Investment foundation or classical foundation: two regimes

Two vehicles carry the same word in their name and follow different regimes. The confusion is understandable, because the investment foundation genuinely is a foundation under the Civil Code. What separates them is not the form but the regime placed above it.

The short version

• The investment foundation is established under Art. 80 to 89a CC but is subject to pension law under Art. 53g para. 2 BVG; foundation law applies only subsidiarily.
• The classical foundation is supervised under Art. 84 para. 1 CC by the public body to which it belongs.
• Family and ecclesiastical foundations are exempt under Art. 87 CC from that supervision and from the duty to appoint an auditor.
• Tax exemption follows two different letters of the same article: Art. 56 DBG, letter e for pensions, letter g for public or charitable purposes.

The same form, a different regime

Art. 80 CC states the classical foundation in one sentence: its establishment requires the dedication of assets to a particular purpose. That dedication is the core, and it binds.

Art. 53g para. 1 BVG builds directly on it, allowing foundations under Articles 80 to 89a CC to be established for the joint investment and management of pension assets. The investment foundation is therefore not a legal form of its own.

Paragraph 2 then places the other regime above it: investment foundations are institutions serving occupational benefits and are subject to the BVG. Only where the BVG and its implementing provisions contain no rule do the general provisions apply subsidiarily. Anyone looking up a question on investment foundations in foundation law is therefore looking in second place.

Supervision separates more clearly than form

For the classical foundation, Art. 84 para. 1 CC assigns supervision to the public body to which it belongs by its designation, that is the Confederation, canton or municipality. Under para. 1bis the cantons may place foundations belonging to their municipalities under the cantonal supervisory authority.

Art. 87 para. 1 CC exempts two categories: family foundations and ecclesiastical foundations are, subject to public law, not placed under the supervisory authority. Para. 1bis additionally releases them from the duty to appoint an auditor. Under para. 2 the court decides disputes of a private law nature.

The investment foundation, by contrast, is supervised directly by the Occupational Pension Supervisory Commission, which Art. 64a para. 2 BVG names expressly alongside the guarantee fund and the substitute institution.

The range therefore runs from a foundation with neither a supervisory authority nor an auditor to a foundation under federal oversight, and both are called foundations.

Further reading: The Swiss investment foundation: purpose, bodies and supervision

Two routes to tax exemption

Art. 56 DBG exempts, in letter e, occupational benefit institutions of undertakings with residence, seat or permanent establishment in Switzerland and of undertakings closely related to them, provided the institution’s funds serve staff benefits permanently and exclusively.

Letter g of the same article concerns legal entities pursuing public or charitable purposes, for the profit exclusively and irrevocably dedicated to those purposes. The statute states expressly there that entrepreneurial purposes are, as a rule, not charitable.

Two conditions, one logic: what matters is the purpose to which the funds are permanently bound, not what the entity is called. The concrete assessment is made by the competent tax authority.

What actually determines the choice

The purpose and the circle of investors, not a preference for one structure. Pension assets belong in a vehicle of pension law; for charitable or family purposes the classical foundation is the intended instrument. Art. 53k BVG delegates the regulation of the circle of investors, in letter a, to the Federal Council, which narrows access to the investment foundation further.

Weighing the two therefore starts with the origin of the funds and the purpose they are bound to. Governance, supervision and tax treatment follow from that, not the other way round.

Where Everon stands

Everon supports institutional investors in running their investment solutions and provides the infrastructure for administration and reporting. The choice of structure and its tax assessment belong with the responsible legal and tax advisers and with the supervisory authority. Talk to us.

Last reviewed: August 2026. Sources: CC (SR 210) Art. 80, 84 and 87; BVG (SR 831.40) Art. 53g, 53k and 64a; DBG (SR 642.11) Art. 56.