For the Swiss

How tax residency works

Swiss tax residency is set by federal law and applied by your canton and commune. You are resident if your domicile is in Switzerland, meaning you live there with the intention of staying, which in practice is where your centre of life is. A stay of at least 30 days while working, or 90 days without working, also makes you resident, with short absences ignored.

Tax is levied at three levels: federal, cantonal and communal. Residents pay income tax on worldwide income and an annual cantonal wealth tax. Foreign property and foreign business income are exempt but still count when your rate is set.

When you leave, your unlimited tax liability ends on the day of departure. After that, Switzerland taxes only Swiss source items, such as Swiss property, pension lump sums paid by Swiss pension institutions, and the 35% withholding tax on Swiss dividends and interest.

Leaving properly

Leaving Switzerland is well organised, and your commune is at the centre of it. These steps cover most departures; your accountant confirms the timing for your canton.

1. 01

   Deregister with your commune

   Deregister (Abmeldung) with your commune of residence before you leave and keep the deregistration confirmation. Insurers, pension institutions and the tax office will all ask for it.

2. 02

   File the final tax return

   Your liability runs from 1 January to your departure date, and the tax office sends a return for that period soon after you deregister, usually with a short deadline. It can ask for security for taxes not yet assessed.

3. 03

   Decide on pillar 2 and 3a

   Choose whether to take your pension assets in cash, move them to a vested benefits account or leave them invested. Withdrawing before or after you deregister is taxed differently, so the timing matters.

4. 04

   Cancel health insurance

   Mandatory Swiss health insurance ends when you leave. Send your insurer the deregistration confirmation and have international cover in place from the day you go.

5. 05

   Decide on voluntary AHV

   If you move outside the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), you have twelve months to join voluntary AHV, the Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance, if you qualify.

6. 06

   Register abroad

   Register with the Swiss representation responsible for your new country. It keeps your civil records up to date, lets you vote from abroad and protects your children’s citizenship.

Exit tax, property and investments

Switzerland does not tax unrealised gains on private shares, funds or other investments when you leave. Private capital gains are tax free for residents in any case, and there is no departure charge. The main exception is business assets: if you are self employed and move your business or its assets abroad, hidden reserves can be taxed as if they had been realised.

Swiss withholding tax (Verrechnungssteuer) of 35% applies to dividends from Swiss companies and to Swiss interest. As a resident you get it back through your tax return. After you leave, you can reclaim part of it only under a tax treaty with your new country. Switzerland has no tax treaty with Paraguay or Panama, so there the full 35% is final, which matters most if you own a Swiss company and plan to keep taking dividends.

Property you keep in Switzerland stays taxable in its canton: tax on rental income, wealth tax on its value and, when you sell, the cantonal real estate gains tax. Swiss inheritance and gift taxes are cantonal and depend mainly on the last domicile, so once you have left they generally reach only Swiss real estate.

Pensions and social security

Pillar 2, your occupational pension, can be paid out in cash when you leave Switzerland for good. If you move to an EU or EFTA country where you must join the state pension scheme, the mandatory part, the minimum required by the occupational pensions law (BVG), stays in a vested benefits account until close to retirement, and only the part above that minimum can be paid out. If you move outside the EU and EFTA, the whole balance can generally be withdrawn.

Pillar 3a, your private pension account, can be paid out once you leave permanently, whatever your destination, or left invested until the ordinary retirement age. A lump sum from pillar 2 or 3a paid after you deregister is taxed by withholding at the rate of the canton where the pension institution is based, and those rates vary widely. A refund is possible only where a tax treaty provides for one. Buying into pillar 2 in the three years before a cash withdrawal can cost you the deduction you claimed for it.

A government proposal to raise the tax on pension lump sums, part of the federal savings package, was rejected by Parliament in March 2026, so the current rules continue.

Your AHV pension, the state old age pension, is paid abroad. If you move outside the EU and EFTA, are a Swiss, EU or EFTA national and were insured for at least five consecutive years, you can join voluntary AHV within twelve months of leaving to avoid gaps. Contributions are based on your income or assets, within a yearly minimum and maximum.

Dual citizenship

Switzerland has allowed dual citizenship since 1992. Taking another citizenship, including through investment, does not affect your Swiss citizenship, though the other country may have rules of its own.

One rule matters for families who settle abroad. A Swiss citizen born abroad who also holds another nationality loses Swiss citizenship at 25 unless, by then, they have been registered with a Swiss representation or authority, or have declared in writing that they want to keep it. Registering children early avoids the problem.