---
title: "Swiss salary certificate: how to fill it in correctly for the foreign tax authority Employer Guide 2026"
url: https://www.ibani.com/en/guides/swiss-salary-certificate-foreign-tax-authority
lang: en
date_modified: 2026-09-30
author: "Brice DELHOME"
---

![Swiss salary certificate on a clipboard, ticked entries and validation stamp, ibani mascot](https://www.ibani.com/images/certificat-salaire-suisse-administration-etrangere.png)

📄 Business & HR

# Swiss salary certificate: how to fill it in correctly for the foreign tax authority Employer Guide 2026

 10 min read | Updated 30 September 2026

Author: [Brice DELHOME](https://www.ibani.com/en/author/brice-delhome)

📌 In Short: the salary certificate on the employer's side

-   **It's your obligation:** the salary certificate (Form 11 / Lohnausweis) is produced and signed by the employer, never by the employee. It is owed spontaneously at the start of the year (art. 127 LIFD), even without a request from the employee.
-   **The pitfall to avoid:** a forgotten benefit in kind, a wrongly ticked box F or G or an incorrect withholding tax, and the certificate is rejected by the employee's foreign tax authority, resulting in correction and internal dispute.
-   **The ibani solution:** pay salaries in CHF and let [ibani](https://www.ibani.com/en/app) convert them into euros at the real market rate, plus a margin of 0.40% to 0.15% depending on the amount and published in advance, into your cross-border employees' accounts — an HR retention argument.

**At the start of each year, the Swiss employer must give each of their employees a document that is decisive for their taxes: the salary certificate, also called Form 11 or Lohnausweis.**

For a company that employs cross-border workers from Geneva, Vaud or Neuchâtel, or expats who will declare their income abroad, this is not a mere HR formality. A poorly completed certificate is rejected by the tax administration of the employee's country of residence, triggers correction requests and may engage your liability within the meaning of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation.

This 2026 guide, designed for HR and payroll departments, details your employer obligations, how to correctly fill in sections 1 to 15, the precautions specific to cross-border employees, and how to streamline the payment of salaries in euros while keeping exchange costs down.

## What are your employer obligations for the salary certificate?

The answer is unambiguous: producing the salary certificate for each employee is a **legal obligation of the employer**, not an optional service. It stems from article 127 of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation (LIFD) and from article 43 of the Act on the Harmonisation of Direct Taxes (LHID). The employee, on the other hand, fills in nothing: they receive, check and transfer.

### A document owed spontaneously, every year

You must provide the certificate **spontaneously**, at the start of the year for the previous calendar year, usually in January or February, and this even if the employee does not request it. If the employee leaves during the year, it is produced at the end of the employment relationship. The official template (Form 11) and the completion rules are set by the [completion guide](https://www.estv.admin.ch/dam/fr/sd-web/afP1GDFr8gE3/dbst-form-lohna-wegleitung-2026-fr.pdf) published jointly by the Swiss Tax Conference (CSI) and the Federal Tax Administration (AFC), under reference 605.040.18.1f, in its version valid as at 1 January 2026.

**Good to know.** In several cantons, the employer does not simply hand the certificate to the employee: they must also send a copy directly to the cantonal tax administration. Check the practice of the canton where your company is located (Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, etc.) so as not to omit this transmission.

### Your liability in the event of an error

An inaccurate or incomplete certificate is not neutral. The tax administration can require a correction, claim a withholding tax back-payment and, in the event of a breach of procedural obligations, issue a fine within the meaning of [article 174 LIFD](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1991/1184_1184_1184/fr#art_174). One side effect is often underestimated: an error blocks the employee's tax return abroad and quickly turns into an internal HR dispute. It is therefore better to secure the process upstream.

To place this document within the whole of your hiring obligations, see our [employer checklist for hiring a cross-border worker](https://www.ibani.com/en/guides/hire-cross-border-worker-switzerland-employer-checklist).

## How do you correctly fill in sections 1 to 15?

The short answer: the certificate is structured into sections numbered 1 to 15, from the base salary (section 1) through to the free-form remarks (section 15), via the total gross salary (section 8) and the net salary (section 11). Each item has a precise definition; it is the rigour of your data entry that determines the acceptance of the document by the foreign tax authority.

Here is the completion table for the main sections of Form 11.

| Section | Heading | What the employer must enter |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **1** | Salary | The base salary, including 13th month and paid overtime. |
| **2** | Fringe salary benefits | Benefits in kind: board and lodging (2.1), company car (2.2), other benefits (2.3). For private use of a company car, 0.9% of the purchase price excluding VAT per month, at least 150 CHF per month. |
| **3** | Non-periodic benefits | Bonuses, gratuities and premiums paid irregularly. |
| **7** | Other benefits | Elements of remuneration not falling under the previous sections. |
| **8** | **Total gross salary** | The sum of all the above, before social deductions. |
| **9** | AVS / AI / APG / AC / AANP contributions | Employee's share of the 1st pillar and unemployment insurance contributions, deducted from the gross: 5.3% for AVS, AI and APG, with no ceiling, and 1.1% for AC on the part of the salary up to 148,200 CHF a year (OASI/DI leaflets [2.01](https://www.ahv-iv.ch/p/2.01.e) and [2.08](https://www.ahv-iv.ch/p/2.08.f), the latter in French), plus the AANP premium. |
| **10** | Occupational pension (2nd pillar) | Ordinary LPP contributions (10.1) and any buy-backs (10.2). |
| **11** | **Net salary** | The gross salary minus the contributions in sections 9 and 10. This is the basis of calculation abroad. |
| **12** | Withholding tax | Amount of tax you have withheld and paid over (Geneva cross-border workers, for example). |
| **13** | Professional expenses | Actual travel and meal expenses (13.1), other actual expenses (13.2), flat rates (13.3). |
| **15** | Remarks | Useful notes: employment dates, coverage of transport, details on cross-border status. |

### Boxes F and G, classic sources of error

Beyond the sections, the certificate includes tick boxes that have a direct tax impact for the employee. The two most frequently mis-filled are **box F** (the employer covers the home-to-work commute) and **box G** (meals or canteen at a reduced price). Ticked wrongly or forgotten, they distort the deductible professional expenses flat rate and trigger a correction. Meal vouchers worth no more than 180 CHF a month are also indicated by a cross in box G; above that, the difference is added to the declared salary.

The benefit in kind most often forgotten is the company car. When the employer covers all costs and the employee may also use the vehicle privately, the completion guide sets the private share at 0.9% of the purchase price excluding VAT per month: a vehicle bought for 50,000 CHF represents 450 CHF a month, or 5,400 CHF a year, to be entered under section 2.2.

**🚨 The errors that come up most often:** an undeclared benefit in kind (company car, lodging in section 2), a wrongly ticked box F or G, and a withholding tax in section 12 that does not match the cumulative monthly deductions. Systematically reconcile the annual certificate with your twelve payroll cycles before signing it.

To help your employees read the document from the angle of the monthly payslip, refer them to our guide to [understanding their Swiss payslip](https://www.ibani.com/en/guides/swiss-paycheck), which details each deduction.

## What precautions for a cross-border or expat employee?

The answer depends on the canton of work and the employee's country of residence, but one principle remains: it is the accuracy of your certificate that allows the foreign tax authority to accept it without friction. Two tax regimes coexist depending on your canton.

| Situation | Cantons concerned | Employer's role |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **"1983 agreement" cross-border worker** | Bern, Solothurn, Basel-City, Basel-Country, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Jura | No withholding tax if the employee provides the 2041-AS residence certificate; section 12 stays empty. The certificate serves as supporting evidence for the tax paid in France. |
| **Withholding tax** | Geneva (and situations outside the 1983 agreement) | You withhold the tax at source and enter it in section 12. The employee obtains a tax credit in France to avoid double taxation. |

### What the employee will do with your certificate

An employee resident in France transfers the figures from your certificate onto the [**2047-SUISSE**](https://www.impots.gouv.fr/international-particulier/salaries-en-suisse) calculation aid worksheet, which explicitly refers to the line numbers of the Swiss document, to determine their taxable net salary in euros. They then transfer it onto the 2047 and 2042 returns. The more precise your certificate (consistent withholding tax in section 12, clear notes in section 15), the fewer additional queries the French tax administration will send them.

**The useful reflex in section 15.** For a cross-border worker, an explicit remark (employment dates, activity rate, detail on taxation in France or at source) avoids many exchanges with the foreign tax office. It is a small data-entry effort for a real time saving on the employee's side.

The same principles apply to an expat who declares their income in Italy, Germany, Spain or Portugal: only the national forms change, the salary certificate remains the proof of income. For the pension dimension of your employees residing outside Switzerland, see our guide [LPP and foreign workers: the employer's obligations](https://www.ibani.com/en/guides/lpp-employers-foreign-workers).

## How do you streamline your teams' cross-border payroll?

The short answer: by reducing the loss on exchange between the CHF paid and the euro actually received by your employees. The salary is calculated and, in principle, paid in Swiss francs. But many cross-border workers wish to receive their pay in euros into their account of residence, and this is where traditional channels cut into the real amount via invisible exchange margins.

An indicative worked example, calculated at the reference rate published by the ECB on 29 September 2026 (**1 EUR = 0.9461 CHF**): for a net salary of 5,000 CHF, the company pays this sum to ibani, i.e. about 5,285 EUR at that rate. After ibani's 0.40% margin applicable to this amount, the employee receives **about 5,264 EUR** into their account; the actual amount depends on the rate on the day of conversion. Across a team of several cross-border workers, the cumulative saving compared with a standard bank exchange becomes a genuine HR and financial lever.

**💱 The ibani B2B solution**

Pay the salary in CHF like a standard Swiss transfer: ibani converts it into euros at the real interbank market rate and credits it to the **employee's account**, with no transfer fees. The employee receives the converted amount, less a disclosed margin of 0.40% to 0.15% depending on the amount, which strengthens the appeal of your HR package.

[Discover the business offer →](https://www.ibani.com/en/businesses)

To go further on managing your flows in two currencies, see our guide on [multi-currency CHF-EUR accounting](https://www.ibani.com/en/guides/multi-currency-accounting-chf-eur).

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Who must produce the Swiss salary certificate and by when?

It is the Swiss employer who produces, signs and hands over the salary certificate (Form 11), never the employee. This is a legal obligation under article 127 LIFD. The document must be provided to the employee spontaneously at the start of the year for the previous calendar year, even without a request, usually in January or February. If the employee leaves during the year, it is produced at the end of the employment relationship. In several cantons, the employer also sends a copy directly to the cantonal tax administration.

### How do you correctly fill in sections 1 to 15 of the salary certificate?

The certificate is structured into sections numbered 1 to 15: base salary (section 1), fringe benefits and benefits in kind (section 2), non-periodic benefits such as bonuses (section 3), total gross salary (section 8), social security contributions AVS/AI/APG/AC (section 9), occupational pension LPP (section 10), net salary (section 11), withholding tax (section 12), professional expenses (section 13) and remarks (section 15). The employer must follow guide 605.040.18.1f of the Swiss Tax Conference and the Federal Tax Administration and correctly tick boxes F (home-to-work commute) and G (meals).

### What does an employer risk if there is an error on the salary certificate?

An incomplete or inaccurate certificate exposes the employer to correction requests from the tax administration, to a withholding tax back-payment and, in the event of a breach of procedural obligations, to a fine within the meaning of article 174 LIFD. Beyond the legal risk, an error directly penalises the employee, whose foreign tax return will be blocked or rejected, creating an avoidable internal dispute.

### How does the salary certificate help the cross-border employee's return to the foreign tax authority?

An employee resident in France transfers the figures from the Swiss salary certificate onto the 2047-SUISSE worksheet to determine their taxable net salary in euros, then onto the 2047 and 2042 returns. An accurate and complete certificate, with consistent withholding tax (section 12) and clear remarks in section 15, allows the foreign tax authority to accept it without additional queries. It is therefore in the employer's interest to fill it in with care.

### Should the employer pay the salary in Swiss francs or in euros?

The salary is calculated and, in principle, paid in Swiss francs (CHF). However, many cross-border employees wish to receive their pay in euros into their account of residence. The company can pay the salary in CHF to a B2B fintech solution like ibani, which converts the funds into euros at the real market rate, plus a margin of 0.40% to 0.15% depending on the amount and published in advance, and credits them to the employee's account, which becomes an HR retention argument.

## Official sources

-   [Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation (LIFD/DBG), art. 127 (employer certificates) and art. 174 (fine) (in French)](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1991/1184_1184_1184/fr#art_127) — Fedlex, accessed 29 September 2026
-   [Federal Act on the Harmonisation of Direct Taxes of the Cantons and Communes (LHID/StHG), art. 43 (third-party certificates) (in French)](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1991/1256_1256_1256/fr#art_43) — Fedlex, accessed 30 September 2026
-   [Euro foreign exchange reference rates, EUR/CHF](https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/eurofxref-graph-chf.en.html) — European Central Bank, accessed 30 September 2026
-   [Guide to completing the salary certificate and pension statement (Form 11), valid from 1 January 2026 (in French)](https://www.estv.admin.ch/dam/fr/sd-web/afP1GDFr8gE3/dbst-form-lohna-wegleitung-2026-fr.pdf) — Swiss Tax Conference and Federal Tax Administration, accessed 30 September 2026
-   [Leaflet 2.08 — Unemployment insurance contributions (2.2% up to 148,200 francs of annual salary, split equally; in French)](https://www.ahv-iv.ch/p/2.08.f) — OASI/DI Information Centre, accessed 30 September 2026
-   [Salariés en Suisse: cross-border worker regime, 2041-AS certificate and 2047-SUISSE form (in French)](https://www.impots.gouv.fr/international-particulier/salaries-en-suisse) — impots.gouv.fr, accessed 29 September 2026