Facts
R. moved to Switzerland in the 1990s and took up employment with Z. GmbH. From January 1, 2005 to September 30, 2006, he was employed by a Z. Group company in Oman. Thereafter, he worked again for Z. GmbH in Switzerland until the termination of his employment at the end of January 2007. At the end of April 2007, he left Switzerland and took up residence in the United Kingdom.
R. applied to the Compensation Fund for the reimbursement of AHV contributions in the amount of CHF 22,231.95, which had been calculated on an employee share gain of CHF 440,237. The Compensation Fund did not enter into the reimbursement application and also rejected the request for correction of the individual account.
Considerations
The Federal Court decided that the employee has a direct right to claim reimbursement of overpaid contributions from the Compensation Fund based on Art. 41 AHVV (cf. also Art. 25 para. 3 ATSG).
Free or restricted employee shares constitute relevant wages at the time of their acquisition. The entry in the individual account is also based on the year of acquisition. Since R. neither had a place of residence in Switzerland nor was employed in 2005, the shares acquired in 2005, realized in 2008 in the amount of CHF 68,561, are not…