13th AVS pension: the cases in which yours is reduced or zero, and how it is taxed

The 13th AVS pension is paid for the first time at the beginning of December 2026, together with the December pension. Many pensioners expect to receive one extra monthly payment; some of them will receive less, and some nothing at all. This guide explains, on the basis of the law, the circular of the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) and its FAQ, consulted on 9 November 2026, how the amount is calculated, why it may be reduced, how it is taxed and what the vote of 29 November 2026 changes.

1. How is the 13th pension calculated?

It is worth one twelfth of the total AVS old-age pensions paid to you during the calendar year, and it is due if you are entitled to an old-age pension in the month of December.

Article 34ter of the Federal Act on Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance (LAVS), in force since 1 January 2026, makes it a supplement to the annual old-age pension: it corresponds to one twelfth of the amount of old-age pension received during the calendar year and is paid in December. The FSIO circular on the 13th old-age pension (in French; C 13 RV, as at 17 June 2026) describes the mechanism: each month, the compensation fund records in a separate account 8.3333% of the old-age pension actually paid, then pays the total in December, rounded to the franc (chapters 4 and 8).

Two consequences follow. The 13th pension is not “the December pension paid twice”: it reflects every month of the year, with its changes in amount. And only what is an old-age pension counts: the ordinary or extraordinary old-age pension, including when it is reduced by early drawing, increased by deferral, capped for a couple or increased by the widowhood supplement (margin no. 4005).

The 13th pension does not change the amount of your monthly pension (circular, chapter 1). It is paid automatically, without any action on your part, by the fund that pays you the December pension (chapter 3). According to the FSIO FAQ of 3 November 2026 (in French), some 2.7 million people will receive it in December 2026.

2. In which cases is it reduced?

It is lower than your monthly payment if your old-age pension did not run for the whole year, fell during the year or is accompanied by benefits that are not included in the calculation. It equals one monthly payment, but a reduced one, if your pension is drawn early, capped or partial.

Examples from circular C 13 RV (section 4.3) and from the FSIO FAQ; the AI row is an illustrative calculation. The examples in the circular are based on the 2025 pension tables.

• Retirement during the year: this is your case if your old-age pension started in 2026 after January, as a rule because you reached the reference age between January and November 2026 without drawing it early. If you reached the reference age in June, your old-age pension started in July: you receive six twelfths. From 2027, a full year of pension will give you a full 13th pension.
• Early drawing: the 13th pension is paid during the early-drawing period, but calculated on the reduced pension; after the reference age, it is calculated on the recalculated pension, which remains reduced (margin no. 4007 et seq.).
• Married couple: the sum of the two pensions is capped at 150% of the maximum pension (art. 35 LAVS), i.e. 3,780 francs a month in 2026. Each spouse receives a 13th pension calculated on their capped pension; together, it therefore does not in principle exceed 3,780 francs for a full year, excluding any increase for deferral. The 13th pension itself is not taken into account when checking the cap (margin no. 1009).
• Switch from AI to AVS: an AI pension is paid twelve times a year, without a 13th pension. At the reference age, the old-age pension replaces it and gives entitlement to the 13th pension, but only for the months of old-age pension (FSIO FAQ).
• What does not count: the child pension, the supplementary pension and the pension supplement for women of the AVS 21 transitional generation (art. 34bis LAVS) are paid twelve times a year. If your monthly payment includes one of these benefits, your 13th pension is lower than that payment (margin no. 4006).

Widowhood during the year can also increase the 13th pension, thanks to the widowhood supplement, as the last row of the table shows. If you receive a widow's or widower's pension, the comparison with your old-age pension now includes the 13th pension; our guide on the choice between a widow's pension and an old-age pension explains the letter that some funds are sending in 2026.

3. In which cases is there no 13th pension?

When you are not entitled to an old-age pension in the month of December: the 13th pension for the whole year depends on that month alone.

• Death before 1 December: no 13th pension is due for the year, and the entitlement does not pass to the heirs (margin no. 2007 and chapter 2). A person who dies on 1 December or later in the month keeps the December pension and the 13th pension, which form part of the estate (chapter 2; FSIO FAQ).
• AI pension or survivors' pension only: invalidity, widow's, widower's and orphan's pensions continue to be paid twelve times a year, even after the reference age in the case of survivors' pensions (chapter 2; FSIO FAQ).
• Old-age pension replaced by a higher widow's or widower's pension: if the replacement takes place before 1 December, no 13th pension is due, even for the preceding months (margin no. 2007 and chapter 2). Our guide on the choice between a widow's pension and an old-age pension explains how the fund compares the two pensions.
• Deferral: as long as the old-age pension is fully deferred, there is no 13th pension. The entitlement arises when the deferral is revoked, and the pension increase calculated at that point takes no account of any 13th pension. In the case of partial deferral, the 13th pension relates to the share of pension received (margin no. 4009 et seq.).
• Move to a country where the pension is not paid: if your old-age pension ends before 1 December because you transfer your domicile abroad, the 13th pension is not due, even for the months before departure (margin no. 2007 and chapter 2). This is the case for an extraordinary pension, which is paid only to persons domiciled in Switzerland (art. 42 LAVS), or for a pension that no agreement allows to be paid in your new country. Swiss nationals receive their ordinary pension, 13th pension included, whatever their country of residence; for others, export depends on the social security agreements, and the 13th pension follows the pension (FSIO FAQ).

It is not possible to waive the 13th pension alone: it is part of the annual pension, and Swiss law does not allow part of a benefit to be waived (margin no. 1010; FSIO FAQ). Nor is it counted as income in the calculation of supplementary benefits (art. 11, para. 3, let. i, LPC, cited by the FSIO FAQ).

4. Former cross-border worker or expatriate: why is your 13th pension smaller?

Because your AVS pension is often a partial pension, and the 13th pension is its annual twelfth: over a full year, it is worth only one of your monthly pensions.

About one third of the recipients in December 2026 live abroad, according to the FSIO FAQ. On the previous year's figures, pensions paid abroad averaged 702 francs a month, against 1,969 francs for pensions paid in Switzerland; this is also, on average, the amount of their 13th pension over a full year. The gap is mainly due to the contribution period: a partial pension is a fraction of the full pension, calculated on the ratio between your full years of contributions and those of your age group (art. 38 LAVS). A former cross-border worker who worked fifteen years in Switzerland receives a partial pension, and a partial 13th pension.

• Very small pensions are paid once a year: a pension that does not exceed 20% of the full minimum pension, i.e. 252 francs a month in 2026, is paid in a single annual payment, unless you request monthly payment (art. 44, para. 2, LAVS). The 13th pension is then paid with the annual pension (art. 34ter, para. 3, LAVS). According to the example in the circular, for an entitlement arising in June 2026, the first annual payment takes place in June 2027 and includes the seven twelfths of 13th pension due for June to December 2026 (chapter 6). For these pensioners, nothing therefore arrives in December 2026.
• Lump-sum settlements: some social security agreements allow a small partial pension to be replaced by a one-off payment. If you receive such a settlement on or after 1 January 2026, its calculation includes the 13th pension (margin nos. 10011 to 10013).
• The competent fund: pensions paid abroad are in principle paid by the Swiss Compensation Office (CSC) in Geneva. Our guide on the Swiss pension paid abroad details the payment dates, the currency and the exchange.

In December, the transfer includes the December pension and the 13th pension. Whether the conversion is made by the CSC to your euro account or by the institution that converts your francs, its cost applies to a higher amount than usual: compare the rate applied with the European Central Bank reference rate on the execution date, using the method detailed in our guide on the pension paid abroad.

5. How do you check the amount, and challenge it?

Add up the old-age pensions received from January to December, excluding child pensions and the AVS 21 supplement, and divide by twelve: you obtain, give or take rounding, your 13th pension.

Compensation funds must inform pensioners who were already receiving an old-age pension before 2026 of the method of calculation and of the payment at the latest with the first December 2026 payment; for a pension starting from 2026, these bases are set out in the pension decision (chapter 7). When a pension is recalculated, the new decision must also state the new basis for the 13th pension (chapter 7).

• Check: start from your statements of account or your bank statements for the year, and isolate the old-age pensions alone. A difference of less than one franc comes from rounding; a difference of one or more monthly payments points to a pension that changed during the year, a month not counted or a benefit that is not included in the calculation.
• Challenge: if you dispute the amount, ask your fund in writing for a reasoned decision; it is open to objection (chapter 7), which you can lodge within 30 days of its notification (art. 52 of the Federal Act on the General Part of Social Insurance Law, LPGA).
• Pension recalculated later: if your pension is revised upwards with retroactive effect, the fund pays you directly the difference on the 13th pensions already paid (margin no. 6005).

6. How is the 13th pension taxed?

Like the AVS pension of which it is part: by Switzerland if you are domiciled there, by your country of residence if you live abroad.

AVS pensions are taxable income, and so is the 13th pension, the FSIO FAQ points out. If you live in Switzerland, it is 100% taxable, like your other AVS pensions (art. 22 of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation, LIFD), in the tax return for the year in which you receive it: the 13th pension of December 2026 is part of your 2026 income. The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) estimates the additional revenue at 650 million francs for the cantons and communes and at 128 million for direct federal tax.

If you live abroad, Switzerland does not tax your AVS pension: for lack of a legal basis, AVS pensions paid to a recipient resident abroad are never taxable in Switzerland, whether or not there is a double taxation agreement, the FTA states in its leaflet on taxation at source (in French). It is your country of residence that taxes it, under its domestic law. Among the countries presented here, only Austria has published a rule specific to the 13th pension; elsewhere, it follows the rules for your monthly pensions.

• Austria: in an information note of 8 May 2026 (in German), the Federal Ministry of Finance considers that the 13th AVS pension in principle meets the conditions for the favourable taxation of special payments (§ 67 of the Austrian Income Tax Act, EStG 1988). The payment must be in addition to a current pension: if your AVS pension is paid to you once a year, the ministry indicates that you must switch to monthly payment, which the law allows you to request (art. 44, para. 2, LAVS). The ministry specifies that it relies on the information available to it at that date.
• Italy: the 5% withholding applies to AVS pensions paid in Italy through an Italian institution; when received without an Italian intermediary, for example into an account in Switzerland, they are subject to a substitute tax at the same rate (art. 76, paras. 1 and 1-ter, of Law No. 413 of 1991, in Italian). From 1 January 2027, this regime is taken over at the same rate by art. 37 of Legislative Decree No. 33 of 2025.
• Pension paid once a year: the 2026 13th pension arrives only with the 2027 annual payment. Check with your tax administration which year it relates to.

For France, Germany, Spain and Portugal, the tax return boxes and the articles of the agreements are set out in our guide on the Swiss pension paid abroad.

7. What does the vote of 29 November 2026 change?

Nothing for the December 2026 payment: the vote concerns the financing of the 13th pension through a VAT increase, not the entitlement to receive it.

The 13th pension was written into the Constitution by the acceptance of the popular initiative “Mieux vivre à la retraite” (for a better life in retirement) on 3 March 2024, then into the LAVS on 1 January 2026. On 29 November 2026, the people vote on the Federal Decree of 19 June 2026 on the additional financing of the AVS (in French). According to the Federal Council press release of 5 October 2026:

• the standard VAT rate would rise from 8.1% to 8.5%, and the special rate for accommodation from 3.8% to 4.0%; the reduced rate of 2.6%, which applies in particular to foodstuffs and medicines, does not change;
• the increase would come into force at the earliest at the beginning of 2028;
• the Federal Council and Parliament recommend accepting it.

According to the FSIO, the increase would bring the AVS about 1.4 billion francs a year from 2029. As the increase cannot apply before 2028, the payments of 2026 and 2027 are not offset by any additional financing, the official page on the vote specifies. The Confederation covers 20.2% of AVS expenditure, 13th pension included (FSIO FAQ). For a pensioner living abroad, Swiss VAT weighs only on what they buy in Switzerland; the 13th pension is paid to them whenever their old-age pension is paid to them abroad.

8. Key points to remember

The 13th pension of December 2026 is not one extra monthly payment for everyone: it is one twelfth of the old-age pensions actually paid in 2026. It is lower than your monthly payment if your pension started during the year or replaced an AI pension; it is worth only a reduced monthly payment if your pension is drawn early, capped or partial; it is zero if you are not entitled to an old-age pension in December.

Three things to do: redo the calculation with your payments for the year, excluding child pensions and the AVS 21 supplement; ask for a reasoned decision if the difference remains unexplained; declare the 13th pension with your AVS pensions, in Switzerland or in your country of residence.

9. Frequently Asked Questions