Switzerland

Taxes, residence and daily life for people moving to Switzerland: for a wealthy family, an expat employee and a remote worker. Researched 16 October 2026.

Open Switzerland in the interactive guide

At a glance

For an EU-citizen family of five living off a €30M portfolio, the guide's default reader. The interactive guide recomputes everything for other passports and situations.

Score for a wealthy family: 79 / 100
Can EU citizens live here?: free: register as an EU citizen
Can US citizens live here?: Non-EU retiree permit (age 55+)
Other passports: Non-EU retiree permit (age 55+)
Tax on a €30M portfolio: €369,820 a year
Wealth tax: yes
Children inherit: tax-free
Living costs, family of five: €426,349 a year
EU member: no
Currency: CHF
Capital: Bern

Tax on investments, inheritance and wealth

No tax on private capital gains from securities (federal law, all cantons), but dividends are taxed as ordinary income (up to about 39% in the City of Zurich, 22% in Zug, 43% in Geneva) and every canton levies an annual net wealth tax (top marginal 0.10%-0.86% depending on commune). Children are exempt from inheritance and gift tax in most cantons (not VD, NE, AI, partly LU and SO). National figures represent the City of Zurich; lump-sum taxation is available to non-Swiss newcomers without Swiss work in 21 cantons, not in Zurich.

Ordinary taxation (national figures = City of Zurich): Ordinary residence taxation: federal income tax plus cantonal and communal income and wealth taxes. Switzerland has 26 cantonal tax systems; the national numbers here represent the City of Zurich (married couple, 3 children, no church membership). See data/subnational/CHE.json for all 26 cantons.
Lump-sum taxation (Besteuerung nach dem Aufwand / forfait fiscal): Income and wealth tax are replaced by a tax on a deemed income equal to worldwide living expenses, at least the highest of: a cantonal minimum (federal: CHF 435,000 in 2026), 7x annual rent or rental value of the home, and the control calculation (ordinary tax on Swiss-source income and assets plus foreign income for which treaty relief is claimed). The ordinary tariffs are applied to that base. Not available in Zurich, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Basel-Stadt; effectively not in Basel-Landschaft.

Income tax for employees and remote workers

Income tax in Switzerland is levied federally, cantonally and by municipality. For a single resident of the City of Zurich the combined 2026 marginal rate reaches about 41.0% between CHF 185,100 and CHF 793,900 (federal 13.2% plus Zurich cantonal 13% x 2.14). Employees pay AHV/IV/EO 5.3% and unemployment 1.1% (capped at CHF 148,200) plus non-occupational accident cover and pension fund; the self-employed pay about 10% AHV on net profit. Health insurance is a separate mandatory personal premium.

How to get residence

EU/EFTA citizens have free movement under the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons: those who do not work get a B permit if they have sufficient means and health and accident insurance. US and other citizens have no investor route; the realistic options are a discretionary cantonal permit for wealthy people (usually paired with lump-sum taxation), a retiree permit, or a quota-limited work permit. Lump-sum taxation (tax on living costs, not on income) is available to non-working foreigners in most but not all cantons.

Route	Kind	Who	Status	In short
EU/EFTA free movement, non-working person (B permit)	Free movement	EU citizens	open	EU and EFTA citizens who do not work can live in Switzerland with a five-year renewable B permit if they can support themselves and are insured.
Lump-sum taxation (Besteuerung nach dem Aufwand) with residence permit	Other	EU citizens, US citizens, other passports	open	Foreigners who move to Switzerland and do not work there can be taxed on their living costs instead of their worldwide income and wealth. It is a tax status that sits on top of a residence permit, not a permit itself.
Non-EU permit in the important public (fiscal) interest	Other	US citizens, other passports	open	Wealthy non-EU citizens without a job can sometimes get a discretionary cantonal residence permit because their tax payments are in the canton's interest. There is no fixed investment or income threshold.
Non-EU retiree permit (age 55+)	Passive income / retirement	US citizens, other passports	open	Retired non-EU citizens aged 55 or over can apply for a permit if they have close ties to Switzerland and enough money not to need social assistance.
Work permits (summary)	Work	EU citizens, US citizens, other passports	open	EU/EFTA citizens can take a job freely with an employment contract of at least 365 days (B permit, five years). Non-EU citizens need an employer, a permit under national quotas, and must be highly qualified.

Citizenship: Ordinary naturalisation after 10 years of residence with a C permit (at least 3 of the last 5 years before applying); cantons and communes add their own residence minimums (2 to 5 years locally), integration and language tests.

Inheritance law and trusts

Children and the spouse are each guaranteed half of their intestate share, and a will cannot remove it. A foreigner domiciled in Switzerland can choose the law of one of their nationalities. Switzerland has no trust law but has recognised foreign trusts since 2007, and family foundations are allowed only for narrow purposes.

Daily life, scored out of 100

From public indicators (World Bank, UNDP, Transparency International and others); higher is better.

Measure	Score
Safety and personal security	82
Political and institutional stability	81
Corruption and government integrity	84
Legal system and property rights	84
Healthcare quality and access	92
Education quality	65
Human development and quality of life	94
Infrastructure and connectivity	95
Cost of living and housing	35
Business opportunities and economy	90
Cultural fit and lifestyle	70

Regions

Research notes

Switzerland — family-office tax dossier

Last reviewed: 2026-10-16 Tax year: 2026 Reviewer: research agent (Claude), unreviewed by a tax adviser

Summary

The national numbers represent the City of Zurich (canton ZH), for a married couple with three children and no church membership. All cantonal figures were computed with the official ESTV tax calculator for tax year 2026 (swisstaxcalculator.estv.admin.ch), so they are consistent across cantons. The canton-by-canton detail is in CHE-regions.md and data/subnational/CHE.json.

Residence and eligibility

Tax residence (DBG art. 3): domicile (intent to stay, centre of vital interests) or a stay of 30 days with work / 90 days without work, ignoring short interruptions. Worldwide income and wealth are taxed; foreign real estate and foreign permanent establishments are exempt but count for the rate. No exit tax on private assets.
EU/EFTA citizens: B permit as non-active persons with sufficient means and health/accident insurance (SEM).
US/other citizens: discretionary cantonal permit for important public (in practice fiscal) interests, AIG art. 30 para. 1 let. b, usually tied to lump-sum taxation or a substantial expected tax bill; or AIG art. 28 for retirees (minimum age 55, personal ties, sufficient means).

Capital gains

Rule: capital gains on private movable assets are tax-free (DBG art. 16 para. 3); the cantons apply the same exemption (PwC: "normally tax-exempt throughout Switzerland"). Private losses are not deductible.
JSON: listed securities (domestic and foreign) 0, private business sale 0, foreign real estate 0.
Real estate: cantonal real estate gains tax (Grundstückgewinnsteuer). Zurich: communal tax, fixed tariff 10%-40% (40% on gain above CHF 100,000), +50%/+25% surcharge for holdings under 1/2 years, reduction 5% (5 years) rising to 50% (20 years). JSON real_estate_local = 0.31: CHF 1M gain, 10 full years: (CHF 29,400 + 900,000 x 40%) x 0.8 = CHF 311,520.
Professional securities dealer risk (ESTV Circular 36, safe harbour, all five must be met): holding period at least 6 months; yearly transaction volume at most 5x the portfolio at the start of the year; gains under 50% of net income (not needed for living); no debt financing, or taxable investment income above interest paid; derivatives only to hedge own positions. Outside the safe harbour: facts-and-circumstances test; reclassification makes all gains taxable income (plus AHV social security) but losses deductible. A family office managing only its own money with modest leverage normally stays private, but a ruling is advisable.
Other recharacterisation: indirect partial liquidation (DBG art. 20a para. 1 let. a: sale of at least 20% to a company that distributes pre-existing reserves within 5 years), transposition (art. 20a para. 1 let. b), liquidation surpluses and buybacks taxed as dividends.

Dividends

Rule: dividends are ordinary income (DBG art. 20 para. 1 let. c). Federal top rate 11.5% (married from CHF 941,300). Partial taxation only for holdings of at least 10%: federal 70% (art. 20 para. 1bis), Zurich 50%.
JSON: headline_rate = domestic_rate = foreign_gross_rate = 0.3932 — ESTV calculator marginal rate at CHF 5M taxable income, City of Zurich (11.5% federal + 13% x (0.95 canton + 1.19 city) = 39.32%).
Foreign WHT: non-recoverable treaty-rate WHT is credited (flat-rate credit, up to the Swiss tax on that income); no credit without a treaty (deduction instead). ~100 treaties.
Outbound: Swiss companies withhold 35% (refundable to residents who declare; treaty residual 0-20%).
Holding-company notes (JSON holding_company_notes): company-level participation reduction for holdings of 10% or CHF 1M (DBG art. 69). No structure is modelled; see Holding structures.

Inheritance and gifts to children

No federal inheritance or gift tax. Zurich exempts children, grandchildren (and the spouse) from inheritance and gift tax without limit. JSON: basis beneficiary, fully_exempt, no brackets.
Cantonal exceptions (see regions dossier): Vaud ~7% above CHF 1M per child (Lausanne; halved to ~3.5% for foreigners who never worked in Switzerland, LMSD art. 36), Neuchâtel 3%, Appenzell Innerrhoden 1% above CHF 300,000, Lucerne communes up to 2% (inheritance only), Solothurn estate duty 0.8-1.2%; Schwyz and Obwalden have no inheritance or gift tax at all; Geneva withdraws the descendant exemption when the deceased was lump-sum taxed.
Scope: canton of last domicile taxes worldwide movable assets; Swiss real estate is taxed where it lies; foreign real estate is not taxed. No tail after emigration.

Federal vote of 30 November 2025: the JUSO "Initiative für eine Zukunft" (50% federal inheritance and gift tax above CHF 50 million) was rejected with 21.7% yes and by all 26 cantons (official BFS result). No federal inheritance tax.
Surviving spouse (spouse_treatment fully_exempt): Spouse: exempt in the cantonal tariffs (ESTV Steuermäppchen 2025) and per PwC's inheritance and gift tax chart (cantonal and communal level), even in Vaud and Neuchâtel where children are taxed; registered partners too.

Wealth tax

Rule: cantonal and communal net wealth tax on worldwide net assets (ESTV, Die Vermögenssteuer natürlicher Personen, 2026); no federal wealth tax. Securities at 31 December market value; debts deductible.
Zurich 2026 basic tariff (married): 0% to CHF 161,000, then 0.05%-0.30% (PwC table), multiplied by 0.95 (canton) + 1.19 (City of Zurich) = 2.14. JSON brackets (combined marginal, on taxable wealth):

From CHF	Marginal rate
0	0.000%
161,000	0.107%
403,000	0.214%
805,000	0.321%
1,451,000	0.428%
2,418,000	0.535%
3,385,000	0.642%

CHF 10M taxable wealth: CHF 54,973; CHF 50M: CHF 311,773 (0.62%). Zurich has no burden cap.
Other cantons range from 0.10% (Wollerau/Freienbach SZ) to 0.86% (Geneva) top marginal; caps exist in BE, LU, BS, AG, VD, VS and GE (ESTV) and are explained per canton.

Special regimes

Lump-sum taxation (DBG art. 14, StHG art. 6): for non-Swiss newcomers (or returnees after 10 years) without Swiss gainful activity; both spouses must qualify. Base = worldwide living costs, at least the highest of CHF 435,000 (federal, 2026), 7x annual rent/rental value, and the control calculation on Swiss-source income/assets and treaty- relieved foreign income. Ordinary tariffs apply to the base; cantons tax deemed wealth (4x-20x the base, or a surcharge). Not available in ZH, SH, AR, BS (abolished) and effectively not in BL.

National JSON representative = Vaud (Lausanne): CHF 445,000/yr on a CHF 1M rent multiple (federal CHF 115,000, with no per-child reduction under DBG art. 14 para. 4, + cantonal/communal CHF 330,000 = the 30% ceiling of LICom art. 8 on a CHF 1.1M base, 7x rent + 10% per LI art. 15 para. 3 b); about CHF 138,380 at the CHF 415,000 cantonal minimum. Foreign dividends: marginal 0 unless treaty relief is claimed (modified lump sum). Per-canton estimates are in CHE-regions.md.

Duration: No time limit in law: lump-sum taxation continues for as long as the person keeps meeting the conditions of DBG art. 14 / StHG art. 6, i.e. remains a non-Swiss citizen with unlimited tax liability and takes up no gainful activity in Switzerland. It ends on naturalisation, on starting gainful work in Switzerland, or if the canton abolishes it (as Zurich, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Basel-Stadt did); the taxpayer may also switch to ordinary taxation. The tax base is reassessed annually and the cantonal minimums are indexed.

Holding structures

No structure modelled. A private investor in Switzerland pays no tax on gains from movable private assets, so a company can only make things worse: a company pays profit tax of about 19.5% (City of Zurich) on gains from stakes below 10%, the participation reduction for dividends (DBG art. 69-70) needs a stake of 10% or a market value of CHF 1 million, payouts bear 35% withholding tax and income tax (partial taxation only for stakes of 10%+), and both company capital tax and wealth tax on the shares apply. Holding companies have had no special cantonal status since 2020 (STAF). The main risk to watch for a private investor is recharacterisation as a professional securities dealer (see Capital gains), not the absence of a structure.

Company taxation (kept separate from personal tax)

Federal 8.5% on profit after tax plus cantonal/communal tax. ESTV calculator, CHF 1M pre-tax profit, 2026: City of Zurich 19.5% (JSON cit_rate 0.1947), Geneva 14.7%, Zug 11.7%. Participation reduction for holdings of 10% or CHF 1M (DBG art. 69). Pillar Two QDMTT from 2024, IIR from 2025.

Cost of living notes

Zurich.

Prime family rent: CHF 6,435/month, the median of 8 distinct houses with 5.5+ rooms and 180 m² or more for rent in the city of Zurich on ImmoStreet.ch on 15 October 2026 (range CHF 4,000-9,800). Thin market; the Gold Coast (Küsnacht, Zollikon) is dearer.
Price per m²: city-centre apartment about CHF 22,800/m² (Numbeo, last resort).
International school: Zurich International School, Grades 11-12, CHF 39,700 (2026/27).
Housekeeper: federal minimum wage CHF 22.30/h (experienced unskilled, NAV Hauswirtschaft 2026), about CHF 4,059/month for 42 h/week before employer charges.
Not sourced: family health insurance. Per-canton rents are in CHE-regions.md.

Open questions

Imputed rental value (Eigenmietwert) abolition was approved on 28 September 2025 (57.7% yes); the Federal Council had not fixed the entry-into-force date on the EFD page checked. It will also abolish mortgage-interest deductions and allow cantons a tax on second homes.
Individual taxation (Individualbesteuerung) was approved on 8 March 2026 and enters into force by 1 January 2032 at the latest; married couples' tariffs used here will change then.
Cantonal tables used (partial taxation, burden caps, lump-sum minimums) are the ESTV Steuermäppchen for tax period 2025 (published 26 November 2025); 2026 changes in cantonal minimum lump-sum bases indexed to the federal CHF 435,000 were not checked individually.
Burden caps (BE, BS, VD, VS, GE, AG) can substantially lower the wealth tax for large low-yield portfolios and are not modelled in the brackets.

Sources

Change log

2026-10-15: initial research.
2026-10-15: added duration_note to the lump-sum regime (no statutory limit; ends on naturalisation, Swiss gainful activity or cantonal abolition); recorded the official result of the 30 November 2025 vote on the JUSO inheritance-tax initiative (rejected, 21.7% yes, all cantons); added Zurich prime rent (ImmoStreet sample, CHF 6,435/month).
2026-10-15: Holding structures section: no structure modelled (private capital gains already untaxed).
2026-10-15: family rent re-checked against the upper-middle-class standard: kept.
2026-10-16: added surviving-spouse treatment.
2026-10-16: national lump-sum representative corrected from CHF 459,200 to CHF 445,000 (Vaud base is 7x rent + 10%, not +15%; federal part CHF 115,000, DBG art. 14 para. 4); Vaud inheritance note updated for the LMSD art. 36 halving.

Residence and succession sources

Ausweis B EU/EFTA (Aufenthaltsbewilligung) — State Secretariat for Migration (SEM)
Merkblatt über die Besteuerung nach dem Aufwand (gültig ab 1. Januar 2026) — Kanton Uri, Steuerverwaltung
Calcul de l'imposition d'après la dépense — République et canton de Genève
Becoming a Swiss citizen — State Secretariat for Migration (SEM)
Swiss Civil Code (ZGB) — Swiss Federal Chancellery (Fedlex)
Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA) — Swiss Federal Chancellery (Fedlex)
HCCH status table: 1985 Trusts Convention — Hague Conference on Private International Law

Tax sources are cited in the research notes above.