Wealth tax in Switzerland

Most countries that once taxed net wealth have abandoned it. Switzerland kept it. Every year, the 26 cantons and their communes levy an annual tax on your net assets, the value of everything you own minus everything you owe, measured at 31 December. There is no federal wealth tax, so the rate, the structure and the tax-free allowance are set canton by canton.

For a resident of modest means the bill is small, and every canton exempts a band of wealth entirely. For internationally mobile entrepreneurs and family-office principals, however, the wealth tax is often the single most important reason to compare cantons before settling. This guide explains how the levy is built, what counts as taxable wealth, and how foreign residents and lump-sum taxpayers are treated.

Yes, but only at cantonal and communal level. There is no federal wealth tax in Switzerland. All 26 cantons levy an annual tax on net wealth, and each commune then applies its own multiplier on top of the cantonal scale. Rates sit in a band of roughly 0.1% to 1% of net wealth, depending on canton and commune.

It helps to keep three charges separate. The wealth tax is an annual levy on the value of your net assets. Income tax is charged on what you earn, including the income those assets produce. Private capital gains on movable assets such as shares are generally exempt from tax altogether. Read together, the wealth tax is best understood as one component of your total annual Swiss tax burden, paid alongside income tax rather than instead of it.

The calculation runs in two steps. First, fix the base: take your worldwide gross assets as valued at 31 December, then subtract your debts and the cantonal tax-free allowance. Mortgages and other loans are deductible, which is why a heavily financed asset adds far less to the base than its headline value.

Second, apply the rate: the basic cantonal scale is multiplied by the cantonal multiplier and the communal multiplier (the Steuerfuss, or centimes additionnels in the French-speaking cantons), and a few cantons such as Geneva add a supplementary wealth tax. Because the communal multiplier varies from town to town, two households with identical assets in the same canton can receive different bills simply because they live in different communes.

Every canton grants a tax-free allowance, so the levy only begins once net assets cross a floor. Only the excess above the allowance is taxed. The size of the floor varies widely and is usually higher for married couples than for single taxpayers, with many cantons adding a further amount per dependent child.

As a rough guide, general allowances across the cantons sit somewhere between CHF 70,000 and CHF 200,000 as of 2026. Zurich, for example, exempts in the order of CHF 80,000 for a single taxpayer and around CHF 160,000 for a married couple, while several cantons set materially higher thresholds. Because each canton re-indexes its figures, treat any specific number as indicative and confirm the current amount with the cantonal tax office before relying on it.

The low-tax cantons cluster in central Switzerland. Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schwyz and Zug are consistently among the cheapest, several of them using low flat-rate systems that keep the bill modest even on substantial wealth. At the other end, Geneva, Vaud and Neuchatel sit near the top of the range. Geneva also operates a supplementary wealth tax, although it reduced its overall wealth-tax burden with a cut that took effect in 2025.

The size of the spread is easy to underestimate. At a net wealth of CHF 1 million the annual bill in the most expensive cantons can be several times that in the cheapest, and the multiple is wider still for larger fortunes. For a side-by-side view, compare Geneva against a low-tax peer such as Zug. Specific cantonal figures change yearly, so any number quoted should be re-verified against the cantonal tax office.

Cryptocurrency is taxable wealth. It is valued at its year-end price, and the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) publishes year-end rates for the major tokens to standardise the valuation. Holdings of physical gold are treated the same way, at market value on 31 December.

Real estate is valued at its official cantonal tax value, which is usually set conservatively below open-market price, and the related mortgage is deductible as a debt. That combination means a financed Swiss property often adds far less to the wealth-tax base than its market value suggests, which is one reason many owners keep a mortgage in place. The surrender value of a life-insurance policy is also taxable wealth, valued at the amount the insurer would pay on cancellation rather than the sum insured.

Personal wealth tax does not stop at your bank account. Shares in a Swiss holding company are themselves taxable personal wealth, valued at the company's tax value, so the way a business is owned and capitalised feeds directly into the owner's annual bill. Coordinating the corporate structure with the shareholder's canton of residence is part of getting the overall position right.

For larger fortunes, the wealth tax is usually managed inside a wider plan that also covers income tax, succession and canton choice, which is the heart of family-office structuring. If you are weighing a Swiss move and want the numbers for your own asset profile, request a canton-specific wealth-tax estimate. We will not quote a figure without first understanding your assets and your target canton.