Provisional tax instalments in Fribourg: the first-year trap
You have just moved to the canton and the tax office does not know your income yet. The instalments it sets are often wrong — and the bill arrives the following year.
In Fribourg, tax is not paid in one go. It is paid in provisional instalments, spread from May of the current year to January of the following year. Nine instalments, each due on the 30th of the month.
What are they based on?
On the latest figures the tax office has: your last assessment, or your last tax return. The system works well when your situation doesn't move.
It works badly as soon as it does. And when you have just moved to the canton there is, precisely, no data at all: you receive a questionnaire to set your instalments, and it is you who states the amount.
The two ways of getting it wrong
Stating too little. It is comfortable for twelve months, then the final statement arrives and you owe the difference all at once. Late interest also runs on the amount not covered — it is simply not charged if it stays under ten francs.
Stating too much. You lend money to the canton for a whole year. Early payments earn nothing: that amount brings you nothing while it sits there.
What makes the difference: estimating instead of guessing
A gross salary tells you nothing about the tax due. You have to factor in your marital status, your children, your pillar 3a, any second-pillar buy-in, your insurance premiums and your work-related expenses. The right instalment is the one that matches the final statement.
It is a calculation, not a hunch.
Included in our Premium and Confort packages
Moving to the canton of Fribourg and handing us your tax return under the Premium or Confort package? We calculate your tax estimate and complete the instalment questionnaire with you. At no extra cost.
Under the Standard package we do it too — on request and billed separately.
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