Tax Information & Benefits

Purchase Tax
Taxes and notary fees together amount to a total of around 2.5% of the total purchase price.

There is no VAT on property purchase in Switzerland.

How the tax system works

(Times Bricks and Mortar April 2009)

"Switzerland's most prized - and most controversial - tax break is the lump-sum concession, which is available only to those who do not work in the country. Under this scheme, an individual pays tax based on his annual living costs rather than his income.  The living costs figure is based on five times that person's expenditure on housing.

Those who do not qualify for this concession face three types of tax:  income, wealth and property.  The income tax is calculated on all earned income, plus a percentage (60% on average) of notional rental income based on the value of a person's property.  The wealth tax, the oldest tax in Switzerland, depends on each canton but can be up to 1% of your net assets.  The property tax is 0.001% of the property's value".