Paid in dollars in Switzerland: the rate used to calculate your tax, OASI and LPP, and what the exchange rate costs you over the year

An analyst at a commodity trading company in Geneva, an engineer at the Swiss subsidiary of an American group in Zug, a lawyer at an international private-law foundation in Lausanne: their employment contract is denominated in dollars (USD), but their rent, their health insurance and their taxes are in Swiss francs (CHF). In between, each payment is converted, and not always at the same rate depending on whether it is for tax, social contributions or your bank account. This guide describes, on the basis of the texts and official pages consulted on 5 November 2026, which rate applies to what, when the dollar tips a threshold, and what conversion costs you over a year.

It concerns employees of employers subject to Swiss law. If you work for an international organization, your remuneration follows the United Nations common system and its own rate: our guide to the UN operational rate of exchange describes it.

1. Is a salary in dollars allowed in Switzerland?

Yes, if the contract provides for it: the Code of Obligations only requires legal tender unless otherwise agreed or customary. Payment in dollars does not exempt the employer from Swiss rules, which apply to the franc equivalent.

Article 323b, paragraph 1, of the Code of Obligations (CO) provides that, unless otherwise agreed or customary, wages in money are paid in legal tender during working hours. A salary agreed in dollars, or set in dollars and paid in francs, is therefore lawful. Three Swiss rules continue to apply:

• The cantonal minimum wage is assessed in francs, on each payment. In Geneva, it has been 24.59 francs an hour since 1 January 2026 and will rise to 24.73 francs in 2027, according to the canton's page on the minimum wage. A salary that complies in January may no longer comply in December if the dollar has fallen.
• Equal treatment of cross-border workers: in a case decided by the Federal Supreme Court on 15 January 2019 (4A_215/2017), a company had converted into euros, at a fixed rate, the salary of its cross-border workers alone, who thus earned less than their colleagues living in Switzerland. The cantonal judges had declared the clause void under the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons. The Federal Supreme Court declined to rule on that question and dismissed the employee's claim, which it held to be abusive in the circumstances of the case. A conversion clause that disadvantages cross-border workers therefore remains legally risky.
• Contributions and tax, calculated in francs, as described in sections 2 to 4.

The employer side of these rules (drafting the clause, currency risk, minimum wage at each payment date) is covered in our guide to multi-currency payroll. This guide takes the employee's side.

2. At what rate is your salary converted for tax?

In principle at the rate on the day of payment. An employer that does not convert every month may apply the SNB's annual average rate, and the amount in francs entered on your salary certificate becomes your taxable salary.

The rule: everything is taxed in francs

On its page Foreign exchange rates FTA, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) explains that it and all the cantonal tax administrations assess taxes in Swiss francs, so that remuneration, wages, income and other amounts received by the taxpayer in a foreign currency must be converted into Swiss francs. It adds that the applicable exchange rates vary depending on the tax.

The daily rate, and its two variants

For salaries, the rule is set out in the FAQ on the salary certificate of the Swiss Tax Conference (SSK/CSI) working group, published by the FTA (2026 version). In principle, the salary must be converted at the daily rate, published on ictax.admin.ch, at the time the payment is received or a fixed entitlement to it is acquired. For periodic payments, and where no other option is available, the FAQ distinguishes two cases:

The annual average rate for 2025 was 0.83065 franc to the dollar, according to the Taux et données fiscales (tax rates and data) page of the canton of Geneva, which specifies that these averages are only known on 31 December. The 2026 rate will therefore only be published at the end of the year.

What this means for you

• If you are taxed at source, each month's tax is calculated on the gross salary converted into francs, at the tariff corresponding to that amount. A weaker dollar gives a lower salary in francs, and therefore lower tax that month. Our guide to withholding tax tariffs explains how they work.
• If you file a tax return, you use the amount in francs on your salary certificate: you do not have to redo the conversion. Our guide to the Swiss salary certificate explains its boxes.
• For your other income and your assets in dollars, Geneva applies the annual average rate to income and the 31 December rate to assets: for the 2025 tax year, 0.83065 franc for income and 0.79225 franc for assets. A balance of 20,000 dollars on 31 December 2025 was thus declared as 15,845 francs.

3. Does the 120,000-franc threshold depend on the dollar?

Yes. The threshold for subsequent ordinary assessment is set in francs; a fixed salary in dollars crosses it or not depending on the rate over the year.

A person taxed at source whose gross income from gainful activity reaches at least 120,000 francs in a tax year is subject to subsequent ordinary assessment (art. 9, para. 1, of the FDF Withholding Tax Ordinance, QStV). The tax deducted each month then becomes an advance payment: your final tax is calculated on a full tax return, which lets you claim your deductions but also taxes you on your other income and on your assets.

Take a salary of 12,000 dollars a month, or 144,000 dollars a year, with no other element of remuneration, and convert it at the monthly average rates published by the SNB (an approximation of the daily rate of each payment):

With the contract unchanged, it is the dollar rate that decides. At the 2025 annual average rate, about 144,465 dollars a year were needed to reach the threshold. Two rules in article 9 QStV complete the calculation. Once the threshold is reached, subsequent ordinary assessment applies until the end of your liability to withholding tax, even if your income falls back (para. 4): a single year of a strong dollar is enough. If your activity did not last the whole year, the income is converted into annual income for comparison with the threshold (para. 5).

Below the threshold, subsequent ordinary assessment remains possible on request. If you are resident in Switzerland, you apply for it by 31 March of the following year (art. 89a of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation, DBG). If you live outside Switzerland, it is only available under the conditions of quasi-resident status, described in our guide to that status.

4. OASI, unemployment and LPP: contributions in francs on a salary in dollars

Social contributions are owed and paid in francs, on the franc equivalent of your salary. The federal directives require the conversion without prescribing a rate: it is your employer that converts, at the rate it uses.

OASI, DI, LEC and unemployment insurance

The directives on the collection of contributions in OASI, DI and LEC of the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO, as at 1 January 2026) settle the matter in a single passage (No. 2005): contributions are owed in Swiss francs and must be paid in that currency, and income paid in a foreign currency must be converted into Swiss francs. Neither these directives nor those on relevant salary set the rate to be used. No text requires your employer to use the same amount in francs for contributions and for tax: check it on your payslip.

• OASI, DI and LEC: 10.6% of salary, of which 5.3% is borne by you, according to leaflet 2.01.
• Unemployment insurance: 2.2% up to 148,200 francs of annual salary, shared between you and the employer, and no contribution above that, according to leaflet 2.08. This ceiling is also assessed in francs.

The amount of your contributions therefore follows the dollar: on a salary of 12,000 dollars, your OASI, DI and LEC share went from about 578 francs in January 2025 to about 507 francs in December 2025, at the SNB's monthly average rates. Your future benefits, for their part, are calculated on the income in francs recorded in your individual account.

The LPP: an insured salary sometimes set in advance

Occupational pension provision (LPP) starts from the OASI relevant salary, and therefore from an amount in francs, and its limits are in francs: in 2026, an entry threshold of 22,680 francs, a coordination deduction of 26,460 francs, annual salary taken into account up to 90,720 francs, giving a coordinated salary of at most 64,260 francs under the mandatory scheme. Your pension fund may, however, depart from the OASI salary: under article 3, paragraph 1, letter b, of the Ordinance on Occupational Retirement, Survivors' and Invalidity Pension Provision (BVV 2/OPP 2), its regulations may set the annual coordinated salary in advance on the basis of the last known annual salary. It may also determine it per pay period (para. 2).

For a salary in dollars, the difference matters. If your fund sets the insured salary at the start of the year, your LPP contributions remain constant in francs while your salary in francs varies with the dollar: their relative weight increases when the dollar falls, and decreases when it rises. If it calculates per pay period, they follow the rate. The pension fund regulations and your pension certificate tell you which of the two methods applies.

5. What the dollar cost in 2025 and in 2026

In 2025, a fixed salary of 12,000 dollars lost 12.3% of its value in francs between January and December. In 2026, it partly recovered, without returning to its early-2025 level.

The table converts the same monthly salary of 12,000 dollars at each month's average rate published by the SNB in its foreign exchange rates, monthly averages (data published on 2 November 2026). Amounts are rounded to the franc.

Three takeaways from this table:

• The gap from one month to another: between January and December 2025, the same salary lost about 1,347 francs a month. Rent, a health insurance premium or a tax instalment fixed in francs weighed about 14% more in your budget at the end of the year.
• The total for the year: about 119,715 francs in 2025, compared with the 130,944 francs the January rate would have given. It is on this total in francs that your tax and your contributions are calculated.
• The low point: February 2026, at about 9,273 francs. In October 2026, the salary had climbed back to about 9,942 francs, still 970 francs less than in January 2025.

These figures describe the past and say nothing about the rate to come. Our USD/CHF forecast analysis, updated regularly, summarises what central banks and markets expect.

6. The tax office and your account do not see the same rate

Your taxable salary is set in francs by your employer, at the rate on payday or at the annual average rate. What you actually obtain in francs depends on the day you convert your dollars, and on the cost of that conversion.

If your salary is paid in dollars and you keep it for a few weeks before converting it, two amounts coexist: the one used for tax and contributions, at the rate chosen by your employer, and the one that reaches your account in francs, at the rate on the day you convert, less the exchange margin. If the dollar falls in the meantime, you are taxed on more francs than you receive; if it rises, the reverse applies.

This gap cannot be corrected in the tax return: taxable salary remains the one on the salary certificate. The dollars you keep become part of your assets, declared at the 31 December rate. The only lever lies in the timing and frequency of your conversions:

• Converting on each payday aligns the amount you receive with the amount taxed, apart from the exchange margin. It is the most neutral method if your spending is in francs.
• Keeping dollars makes sense if you have expenses in dollars (a mortgage in the United States, school fees, savings you want to keep in dollars). You then take a currency risk on that amount, in one direction or the other.
• Waiting for "the right moment" to convert everything amounts to betting on the rate. Our guide on the myth of the best moment in the month shows why the conversion date matters less than people think, and the one on how to lock an exchange rate describes another option, for a specific due date.

7. Contract in dollars or in francs: what to negotiate?

The right currency is the currency of your spending. Distinguish three things in the contract: the currency in which the salary is set, the currency in which it is paid, and the conversion rate between the two.

A few pointers for the negotiation:

• Think in francs: compare an offer in dollars with an offer in francs over several rates, not just at the rate on the day of the offer. In 2025, the gap between the highest monthly average (January) and the lowest (September) exceeded 12%.
• Remember the amounts fixed in francs: your rent, your health insurance premium, your tax instalments and your LPP contributions, if the insured salary is set in advance, do not move when the dollar falls.
• Look at the variable elements: a bonus in dollars is converted at the rate on the day it is paid, or on the day your entitlement to its amount is acquired, which may be very different from the rate in force when the target was set.

8. How much does conversion cost, and how do you measure it?

The cost of conversion does not usually appear as a fee line: it shows in the gap between the rate applied to you and a reference rate. On a salary in dollars, this gap is paid twelve times a year.

The order of magnitude

On 144,000 dollars a year, each percentage point of gap between the rate applied and the reference rate represents 1,440 dollars, or about 1,196 francs at the 2025 average rate. The gap adds to the currency risk described in section 5, but it does not depend on the rate: it is a cost you can compare from one provider to another.

The check, in three steps

1. Note on your statement the amount in dollars debited and the amount in francs credited, with the transaction date.
2. Note the USD/CHF reference rate for that date, in the daily rates published on ictax.admin.ch or on the chart of our USD-CHF converter.
3. Divide the amount in francs received by the amount in dollars: the gap with the reference rate is the cost of your conversion. Our guide on how to calculate an exchange rate sets out the calculation.

If your employer converts itself before paying francs, do the same calculation from the payslip: the amount in dollars and the amount in francs should both appear on it.

9. Key takeaways

A salary in dollars is lawful in Switzerland, but everything around it is calculated in francs: tax, at the rate on payday or at the SNB's annual average rate; OASI and unemployment insurance, at the rate your employer uses; the LPP, on an insured salary that your pension fund sometimes sets in advance. The 120,000-franc threshold for subsequent ordinary assessment is crossed or not depending on the rate over the year, and a single year of a strong dollar is enough to make you subject to it for the long term.

Three checks apply for the whole term of the contract: the conversion rate and date used by your employer, to be read on the payslip; your annual salary in francs, to be compared each autumn with the 120,000-franc threshold; the cost of your conversions, to be measured once a year against a reference rate.

10. Frequently asked questions