Confused about J-1 NRA status and interest earned from Swiss Pillar3a private pension

MK3386 — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 02:33:20 GMT

Hello I am a J-1 (visiting scholar) Swiss citizen living in Boston, MA since April 2023. I filed my 2023 and 2024 tax returns already and I need to amend 2023 and maybe 2024. The main reason for amendment is that due to my non-resident alien status I was exempt to pay FICA taxes and I need to file the corresponding corrected W-2. Now there is another reason that is bugging me: back in Switzerland I have private pension Pillar 3a, to which I deposit a monthly sum, and at the end of the year I get an interest that gets reinvested in the pension account. I am not allowed to touch the money in the account until 2050. Now, in 2023 the account generated rougly $150 in interest (in 2024 it was roughly $90); my question is: does this interest need to be declared as foreign income? I am getting very conflicting information such that as a NRA I do not have to disclose foreign income federally, on the other hand Swiss Pillar3a is considered as an investing account in the US so the interest should be disclosed. I am also not sure how this affect state taxes. US-CH tax treaty are also brought up, but i do not understand if they apply since it is a private pension account. Any help would be appreciated. It is not a lot of $ but i would like to file my taxes properly. Thank you, M

Re: Confused about J-1 NRA status and interest earned from Swiss Pillar3a private pension

pk — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 17:37:49 GMT

@MK3386

Do you still need help on this ?

In general

(a) if your tax status for the tax year 2023 and 2024 is indeed Non-Resident ( and filing form 1040-NR), then your are taxed by the USA ONLY on your US based income. So any foreign earnings are not reportable / taxable by the USA.

(b) FICA tax exemption is not based on whether you are a tax resident or not -- it is generally exempted for persons in training such as students/ OPT/CPT etc. You can also escape SECA ( the FICA equivalent for considered self-employed ) if you are participating in Social Security Equivalent ( of your home country in your case ) if , and only if , US and that country has a totalization agreement in effect --- thus you pay only to one country.

(c) A point to consider , the Swiss pillar 3a, being a private and not mandatory, can be classed by USA as a PFIC, thus requiring gain/ earnings recognition yearly. This depends on the entity that you are investing in .

Is there more I can do for you ?

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Confused about J-1 NRA status and interest earned from Swiss Pillar3a private pension

Re: Confused about J-1 NRA status and interest earned from Swiss Pillar3a private pension