Pillar 3a for the Self-Employed: 2026 Maximum and Buy-Ins for Missed Years

If you are self-employed without a pension fund, the 2026 Pillar 3a rule is: you can pay in up to 20% of your earned income, at most CHF 36'288. With a pension fund, the limit is CHF 7'258. Since 2026, you can also make up for gaps from 2025 onwards.

In this article, you work out your personal amount from your profit, check what you can still make up for 2025, and pay in the right amount before December 31.

Sources: Federal Social Insurance Office (BSV), «Die dritte Säule» for 2025 and 2026; Federal Council, decision of 2.10.2026 for 2027.

The official term for paying in later is a buy-in (Einkauf). Each buy-in year allows at most CHF 7'258, even without a pension fund. And only after you have paid your ordinary contribution in full. The ordinary contribution must be credited to your 3a account by December 31, and it's best to complete the buy-in by then too.

Picture November. Two December invoices are still open, and your 2026 profit will only be final once you close the books in spring. But the 3a money has to be in the account before New Year's Eve.

Pay in too little and you give away tax deductions. Pay in too much and the excess comes back, but without interest.

We build accounting software for the self-employed and know the November guessing game well. Here you get three things: your 2026 maximum, the exact buy-in rules from the ordinance, and a checklist for December.

Key points

• Without a pension fund: 20% of earned income, at most CHF 36'288 (2025 and 2026). With a pension fund: CHF 7'258. From 2027: CHF 36'864 and CHF 7'373 respectively.
• Earned income is your profit after your personal AHV/IV/EO social security contributions, without deducting your 3a contributions. If your self-employed activity makes a loss, no 3a deduction is possible.
• The deadline is the credit to your 3a account by December 31, not the date of your transfer.
• Since 2026, you can make up gaps from 2025 onwards: at most CHF 7'258 per buy-in year, only after the full ordinary contribution, and each gap with one buy-in only.
• A high earner who skipped CHF 36'288 in 2025 can make up at most CHF 7'258 of it. Paying in every year remains what matters most.

How much can the self-employed pay into Pillar 3a in 2026?

It all comes down to one question: are you affiliated with a pension fund (2nd pillar)? For the self-employed, the 2nd pillar is voluntary, and many sole proprietors and freelancers don't have one. For them, Pillar 3a replaces part of the 2nd pillar. The BSV itself writes that it can serve them as a substitute for the 2nd pillar.

Without a pension fund: 20% of earned income, at most CHF 36'288

This is the "large Pillar 3a". You can pay in up to 20% of your earned income, at most CHF 36'288 per year in 2025 and 2026. The legal basis is Art. 7 para. 1 let. b of the BVV 3 ordinance. The maximum equals 40% of the upper BVG limit and is adjusted along with it.

You reach the cap from an earned income of CHF 181'440, because 20% of that is exactly CHF 36'288. Below that, your personal 20% amount applies. You only have the profit figure for this at hand if you record invoices and expenses as you go, for example in Magic Heidi's accounting for the self-employed.

With a pension fund: CHF 7'258

If you joined a pension fund voluntarily, for example through an industry association, the "small" contribution applies: CHF 7'258 per year (Art. 7 para. 1 let. a BVV 3). Whether joining is worth it is covered in our guide to the pension fund for a sole proprietorship.

You also get the small contribution if you are employed alongside your self-employment and insured in a pension fund through that job. Sara's example further down shows how this works.

What counts as earned income?

The Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) defines it in Circular No. 18a (Kreisschreiben), in force since 1.1.2026. It replaces Circular 18 from 2008. For the self-employed, it is the balance of the profit and loss account after any tax adjustments. Your personal AHV/IV/EO contributions are deducted, your 3a contributions are not.

Realised capital gains on business assets also count. If you also earn a salary without a pension fund, that counts too, after deducting AHV/IV/EO/ALV. Put simply: profit minus personal AHV contributions. You don't deduct the 3a payment itself for this calculation.

A loss year is clearly regulated: according to the ESTV, no deduction is possible if the gainful activity results in a loss (KS 18a, section 5.5). With no profit and no other earned income, there is no 3a deduction.

And if you switch mid-year? For the time as an employee with a pension fund, the small amount applies. For the self-employed period, it is 20% of your self-employed income, provided there are annual accounts for the current tax period. In total, you can pay in at most the large amount (KS 18a, section 5.7 g).

Pillar 3a maximum 2027: CHF 7'373 or CHF 36'864

On 2.10.2026, the Federal Council raised the amounts for 2027. With a 2nd pillar, the new limit is CHF 7'373 (previously CHF 7'258), without a 2nd pillar CHF 36'864 (previously CHF 36'288). The new amounts apply from 1.1.2027. They don't change anything about your payment for 2026.

Calculate your personal 3a amount in 4 steps

This is the real problem with Pillar 3a for the self-employed. Your contribution must be credited by December 31, but you only know your profit after closing the books. So you estimate. Here's how to do it in ten minutes:

1. Take your profit to date. Take your current-year profit from Magic Heidi, meaning income minus expenses to date. Make sure the year's open invoices are counted too, not just the paid ones.
2. Add the rest of the year. Add what you will still invoice by December 31 and subtract the expenses still to come. Be conservative.
3. Deduct your personal AHV contributions. If you have already recorded your AHV/IV/EO contributions as an expense, they are already deducted from your profit. Otherwise, deduct them now. Our article on AHV contributions for the self-employed shows roughly how much they are.
4. Multiply by 20%. The result is your maximum, at most CHF 36'288. If December is uncertain, round down a little, unless you are planning a buy-in (see below).

Magic Heidi gives you the profit figure, and you do the 20% step yourself.

Why round down? If you pay in a bit too little, you can close the gap in a later year with a buy-in, up to CHF 7'258 and after the full ordinary contribution. If you pay in too much, you have to have the excess refunded, without interest. On a normal income, rounding down slightly is therefore usually the cleaner option.

Exception: if you are planning a buy-in this year, don't round down. A buy-in requires your full permitted contribution to be paid in. If your earned income turns out higher than estimated after closing the books, part of it would be missing, and the buy-in can be called into question. In that case, pay in towards the upper end of your estimate. Any excess is refunded, albeit without interest.

Tip: your 3a payment is private. Don't record it as a business expense. According to the ESTV, for the self-employed these contributions are always considered private living costs (KS 18a, section 5.1). You deduct them in your tax return as a general deduction. Your annual figures from Magic Heidi help you trace your amounts later, in your tax return and for a buy-in.

December 31 deadline: the credit counts, not the transfer

Your 3a contribution for 2026 must be made by December 31, 2026 at the latest. According to the ESTV, what counts is the day it is credited to your individual pension account. Neither the debit from your bank account nor the credit to the 3a foundation's general account is enough (KS 18a, section 5.1).

This also applies to the self-employed whose financial year ends on December 31. You can't wait until you close the books or file your tax return, even if you often read otherwise. Here's how to meet the deadline in practice:

• Transfer in early to mid-December, not on the 30th.
• Check your 3a account before Christmas to see whether the credit has arrived.
• Ask your foundation by when a December payment has to arrive.

Paid in too much? Excess contributions are not deductible and must be refunded (KS 18a, section 5.1). But the foundation only refunds the nominal amount: the interest accrued on it is not refunded (KS 18a, section 9.1).

Missed the deadline? For gaps from 2025 onwards, that is no longer final. Since 2026, there is the buy-in for this.

Catching up on Pillar 3a: the buy-in for missed years (since 2026)

Catching up on Pillar 3a is officially called a buy-in (Einkauf). Since 2026, you can pay in retroactively for contribution gaps from 2025 onwards and close them that way. Each buy-in year allows at most CHF 7'258, even without a pension fund. The condition is that you have paid your ordinary contribution in full in the same year. The rules are in Art. 7a and 7b BVV 3.

Which years you can make up

Only gaps from 2025 onwards count. Older gaps cannot be filled with a buy-in (transitional provision of BVV 3). The first buy-in is possible in the 2026 tax year, for a gap from 2025.

So you can't make up gaps from 2024 or earlier. For later gaps, you can go back at most ten years before the buy-in year.

The conditions

All of these must be met (Art. 7a BVV 3, KS 18a section 5.6, BSV FAQ on buy-ins):

• You had earned income subject to AHV in the buy-in year and in every gap year.
• In the buy-in year, you pay in the ordinary contribution permitted for you in full.
• You have not yet drawn a retirement benefit from Pillar 3a. Any withdrawal from five years before the reference age counts as a retirement benefit.
• After the reference age, buy-ins remain possible for at most five more years, and only as long as you are still working.

The second point is the tricky one for the self-employed. Under the ordinance, you must pay in full the contribution permitted for you under Art. 7 para. 1 (Art. 7a para. 1 let. c BVV 3). The ESTV speaks of the maximum contribution permitted for you and explicitly refers to the 20% rule without a pension fund too (KS 18a, section 5.6 with reference to section 5.5).

So without a pension fund, "permitted" means your full 20% amount, up to CHF 36'288. The BSV FAQ only gives CHF 7'258 as an example, the amount with a pension fund. The ordinance and the circular are what count. Still, have your 3a foundation confirm the amount before you buy in.

And loss years? As we understand it, no gap arises in those years. The gap is the difference between the permitted and the paid contribution (Art. 7a para. 2 BVV 3). Without earned income, your permitted contribution was zero, so there is nothing to buy in.

We derive this from KS 18a and Art. 7a BVV 3; it isn't stated explicitly. Clarify borderline cases with your foundation.

How much per year: at most CHF 7'258, even without a pension fund

The buy-in is capped at the "small contribution", i.e. 8% of the upper BVG limit (Art. 7a para. 2 BVV 3). The BSV adds that this also applies to insured persons without a 2nd pillar. The amount that counts is the one for the year in which you buy in, so CHF 7'258 in 2026.

One buy-in can cover several gap years. But the CHF 7'258 applies to the buy-in year as a whole, not per gap year. Without a pension fund, you can therefore pay in at most CHF 36'288 plus CHF 7'258 in 2026, a total of CHF 43'546.

For buy-ins in 2027, this makes CHF 7'373. The cap follows the small contribution of the buy-in year, which the Federal Council has set at CHF 7'373 for 2027. We derived this figure from the ordinance and the Federal Council decision; the BSV has not yet published its own figure.

One gap, one buy-in: whatever is left over is lost

You close a given year's gap with one buy-in, not several. The ESTV states that it is not permitted to fill a specific annual contribution gap through several (annual) buy-ins spread over several years (KS 18a, section 5.6; Art. 7a para. 3 BVV 3).

If you only partly fill a gap, the rest is lost. With small gaps, that doesn't matter. For high-earning self-employed people with a large gap, it does, as Marco's example shows.

How the Pillar 3a buy-in works

1. Pay in the ordinary contribution first. Pay your full contribution for the current year, so without a pension fund your 20%.
2. Submit a written request. Write to your 3a foundation with: the buy-in amount, the gap years, the amount per gap year, and the contributions already paid in those years with payment dates.
3. Confirm the requirements. You confirm that the ordinary contribution in the buy-in year has been paid in full (with the amount), that you had income subject to AHV in the gap years, that you have never bought in for those years and have not yet drawn a retirement benefit.
4. Transfer the buy-in. Pay the buy-in amount as agreed with your foundation.
5. Keep the certificate. The foundation certifies the buy-in (Art. 8 para. 2 BVV 3). You need this certificate for your tax return.

The buy-in doesn't have to go to the same 3a account as your ordinary contribution (KS 18a, section 5.6). As we understand it, it counts in the year in which it is credited to your 3a account. So submit your request in November, leaving enough time before December 31.

Tax deduction: fully deductible in the buy-in year

The BSV is clear: like the ordinary annual contribution, the buy-in is fully deductible from taxable income. This applies to federal tax as well as cantonal and municipal taxes. You deduct the buy-in in the year you make it, not retroactively in the gap year.

Pillar 3a isn't the only deduction you should check before year-end. You'll find an overview in our guide to tax deductions for the self-employed.

Worked examples in CHF

Lea, graphic designer without a pension fund: closing the 2025 gap in 2026

Take Lea, a fictional graphic designer with a sole proprietorship and no pension fund. In 2025, her earned income was CHF 48'000. Her maximum was therefore CHF 9'600. She only paid in CHF 3'000, so her 2025 gap is CHF 6'600.

At the end of October 2026, her current-year profit in Magic Heidi is CHF 66'000. Her open invoices and jobs until year-end, minus her remaining expenses, add about CHF 14'000, making about CHF 80'000. She hasn't recorded her personal AHV contributions as an expense; they come to about CHF 8'000. That puts her earned income at about CHF 72'000.

The order matters. Lea pays in the CHF 14'400 first, because that is the condition. Since she wants to buy in, she doesn't round down her ordinary contribution.

In November, she submits the written buy-in request and then transfers the CHF 6'600. Her 2025 gap is now fully closed.

Marco, high-earning IT consultant: why the buy-in helps him little

Picture Marco, a fictional IT consultant without a pension fund. In 2025, he earned CHF 190'000. 20% of that would be CHF 38'000, but his maximum was capped at CHF 36'288. He paid in nothing in 2025, so his gap is CHF 36'288.

In 2026, Marco first has to pay in his full ordinary contribution. His 2026 income is high again, so that is also CHF 36'288. Only then can he buy in for 2025, at most CHF 7'258. In total, he can deduct up to CHF 43'546 in 2026.

The catch: CHF 29'030 of his 2025 gap is lost for good, because each year's gap can only be closed with one buy-in. The lesson for high-earning self-employed people is simple. Pay in every year. The buy-in only patches small misestimates.

Sara, self-employed plus a part-time job with a pension fund

Consider Sara, a fictional copywriter. She is self-employed and also works 40% as an employee at a publisher, where she is insured in the pension fund. Only the small contribution of CHF 7'258 (2026) applies to her, however high her self-employed profit is (KS 18a, section 5.7 b).

There is one exception. If self-employment is her main activity, she can have herself exempted from mandatory BVG coverage for the side job (Art. 1j para. 1 let. c BVV 2). Then the 20% rule applies to her again. But the exemption changes her whole pension provision, so Sara should first clarify this with her pension fund and her employer.

Strategy for fluctuating income

In every year with a profit, pay in your ordinary contribution. The buy-in is a cushion for misestimates of up to CHF 7'258, not a substitute for skipped years. Mixing the two up costs you real deduction potential when gaps are large.

After a weak year, the buy-in can still help. If you earned little in 2025 and therefore paid in little, you can make up the gap in 2026, provided it is below CHF 7'258. You then deduct it in the stronger year. With progressive tax rates, a deduction in the year with higher income generally has a bigger effect.

Several 3a accounts are allowed. What counts is the total of all payments per year (KS 18a, section 5.2). With several accounts, you can later stagger your withdrawals. How that works and how withdrawals are taxed is explained in Pillar 3a withdrawal.

Conclusion: your December checklist for Pillar 3a

For Pillar 3a as a self-employed person, three things matter. Your amount is 20% of earned income, at most CHF 36'288. The money must be credited by December 31. And you make up gaps from 2025 onwards with at most CHF 7'258 per buy-in year, each gap only once.

1. Take your current-year profit (counting open invoices), estimate the rest of the year, deduct AHV contributions, multiply by 20%.
2. Transfer your ordinary contribution by mid-December.
3. A gap from 2025? Don't round down your ordinary contribution, and submit your written buy-in request in November.
4. Before December 31, check that everything has been credited to your 3a account.
5. Keep the foundation's certificates for your tax return.

We answer the most common questions about Pillar 3a for the self-employed below.

This article is general information, not tax advice. For special cases, ask your 3a foundation, your tax office or your fiduciary.