in Germansvazurich.ch/dam/sva-dokumente/2000_ak/2400_ik/2400_vb1_auszug_individuelles_konto_022.002.pdf
- BSV: eGov notice no. 062 of 27.2.2026, project MOSAR, in Germansozialversicherungen.admin.ch/de/d/21904/download
- SVA Aargau, legal service, in Zeitlupe 12/2016: evidence for missing contributions, in Germanzeitlupe.ch/app/uploads/2021/01/AHV-Ratgeber-Was-laesst-sich-tun-wenn-der-Arbeitgeber-keine-AHV-Beitraege-bezahlt-hat-Zeitlupe-12-2016.pdf
- AHV/IV Information Centre: What to do about contribution gaps? (2019), in Germanwww.ahv-iv.ch/de/News-Infos/post/was-tun-bei-beitragsluecken
- Swiss Compensation Office: statement for insured persons living abroadwww.zas.admin.ch/en/statement-of-the-individual-account-for-insured-persons-residing-outside-switzerland
- Leaflet 1.03 Care credits, section 7, in Germanwww.ahv-iv.ch/p/1.03.d
- Federal Supreme Court, judgment 9C_96/2010 of 26.2.2010: proof of the deduction or of the net wage, in Germanservat.unibe.ch/dfr/bger/2010/100226_9C_96-2010.html
Status: 4 November 2026. The directive is the BSV's instruction to the offices, not a statute. In your own case, your compensation office can advise you.