Widow's pension or old-age pension: your AVS fund's letter and the choice to make within 30 days

You have been receiving an AVS widow's or widower's pension for years, you have reached the reference age, and your compensation fund writes to you in 2026 asking you to choose between that pension and your own old-age pension. This letter stems from the 13th AVS pension, paid for the first time in December 2026. This guide explains, on the basis of the circular of the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) and the texts consulted on 9 November 2026, who receives it, how to compare the two pensions and how to reply in time.

1. Who receives this letter?

People who were receiving a widow's or widower's pension on 1 January 2026, who had reached the reference age and whose old-age pension would be higher over the year, but lower each month.

When a person is entitled to both an old-age pension and a widow's or widower's pension, the AVS pays only the higher of the two (art. 24b of the Federal Act on Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance, LAVS; AVS leaflet 3.03). Until 2025, the comparison was between monthly amounts paid twelve times a year. Since 1 January 2026, the old-age pension gives entitlement to a 13th pension (art. 34ter LAVS), whereas survivors' pensions continue to be paid twelve times a year, even after the reference age, as the FSIO FAQ of 3 November 2026 (in French) points out.

The FSIO drew the consequences in a supplement to its circular on the 13th old-age pension (in French; C 13 RV, as at 17 June 2026): widow's and widower's pensions current on 1 January 2026 (widowhood before 1 December 2025), paid to pensioners who have reached the reference age, must be reviewed. The review also applies to a widow's or widower's pension that replaced an early old-age pension. The fund writes to the people for whom the new calculation results in an old-age pension that is higher over the year, but lower each month than the widow's pension (margin no. 12001). According to the FSIO, quoted by the Beobachter (in German) in April 2026, some 10,000 files are being reviewed in this way; only some of them lead to the letter.

This is the only case in which the FSIO circular opens a choice. For widowhood on or after 1 December 2025, or for a widowed person who reaches the reference age in 2026, the fund compares the two pensions including the monthly share of the 13th pension and automatically pays the higher one (margin no. 1009 and foreword to supplement 1 of the circular).

2. Why does the 13th pension change the comparison?

Because twelve monthly widow's pension payments are now compared with thirteen monthly old-age pension payments: the old-age pension wins over the year as soon as it reaches twelve thirteenths, i.e. 92.3%, of the widow's pension.

The 13th pension is worth one twelfth of the old-age pensions paid during the year: for a full year, one extra monthly payment. In the comparison, the old-age pension includes the 20% widowhood supplement to which widowed pensioners are entitled, up to the maximum pension (art. 35bis LAVS), and, for women of the transitional generation of the AVS 21 reform, the pension supplement provided for in art. 34bis LAVS. The AVS 21 supplement is, however, paid twelve times a year: it does not count towards the 13th pension, so for these women the threshold is slightly higher than 92.3%. In other cases, an old-age pension up to about 7.7% lower each month can bring in more over the year.

Amounts in francs. The first example is the one in annex 2 of the FSIO circular; the other two are illustrative calculations.

Two limits help you read your letter. The monthly reduction, when you switch to the old-age pension, is always less than 7.7% of your widow's pension. The gain over the year is always less than one monthly widow's pension payment, and it is often small: 20 francs in the FSIO example. For a widow's pension of 1,800 francs, the old-age pension becomes more advantageous over the year from 1,662 francs a month.

The case may arise, for example, with partial pensions after a career spent partly outside Switzerland, or with a modest old-age pension compared with a widow's pension calculated on the income of a spouse who earned more. With a full contribution period, the old-age pension of a widowed person, supplement included, ranges from 1,512 to 2,520 francs a month in 2026, and the widow's pension from 1,008 to 2,016 francs, according to the tables in leaflet 3.03.

3. Keep the widow's pension or switch to the old-age pension: what to weigh up?

The old-age pension brings in more over the year; the widow's pension brings in more each month. The choice depends on your monthly budget, your supplementary benefits and the actual margin stated in the letter.

• The rhythm of payments: with the old-age pension, you receive slightly less for eleven months and the catch-up comes in December with the 13th pension. If your budget is tight every month, the monthly difference matters as much as the annual total.
• The month of December: the 13th pension is due only to people who are entitled to an old-age pension in the month of December; in the event of death before 1 December, it is not due for the year (margin no. 2007 of the circular; FSIO FAQ). Each year, the annual advantage of the old-age pension therefore assumes that you are alive in December.
• Supplementary benefits: the 13th pension is not counted as income in the calculation of supplementary benefits (art. 11, para. 3, let. i, LPC). If you receive supplementary benefits, the fund must adjust their calculation to the pension chosen and pay any catch-up amount (margin no. 12007); ask for the amount of your supplementary benefits under both scenarios before replying.
• Finality: if you keep the widow's pension, the fund confirms it by a decision, and once that decision has become final you can no longer go back on your choice (margin no. 12005). Remarriage ends the widow's or widower's pension (leaflet 3.03); ask your fund what would then happen to your own pension.
• The following years: AVS pensions rise by 1.59% on 1 January 2027, the Federal Council decided on 2 October 2026. As the two pensions are adjusted together, the percentage difference between them hardly changes.

Both pensions are taxable as income; so is the 13th pension, according to the FSIO FAQ. If you live outside Switzerland, it is in principle your country of residence that taxes the AVS pension: our guide on the Swiss pension paid abroad sets out the rules by country.

4. How do you reply within 30 days, including from abroad?

The fund gives you 30 days to tell it your choice; reply in writing, quoting your AVS number, and keep a copy.

According to annex 2 of the circular, the letter states the monthly amount of each pension, the annual gain from the old-age pension and the 30-day deadline (margin no. 12002). It allows you to request that the widow's or widower's pension be maintained. Check three figures before replying: the current widow's pension, the proposed old-age pension, widowhood supplement included, and the annual gain stated.

• You choose the old-age pension: the fund confirms your choice by a simple communication, then issues its decision with a statement of account (margin no. 12003).
• You want to keep the widow's pension: say so expressly within the deadline. The fund issues a decision confirming that the pension is maintained.
• You do not reply: the fund automatically grants you, by November 2026 at the latest, the old-age pension with the higher annual amount (margin no. 12004).

From abroad. If your pension is paid to you abroad, the same rule applies: the 13th pension is paid abroad whenever the old-age pension is, according to the FSIO FAQ. Pensioners domiciled outside Switzerland are in principle paid by the Swiss Compensation Office (CSC) in Geneva (art. 62 LAVS and art. 123 RAVS), as our guide on the Swiss pension paid abroad explains in detail. Post takes longer to arrive: reply as soon as you receive the letter, by the means indicated in it, and contact the fund without delay if the letter reaches you late.

If you disagree with the decision issued afterwards, you can lodge an objection with the fund within 30 days of its notification (art. 52 of the Federal Act on the General Part of Social Insurance Law, LPGA).

5. What happens next, and what will you receive in December 2026?

If you switch to the old-age pension, the widow's pension continues until November 2026, then the fund settles the accounts for the year and pays you the difference in December.

There is no interruption in payments, whatever your choice (margin no. 12006). The fund offsets the widow's pensions paid from January to November 2026 against the old-age pensions due for the whole of 2026, 13th pension included, and issues, by November 2026 at the latest, a decision accompanied by a statement of account (margin no. 12003). In the FSIO example:

This December payment replaces the pension for the month and the 13th pension. From January 2027, you receive your old-age pension every month, then a 13th pension every December. The 13th pension is paid for the first time at the beginning of December 2026, with the December pension, without any action on your part.

6. You have not received any letter: is that normal?

Often, yes: the fund writes only to people for whom the old-age pension is higher over the year but lower each month.

• Your widow's pension remains higher even over the year: it continues to be paid, without any action on your part.
• You already receive your old-age pension, because it was higher each month: you will receive the 13th pension in December, without any action on your part.
• You were widowed in December 2025 or later, or you reach the reference age in 2026: the fund automatically compares the two pensions, share of the 13th pension included, and pays the higher one; there is no choice.

The circular provides that decisions granting the old-age pension are to be issued by November 2026 at the latest; a letter may therefore still arrive. If, at the end of the month, you think you are in the situation described in chapter 1 without having received anything, ask your compensation fund for the comparative calculation of your two pensions, citing chapter 12 of circular C 13 RV. The competent fund is the one that pays your pension; the contact details of all compensation funds (cantonal, professional, the Federal Compensation Fund and the Swiss Compensation Office) are published by the AVS/AI Information Centre.

7. Key points to remember

Your fund's letter signals neither an error nor an imposed reduction: it lets you choose between a widow's pension that is higher each month and an old-age pension that is higher over the year, thanks to the 13th pension. The old-age pension wins over the year as soon as it reaches 92.3% of the widow's pension (excluding the AVS 21 supplement), and the annual gain remains less than one monthly widow's pension payment.

Three things to do: check the two amounts and the annual gain stated in the letter; reply within 30 days, in writing, especially if you want to keep the widow's pension, because without a reply the fund chooses the old-age pension; ask your supplementary benefits office, if you receive supplementary benefits, before deciding.

8. Frequently Asked Questions