15-minute read 1. What is a withholding tax tariff and who is concerned?
A withholding tax tariff is a rate table indicating, for a given gross income and a given family situation, the percentage the employer must deduct from the salary and pay directly to the tax administration. This single rate covers direct federal tax, cantonal tax, communal tax and, where applicable, church tax. The employee never receives that share: it does not pass through their hands.
Two clearly distinct populations are subject to withholding tax, and they should not be confused:
- foreign workers resident or staying for tax purposes in Switzerland without a C settlement permit: holders of a B permit, an L permit, or an F, N or S permit;
- persons resident abroad who carry out salaried work in Switzerland, whatever their nationality: cross-border workers holding a G permit, weekly residents, employees registered under the 90-day notification procedure, and also Swiss citizens living abroad.
That second point often comes as a surprise: Swiss nationality offers no protection from withholding tax once the tax domicile lies outside Switzerland. Conversely, a C permit holder resident in Switzerland is no longer taxed at source but by ordinary tax return — and the switch takes effect the month after the permit is granted.
2. How to read your code: letter, digit, Y or N?
A tariff code is always made up of three elements, in this order: a letter for the personal situation, a digit for the number of dependants, and a final letter for church tax. A0N, B1Y, C2N, H3Y: they all read the same way.
| Position | What it encodes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Initial letter | Personal and family situation: A, B, C, H for the common cases; other letters for special situations and for cross-border workers from Germany and Italy. | C = married couple in which both spouses have a gainful activity |
| Digit | Number of child deductions taken into account, in principle aligned with the children for whom family allowances are paid. | 2 = two dependants taken into account |
| Final letter | Church tax: Y if it is included in the deduction, N if it is not. | N = without church tax |
Where to find your code
The code appears on the monthly payslip and on the withholding tax receipt. The annual salary certificate, on the other hand, only shows in box 12 the total amount deducted over the year, without the code. If the deduction appears nowhere, that in itself is an anomaly worth raising: the employer is required to show it on every payslip. Our guide to reading your Swiss payslip covers the other lines of the statement.
The case of church tax
The Y suffix only concerns people affiliated to a church recognised under public law in the canton concerned. The gap with an N code is small but real, and it varies by canton and by commune. Not all cantons levy this tax on individuals: the canton of Vaud levies none and finances religious bodies from its budget, and in Geneva as in Neuchâtel the church contribution is voluntary, because of the strict separation between church and state.
3. Which tariff for your family situation: A, B, C or H?
Four letters cover the vast majority of situations. Their definition is federal and does not vary from one canton to another: only the rates change.
| Tariff | Who it applies to | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| A | Single person: unmarried, divorced, legally or de facto separated, widowed, not living in the same household as children or dependants. | Cohabitation changes nothing: two unmarried partners each stay on A, never on B or C. |
| B | Married person or registered partner, living in the same household, whose spouse has no gainful activity. | As soon as the spouse takes up an activity, even part-time and even abroad, the code switches to C. |
| C | Married couple in which both spouses have a gainful activity, in Switzerland or abroad. This is the so-called dual-income tariff. | Built on a flat-rate second income: the leading cause of excessive deductions among cross-border couples. |
| H | Single person living in the same household as children or dependants whose essential upkeep they provide. | Markedly more favourable than A: not claiming it means paying the tariff of a person with no dependants. |
The trap of tariff C
Tariff C is not simply "the tariff for couples". It builds in the assumption that the household has a second income, the amount of which is set on a flat-rate basis in the construction of the tariff. As long as the spouse's actual income is close to that assumption, the deduction is right. When it departs sharply from it — a spouse working 20%, a spouse paid in euros far below Swiss salary levels, an activity stopping during the year — the deduction becomes mechanically wrong, with nothing on the payslip to flag it.
The moment that counts
The applicable tariff is the one matching your personal situation at the time the salary is paid. Changes in civil status, in the number of children, as well as the start or the end of the spouse's gainful activity, are taken into account from the first day of the following month. A marriage celebrated on 15 March therefore takes tax effect on 1 April, and a birth on 1 August moves the code up on 1 September.
4. Why do Germany and Italy have their own letters?
Because two international treaties limit what Switzerland is entitled to levy on those salaries. The dedicated tariffs are not a favour: they are tables calculated to respect that ceiling, while keeping the same family-situation logic.
Residents of Germany: tariffs L, M, N, P and Q
Article 15a of the double taxation treaty between Switzerland and Germany allocates the right to tax to the state of residence, allowing the state where the work is carried out to levy at most 4.5% of the gross amount. The corresponding Swiss tariffs follow the usual family structure:
- L — German cross-border workers who are unmarried, divorced, separated or widowed (equivalent of A);
- M — married cross-border workers with only one spouse working (equivalent of B);
- N — married cross-border workers with both spouses working (equivalent of C);
- P — cross-border workers living with children or dependants whose essential upkeep they provide (equivalent of H);
- Q — replacement income paid directly by the insurer to a German cross-border worker.
Two conditions are cumulative. The first is regular return to the German home: the canton of Zurich considers daily return to be reasonable where the distance is no more than 100 kilometres each way by car, or 1.5 hours by public transport. The second is submission to the employer of a residence certificate issued by the German tax office, form Gre-1, valid for one year.
That 4.5% is not a refundable advance: it is a final flat-rate tax, credited against German income tax. There is therefore no "recovery" to claim in Switzerland, except where an international double taxation has to be corrected.
Residents of Italy: tariffs R, S, T, U and V
The agreement between Switzerland and Italy on the taxation of cross-border workers of 23 December 2020, which entered into force on 17 July 2023, created two categories of cross-border workers and, with them, a second series of tariffs applied since 1 January 2024 in the cantons of Ticino, Graubünden and Valais.
| Category | Who is concerned | Tariffs applied |
|---|---|---|
| Old cross-border workers for tax purposes | People who worked in one of the three cantons between 31 December 2018 and 17 July 2023, resident in a commune on the corresponding list. | Ordinary tariffs A, B, C, H, taxation in Switzerland only. |
| New cross-border workers for tax purposes | People who became cross-border workers after 17 July 2023, living in a commune within the 20-kilometre band and returning home daily. | Tariffs R, S, T, U (equivalents of A, B, C, H) and V for replacement income. |
For new cross-border workers, the Swiss deduction is limited to 80% of what it would be under the ordinary tariffs: that percentage is built directly into tables R to U. Italy then taxes the income under its domestic law and eliminates double taxation. One important counterpart: under article 3 of the agreement, this taxation at source is final, which closes the door to the subsequent ordinary assessment described in section 9.
5. And residents of France: why no dedicated code?
Because in eight of the nine cantons linked to France by a tax arrangement, there is simply no deduction to make at source. Geneva is the exception — and it is the canton employing the most cross-border workers resident in France: it does levy withholding tax there, using the ordinary tariffs A, B, C or H, with no dedicated code. The Franco-Swiss agreement of 11 April 1983 provides that a cross-border worker is taxed only in their state of residence, the state of the place of work receiving in return a financial compensation of 4.5% of the gross payroll. It covers eight cantons: Bern, Basel-City, Basel-Country, Jura, Neuchâtel, Solothurn, Vaud and Valais. Geneva falls under a separate regime, from a 1973 agreement: the canton taxes at source and pays back to the départements of Ain and Haute-Savoie a share of the gross salaries paid.
In the eight cantons of the 1983 agreement, the absence of a deduction is not automatic. It requires a French tax residence certificate endorsed by the French administration, handed to the employer in two copies before the first day of employment, then before 1 January for each following year. The Vaud regulation on withholding tax is explicit: "an employer who does not receive the certificate is required to levy withholding tax". An employee who forgets that piece of paper is therefore taxed, entirely lawfully, under tariff A, B, C or H like any other employee.
Two further limits condition the status: return home as a rule every day, with a tolerance of 45 nights spent outside the state of residence, and working from home capped at 40% of working time, temporary assignments included within a limit of 10 days a year, under the mutual agreements of 22 December 2022 and 30 June 2023. Beyond that, the status falls away and the ordinary regime of the treaty applies, with taxation at source of the days actually worked in Switzerland. Our guide to the rules on cross-border working from home details that count.
One exception is worth knowing: cross-border worker status under the 1983 agreement does not apply to a person of Swiss nationality, dual national or not, resident in France and paid by a public-law employer — a state, a canton, a commune or a public school. In that case the employer must levy withholding tax.
For residents of other neighbouring countries, no specific code exists: the ordinary tariffs apply, subject to the relevant double taxation treaty.
6. Which other codes can appear on a statement?
Beyond the four common letters, several codes exist for specific situations. Coming across them on a statement is not abnormal, but each follows its own logic.
| Code | What it covers |
|---|---|
| G | Replacement income paid directly by the insurer to the insured person: benefits from disability insurance, accident insurance, unemployment insurance or maternity insurance. It is never used by an employer. |
| E | Taxation under the simplified accounting procedure, provided for in the fight against undeclared work for small amounts of remuneration. |
| F | Tariff specific to Ticino, for cross-border workers resident in Italy whose spouse has a gainful activity outside Switzerland; it is still applied to old cross-border workers for tax purposes. |
| HE | Taxation of members of the board or management of legal entities resident abroad: attendance fees, directors' fees. |
| ME | Taxation of employee participation plans for people resident abroad. |
| D | Depending on the canton, a code reserved for residual cases: in Geneva it covers the reimbursement of AVS contributions to people leaving Switzerland for good for a country with no social security agreement. |
Other tariffs exist for income that is not salary: artists, sportspeople and lecturers, lump-sum pension benefits, annuities, or mortgage creditors resident abroad. They do not appear on a payslip and belong to other statements. On the specific case of lump-sum benefits, our guide to the vested benefits account details the applicable taxation.
7. What the tariff already includes, and what it does not
This is the question that decides whether a correction is worth making. The tariff is not a gross rate applied blindly: it already includes, on a flat-rate basis, part of what an ordinary taxpayer would deduct in a tax return.
What is already included, on a flat-rate basis
In the words of the Fribourg tax administration, "professional expenses, insurance premiums, deductions for family responsibilities and the deductions granted where both spouses have a gainful activity are taken into account on a flat-rate basis". That is precisely why allowances paid by the employer for the journey between home and workplace are part of taxable income: travel costs are already covered by the flat rate built into the tariff.
What is not included and has to be claimed
- pillar 3a contributions, where you are entitled to them;
- buy-ins into the pension fund (second pillar);
- maintenance payments made;
- actual childcare costs;
- actual professional expenses where they exceed the flat rate;
- interest on debt and continuing education costs.
These additional deductions are not requested from the employer: they go through the correction procedure or the subsequent ordinary assessment described in section 9. Our guide to cross-border workers' tax deductions details the supporting documents required for each.
8. Why do two colleagues on the same salary not pay the same?
Because the tariff applied is not that of your place of residence, but that of the canton entitled to tax you. This rule is federal, and it produces substantial gaps between two people living in the same border town.
| Employee's situation | Canton whose tariff applies |
|---|---|
| Resident in Switzerland | Canton of residence |
| Weekly resident, or cross-border worker returning home weekly | Canton of the weekly stay |
| Resident abroad with daily return | Canton where the employer has its seat, its administration or a permanent establishment |
The employer must account directly to the tax authority of the entitled canton, and is not allowed to account to another canton. A company whose employees fall under several cantons must therefore register with each of the administrations concerned. If you work for establishments located in different cantons, our guide on working in two Swiss cantons details how the split works.
The monthly model and the annual model
A second source of divergence, invisible on the payslip: since the harmonisation that came into force on 1 January 2021, two calculation models coexist. Fribourg, Geneva, Ticino, Valais and Vaud apply the annual model, in which the tax period matches the calendar year. All other cantons apply the monthly model. The difference shows above all on non-periodic items — 13th month salary, bonus, severance payment — and on part-time activities or those starting during the year.
To that must be added the very construction of the tables: a cantonal tariff builds in an average communal rate, not the rate of your own commune. Two employees on the same code can therefore bear noticeably different deductions on an identical salary, depending on the competent canton. That is a feature of the system, not an error.
9. What to do if the wrong tariff has been applied
Three routes exist, and they do not serve the same purpose. But a single date governs all three: 31 March of the year following the tax year. That deadline cannot be extended, and missing it makes the deduction final.
1. Correction of the tariff
This is the simplest route, reserved for mechanical corrections: wrong tariff applied by the employer, miscalculated deduction, child not taken into account, maintenance payments made. It does not require filing a full tax return. The taxpayer asks the competent tax authority for a decision on the existence and extent of their liability. In Geneva this procedure has its own name and process, set out in our guide to the correction of withholding tax in Geneva.
2. Mandatory subsequent ordinary assessment
It applies without any request on your part to people resident in Switzerland where one of the following conditions is met:
- income from employed activity — yours or your spouse's — reaches or exceeds CHF 120,000 gross a year;
- you have other income not taxed at source, or wealth, above the cantonal thresholds (in Ticino: more than CHF 3,000 of taxable income or more than CHF 200,000 of wealth);
- you obtain a C settlement permit during the year.
3. Subsequent ordinary assessment on request
It allows deductions absent from the tariff to be claimed: 3a, pension fund buy-ins, actual costs. People resident in Switzerland may request it until 31 March. Careful: once filed, the request can no longer be withdrawn and registration under the ordinary procedure is maintained for subsequent years.
For people resident abroad, access is conditional on quasi-resident status: at least 90% of the household's worldwide income must be taxable in Switzerland. For a couple, the income of both spouses is added together. The request must be renewed every year. Our guide to quasi-resident status details how that ratio is calculated and which documents to provide.
Finally, remember the Italian exception mentioned above: people covered by the 2020 agreement as new cross-border workers cannot request a subsequent ordinary assessment, as the deduction at source is final in their case. For an overview of the tax picture, our guide to cross-border workers' taxes brings all the steps together, and the ibani services for cross-border workers page presents the account and transfer side.
10. From the gross deduction to the amount actually received
Once the right tariff is applied, one step remains that the payslip does not show: the salary is paid in Swiss francs, while the rent, the loan or the groceries are often paid in another currency. By way of illustration: on a monthly salary of CHF 6,500, an exchange margin of 2% applied to the conversion represents CHF 130 a month, or CHF 1,560 a year — a cost that repeats every month, appears on no statement and, unlike a tariff error, is never corrected retroactively.
The mechanism is the same as with tax: what is not visible is not challenged. Checking the rate applied to the conversion is the same hygiene as checking the letter of your tariff.
Account with a personal Swiss IBAN opened remotely, 12 currencies and free SEPA transfers. ibani is a Swiss financial intermediary established in Geneva since 2018, not a bank: the aim is to bridge a salary denominated in francs and spending in another currency, with an exchange margin announced in advance.
Open an ibani account →To know the exact amount received at today's rate, the real-time CHF/EUR converter gives the conversion, and our guide to transferring your Swiss salary compares the available transfer routes.
Institutional sources: Federal Tax Administration, withholding tax · Canton of Geneva, 2026 withholding tax tariffs · Canton of Geneva, withholding tax calculator · State of Fribourg, withholding tax tariffs and calculations · Canton of Valais, withholding tax tariffs · Canton of Geneva, determining quasi-resident status · Canton of Vaud, directive on the taxation of cross-border workers resident in France · Canton of Ticino, withholding tax information · Canton of Bern, notice Q12 on withholding taxation of German cross-border workers (from 2026) · Canton of Zurich, notice on the withholding tax procedure for German cross-border workers
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the code A0N mean on a Swiss payslip?
A withholding tax code is read in three parts. The letter A designates a single person: unmarried, divorced, legally or de facto separated, or widowed, who does not live in the same household as children whose upkeep they mainly provide. The digit 0 indicates the number of child deductions taken into account, so no dependent child here. The final letter N means that church tax is not included in the deduction, as opposed to Y where it is. A code A0N says nothing about your nationality or your country of residence: it describes only your family situation under Swiss tax law.
What is the difference between tariff B and tariff C?
Tariff B applies to a married person whose spouse has no gainful activity. Tariff C, known as the dual-income tariff, applies when both spouses work, whether in Switzerland or abroad. The difference is far from trivial: tariff C is built on the flat-rate assumption of a second income in the household, and it is therefore heavier than tariff B at equal salary. When the spouse's actual income departs sharply from that assumption, the deduction becomes too high or too low, and only a correction or a subsequent ordinary assessment can restore the exact amount. This is one of the most frequent causes of overpayment among cross-border couples.
Who decides which withholding tax tariff is applied to my salary?
The employer, and the employer alone. Since the reform of withholding taxation came into force on 1 January 2021, it is the debtor of the taxable benefit who determines the applicable tariff, based on the information the employee has provided in the registration questionnaire. The employer must report the hiring to the tax authority within eight days — some cantons, such as Ticino, extend that deadline to thirty days where the data is transmitted electronically — and is fully liable for collecting and paying over the tax. No authority checks your code as it goes: if your family situation changes, it is up to you to report it, and the new tariff applies from the first day of the month following the event.
Which withholding tax tariff applies to a cross-border worker living in Germany?
Tariffs L, M, N, P and Q, reserved for cross-border workers within the meaning of article 15a of the double taxation treaty between Switzerland and Germany. They follow the logic of the ordinary tariffs — L corresponds to A, M to B, N to C, P to H, and Q to replacement income paid by the insurer — but cap the Swiss deduction at 4.5% of gross salary. Two conditions are cumulative: regular return to the German home, and submission to the employer of a residence certificate issued by the German tax office, form Gre-1. Without that certificate, or beyond 60 days of non-return for professional reasons in the calendar year, cross-border status falls away and the ordinary tariffs A to H apply. The 4.5% is not refundable: it is credited against German income tax.
Does a cross-border worker living in Italy have a specific tariff?
Since 1 January 2024, yes, but only for new cross-border workers within the meaning of the agreement between Switzerland and Italy of 23 December 2020, which entered into force on 17 July 2023. These people are taxed under tariffs R, S, T and U — corresponding respectively to A, B, C and H — plus tariff V for replacement income. The Swiss deduction is limited to 80% of what it would be under the ordinary tariffs, with Italy then taxing the income while eliminating double taxation. Old cross-border workers, meaning those who worked in the cantons of Ticino, Graubünden or Valais between 31 December 2018 and 17 July 2023, remain on tariffs A, B, C and H. For new cross-border workers the deduction is final: they cannot request a subsequent ordinary assessment.
How long can an incorrect withholding tax code be corrected?
Until 31 March of the year following the tax year concerned, and that deadline cannot be extended. After that date the deduction becomes final, even if the tariff applied was plainly wrong. In practice, an error on 2026 salaries must be reported by 31 March 2027 at the latest. The procedure consists in asking the cantonal tax authority for a decision on the existence and extent of your liability, or for a simple correction of the tariff where the reason is mechanical: wrong code applied by the employer, child not taken into account, maintenance payments made. Reporting the error to your employer is not enough and does not interrupt the deadline.
Does the tariff depend on the canton where I live or the one where I work?
It depends on your situation. For a person resident in Switzerland, the competent canton is the canton of residence. For a weekly resident, it is the canton of the weekly stay. For a cross-border worker returning home every day, it is the canton in which the employer has its seat, its administration or a permanent establishment: your home in France, Italy or Germany plays no part. Two people living in the same border town and earning the same salary can therefore bear different deductions, simply because their employers are established in two different cantons. On top of that comes the calculation model: Fribourg, Geneva, Ticino, Valais and Vaud apply the annual model, all other cantons the monthly model.