Switzerland
Who pays, in which canton, on what base and at what rate, for cash and for real estate, between Swiss residents and across a border. Written for families and their advisers, with the rule and its source stated each time.
Rules stated as at the Federal Tax Administration compilation of 1 January 2025, with cantonal changes in force for 2026 noted where they apply.
Cash or a single property, between Swiss residents or across a border. The result is an estimate for a simple transfer, not advice.
The rate scale for this canton is being verified against its official source, so no franc figure is shown. The taxing canton, the allowance and the taxable base above are established.
Communal tax
Communes may add centimes additionnels, up to 100 % of the cantonal tax. The exact rate is set by annual communal decree and is not included above.
Points to note
Simple transfers only: cash, securities or one property. Business assets, unlisted shares, usufructs, life policies, trusts and agricultural property are valued under separate rules that this tool does not model.
Nothing you enter is stored, sent or logged. The whole calculation runs in your browser.
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.
Only two facts decide which canton has the right to tax, and neither of them is where the beneficiary lives.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Three situations come up constantly, and they resolve differently.
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.
Not at federal level. Switzerland levies no federal gift or inheritance tax. Twenty-four of the twenty-six cantons levy an inheritance tax, each under its own law. Schwyz and Obwalden levy none.
The canton where the deceased was last domiciled taxes the movable estate, meaning cash, accounts and securities. Each canton where a property is situated taxes that property. The canton where the heir lives is irrelevant.
No. The surviving spouse and the registered partner are exempt in all twenty-six cantons, with no ceiling.
In most cantons they are exempt. The exceptions matter: Vaud taxes above a tapering exempt amount of CHF 1,000,000 per hereditary stirps for estates opened from 2025, Neuchatel grants a deduction of CHF 50,000 rather than an exemption, and Appenzell Innerrhoden grants a deduction of CHF 300,000 per child.
For gifts made from 1 January 2025 the threshold is CHF 300,000 per child and per calendar year. Above it the cantonal scale applies, and earlier gifts to the same person are taken into account in setting the rate.
In most cantons, no: a cohabitant is taxed as an unrelated person, at the highest rates, whatever the length of the relationship. Zug, Uri and Graubunden exempt a cohabitant after a qualifying period of common life, and Zurich grants a larger deduction after five years.
No Swiss cantonal tax is due, because movable property follows the domicile of the donor and that domicile is outside Switzerland. The beneficiary's residence does not create a Swiss claim. Tax may be due in your own country.
The canton where the flat is situated taxes the gift, whatever your domicile and whatever the domicile of the person receiving it. Real estate always follows its situs.
Only in a few cantons. Fribourg and Vaud let communes add centimes additionnels, capped at 70 and 100 percent of the cantonal tax respectively, Graubunden lets communes levy their own scale, and Lucerne lets them tax transfers to descendants above a threshold. Elsewhere communes only share in the cantonal proceeds.
Yes, where the canton levies a gift tax. The declaration is generally made by the recipient, within a deadline that runs from thirty to ninety days depending on the canton, or with the next ordinary tax return in several cantons. Gifts of real estate go through a notarial deed, which triggers the process.
Schwyz and Obwalden levy neither inheritance nor gift tax, for any beneficiary and any amount. Lucerne levies inheritance tax but no gift tax, although gifts made in the five years before death are taxed as part of the estate.
In several cantons, yes. Lucerne, Neuchatel and Fribourg take into account gifts made in the five years before death, and Geneva takes into account gifts to an heir without time limit where no gift tax was paid. Vaud takes earlier gifts into account to set the rate.
Primary sources used for the rules on this page. Cantonal rate scales are published as annexes to the cantonal laws and are being encoded one canton at a time; the simulator shows a figure only where the scale has been verified against its official source.
Federal
Cantonal
Educational content, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and individual situations differ. Confirm any figure with the competent cantonal authority or a qualified adviser before acting.