Arriving or leaving mid-year: the rate that catches people out
If you only lived in Switzerland for part of the year, you are taxed only on what you earned here. But the rate is calculated on twelve months — and that is where it is decided.
You arrived in Switzerland in the spring, or you left in the autumn. Your tax year is cut in two, and the calculation follows a logic that surprises almost everyone.
You are only taxed on your own period
The principle is reassuring: you are taxed only on the income actually received during the months when you were liable to tax in Switzerland. Six months of salary, six months taxed.
But the rate is calculated on a full year
This is the counter-intuitive part. To determine your tax rate, the tax office converts your regular income to twelve months. Six months at 5,000 francs are taxed on 30,000 francs — but at the rate of someone who had earned 60,000.
Since Swiss tax is progressive, that detail weighs heavily. And it cuts both ways: some deductions are reduced pro rata to your period, while they count in full for the rate calculation.
If you are taxed at source, there is a way in
For a B permit holder, an incomplete year also changes the thresholds: they too are converted to a full year. And the request for a subsequent ordinary assessment — the one that lets you claim your real deductions — remains possible, with one date to remember: 31 March.
One point is worth knowing: in Fribourg, once that request has been filed, it can no longer be withdrawn. That is precisely why we calculate it before filing, never the other way round.
We check first whether it is in your favour
A year of arrival or departure is often one of the most worthwhile to have checked. We do the calculation, and we tell you plainly whether it is worth it in your case.
Call us on +41 26 303 36 69.