Good for your employees. Good for your business.

Covered in particular are building-technology companies or company divisions, namely sheet-metal work and building envelope, sanitary installations including pipework and utility lines, heating, air conditioning and refrigeration, ventilation, and solar installations in building technology, including piping and the connection of individual elements to one another.

The entire installation staff is covered, including foremen, site-managing installers and chief installers, as well as employees working in the workshop and warehouse.

No. Company owners and their family members within the meaning of Art. 4(1) ArG are not covered by the GAV-VRM.

No. Senior managers to whom employees report, or who hold management functions, are not covered.

No. Apprentices are excluded from the personal scope.

Employees who predominantly (more than 50 %) carry out an activity in the field of technical planning, project design or estimating are not covered.

Yes. Workshop and warehouse staff are explicitly included within the personal scope, provided the other requirements are met.

No. The voluntary payment of contributions does not establish any entitlement to later benefits.

In cases of doubt, coverage is to be clarified on the basis of the GAV-VRM, the regulations and the responsible implementing or executing bodies (rPK/PLK).

Currently, voluntary coverage for people who are not covered by the GAV-VRM is not possible. Such an option will be examined at a later date.

In principle, all departments and divisions of companies that carry out building technology work are covered. For structured businesses, the divisions can be allocated accordingly; the details are governed by the GAV-VRM.

No. Coverage is not voluntary — it follows directly from the scope of application of the GAV-VRM. Anyone who meets the requirements is covered by the VRM and liable to contribute. An individual opt-out is not possible.

Periods during which an employee worked, through an employment agency, at a business covered by the GAV-VRM can be credited as employment duration, provided the role at the placement business falls within the personal scope of application.

The VRM supports personnel and succession planning, enables knowledge transfer, reduces strain on older employees and creates a structured transition instead of an abrupt departure.

The VRM also strengthens employee loyalty and trust.

More broadly, this shows the industry taking responsibility as a committed social partner.

The employer

• checks coverage
• pays the contributions
• declares the relevant salaries
• supports employees with the application
• and correctly implements agreed reductions in workload in the employment relationship and in payroll accounting.

By 30 September of each year, at least 67 % of the calculated annual contributions must be paid on account. The remaining amount is determined annually after the definitive salary report, due on 31 March, and invoiced.

First, the business's affiliation with the GAV-VRM and the coverage of individual employees should be checked. The VRM deductions must then be entered correctly in the payroll system.

The employer owes Stiftung VRM the total contribution of 1.80% of the determining wage.

The employer deducts the employee's share of 0.80% when paying wages.

The total contribution is 1.80% of the relevant salary.

Employer: 1%

Employee: 0.8%

The employee contribution is 0.80% of the determining wage.

The employer bears at least 1.00% of the determining wage and owes the foundation the total contribution of 1.80%.

The UVG annual salary of employees covered by the GAV-VRM is decisive for determining contributions.

The employer deducts the employee contribution from each salary payment.

Yes. If the financing of benefits is not secured with the available and expected funds, negotiations on benefit adjustments or higher contributions may become necessary under the regulations.

The contributions finance the regulatory bridging pensions, the BVG savings contributions, any hardship benefits, and the Foundation's administrative costs.

No. The VRM operates on a pay-as-you-go basis. No individual savings account is kept per person. Contributions jointly fund the benefits under the Regulations.

In the event of full early retirement, it must be clarified whether continuation in the company's pension fund is possible. In case of doubt, the implementing body must be informed in good time.

The VRM deduction must be shown as a separate item on the payslip — it may not be combined with the AHV contribution or other social security deductions. On the annual salary statement, the employee's share is entered under the BVG deductions.

For data collection, the UVG-liable annual salary total of employees covered by the GAV-VRM is decisive. In addition, various master data will be required in the initial phase for future evaluations:

Collection by declaration — data for the study

• Surname, first name

• Date of birth

• Entry/exit date at the company

• GAV minimum wage category

• UVG salary total

• GAV coverage status

The data to be collected per employee is necessary to build a database and for the study.

The salary report is submitted via the company platform. The platform is already in operation; the VRM reporting module is currently being added and will be operational from autumn 2026. The goal is a unified process with a clear separation between PK and VRM declarations.

In particular, the UVG payroll sum and number of employees are collected for the purposes of collection, as well as personal data such as name, first name, date of birth, entry/exit date, GAV minimum wage category, UVG payroll sum and coverage status for the data basis, statistics and subsequent benefit assessments.

The relevant annual salaries of covered employees must be submitted by 31 January of the following year electronically via the company platform.

Yes. Companies that did not employ any employees covered by the GAV-VRM during the requested billing period must also report this to the foundation annually.

A nil report is also important information for the foundation.

The business is reminded twice. With the second reminder, an administrative fee may be charged. If the declaration remains outstanding, the wage total may be estimated based on experience values plus a surcharge, and invoiced on that basis.

Once the due date has passed, a reminder is sent, followed by a formal demand. An administrative fee of CHF 100.- is charged with the formal demand.

Once the payment deadline has expired, ordinary debt collection proceedings may be initiated.

The business must report significant changes that may affect the levying of contributions without delay. These include in particular relocation of the registered office, cessation of business, change of legal form, or other relevant changes.

Yes. The contribution remains payable on the remaining earned income if a person continues to work and draws a bridging pension.

No. No VRM contribution is payable for persons who continue working beyond the reference age.

The employer must provide the required documents, agree the reduction plan with the employee and confirm the details of employment, workload and wage.

In the case of partial early retirement, the new workload is then implemented within the business.

In the case of full reduction, the employer must terminate the employment relationship.

By 30 September of each year, at least 67 % of the calculated annual contributions must be paid. The advance contributions are determined on the basis of the reported or estimated UVG payroll sums of the previous year.

The remaining amount is determined annually based on the relevant annual salaries, due on 31 March and invoiced.

A balance in favour of the business is generally carried forward, unless the business requests payment.

Corrections to declared or estimated wage totals can be submitted in writing by the employer up to a maximum of 5 years after the end of the relevant calendar year; cost consequences under the Regulations are reserved.

If the reported or estimated salary total subsequently proves to be too low, the Foundation invoices the outstanding contributions.

The registration form — signed by the employer and the employee — must be submitted to the foundation at least 6 months before the desired start of benefits. The form and the required enclosures can be found in the documents section.

No. The reduction takes place in coordination with the covered company. Employers and employees must therefore agree together on a workable model. Without coordinated implementation of working hours, salary and work model, the application cannot be processed properly.

Open the calculator tool, carry out a calculation and use the share function on the results step. You can send the link directly by email or WhatsApp — the recipient immediately sees the same result.

There is no personal right to reimbursement, because no individual account is kept. The funds are used collectively for the benefits of the model.

No. When requested, businesses open a free user account on the ISAB platform. With this ISAB login, from 2027 you can declare the UVG wage total of your employees directly on the Baticontrol company platform.

Yes. On the Baticontrol company platform, it is possible to import and export personal master data as part of the VRM declaration. To do so, the ISAB login on the Baticontrol company platform must be used.

For all questions relating to contributions, registrations and salary declarations, the office of VRM Services AG in Wallisellen is available to you. Contact us by phone or via the contact form.

Questions on VRM topics

• VRM Services AG in Wallisellen. Use our contact form or call us.

Questions on the company platform, login & data entry

• Paritätische Landeskommission

Questions on coverage

• responsible office of the regional Paritätische Kommission / Paritätische Landeskommission