Gift and inheritance tax calculator, all 26 cantons

There is no federal gift or inheritance tax

Switzerland levies no gift or inheritance tax at federal level. The tax is exclusively cantonal, and in a few cantons the communes levy their own or add a surcharge. The consequence is twenty-six different regimes, with exemptions, allowances and rates that differ sharply.

Two cantons, Schwyz and Obwalden, levy neither gift nor inheritance tax, whatever the amount and whatever the relationship. Lucerne levies no gift tax, but gifts made in the five years before death are taxed as part of the estate.

Which canton may tax: the two connecting factors

Only two facts decide which canton has the right to tax, and neither of them is where the beneficiary lives.

• Movable property, meaning cash, bank accounts and securities, is taxed in the canton where the deceased was last domiciled, or where the donor is domiciled at the time of the gift.
• Real estate is taxed in the canton where the property is situated, whatever the domicile of the deceased, the donor or the beneficiary.
• The beneficiary's own canton of residence is never the connecting factor. A child living in Geneva who receives cash from a parent domiciled in Schwyz is taxed under the Schwyz rule, which is to say not at all.

Who owes the tax, and who answers for it

In principle the recipient owes the tax: the heir or legatee for an inheritance, the donee for a gift. In most cantons the heirs are jointly liable up to the amount of their share, and in Vaud and Geneva they are jointly and personally liable on all their assets. For gifts, most cantons make the donor jointly liable with the donee, which matters when the donee lives abroad.

Valais levies the tax on the estate as a whole for all heirs and legatees. Solothurn adds a tax on the estate mass itself, on top of the tax on individual shares, and that estate tax can apply even where the individual shares are exempt.

Allowances and exemptions by relationship

The surviving spouse and the registered partner are exempt in every canton, without ceiling. Direct descendants are exempt in most cantons, but not all: Vaud taxes above a tapering exempt amount, Neuchatel grants a deduction rather than an exemption, and Appenzell Innerrhoden grants a deduction per child.

Beyond the direct line the charge rises with distance. Siblings, nephews and nieces pay intermediate rates. Unrelated persons pay the highest rates, and a cohabiting partner is treated as an unrelated person in most cantons. A handful of cantons, among them Zug, Uri and Graubunden, exempt a cohabitant after a qualifying period of common life, and Zurich grants a larger deduction after five years.

Vaud illustrates how precise these rules can be. For estates opened from 1 January 2025 the exempt amount is CHF 1,000,000 per hereditary stirps of the first parentela, and above that ceiling the exempt amount falls by one hundredth per CHF 1,000, so it disappears entirely at CHF 1,100,000. For gifts to a child the threshold is CHF 300,000 per child and per calendar year.

Cantonal, communal and the absence of a federal layer

There is no federal layer. The cantonal tax is the main charge. A communal tax exists only in Fribourg, where communes add centimes additionnels capped at 70 percent of the cantonal tax, in Vaud, where the cap is 100 percent and the rate is set by annual communal decree, and in Graubunden, where communes levy their own scale. Lucerne allows communes to tax transfers to descendants above a threshold.

Elsewhere the communes simply receive a share of the cantonal proceeds, for example 20 percent in Bern and Jura, 50 percent in Uri and Appenzell Ausserrhoden, two thirds in Valais and one third in Aargau. That share changes nothing for the taxpayer.

Because the communal rate is fixed annually and commune by commune, a simulation can state the rule and the cap but not the exact communal figure.

Inter-cantonal transfers

Where an estate contains assets in several cantons, each canton taxes what falls to it under the two connecting factors: the canton of the last domicile takes the movable property, each canton where a property lies takes that property. Federal case law on inter-cantonal double taxation prevents the same asset being taxed twice.

The rate, however, is usually set by reference to the whole. Vaud states this expressly: where only part of the estate or gift is taxable in the canton, the tax is calculated at the rate applicable to the total net value transferred. The Vaud share is therefore taxed at the rate the whole transfer would have attracted, which keeps the progression intact.

Transfers involving another country

Three situations come up constantly, and they resolve differently.

• A donor domiciled abroad gives cash to someone living in Switzerland. No canton may tax it, because movable property follows the domicile of the donor. Tax may be due in the donor's country.
• A donor domiciled abroad gives a property situated in Switzerland. The canton where the property lies taxes it, whatever the domicile of either party.
• A donor domiciled in Switzerland gives a property situated abroad. No canton may tax the property, because real estate follows its situs. The other country decides.

Valuation and declaration

Assets are in principle taken at market value. Several cantons soften this for real estate: Vaud assesses property at 80 percent of the fiscal valuation, Lucerne at 75 percent for a property that serves durably as a main residence, and Basel-Landschaft deducts the property gains tax and transfer duties that a later sale would trigger. Unlisted shares are valued under Circular 28 of the Swiss Tax Conference in every canton but Ticino.

For an inheritance the taxation usually rests on an inventory drawn up at death, by a cantonal office, by the commune, or by the heirs themselves depending on the canton. For a gift the taxation rests on a declaration, generally by the donee, within a deadline that runs from thirty to ninety days depending on the canton, or in several cantons with the next ordinary tax return. Where a gift is made by notarial deed, which is required for real estate, the deed itself triggers the process.