Switzerland

Tax residency

Article 3 of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Tax (Bundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer, DBG) sets out the federal grounds.

Switzerland levies direct tax at both the federal and cantonal levels. The DBG governs the federal tax. The Federal Act on the Harmonisation of Direct Taxes of the Cantons and Municipalities (Steuerharmonisierungsgesetz, StHG) sets the common framework that cantons implement in their own laws. The ordinary domicile and stay tests are broadly aligned, although the special federal rule for public servants abroad is not reproduced as a general cantonal ground.

These are Swiss domestic-law tests. If another country also claims the individual as resident, the residence provision of an applicable tax treaty must then be examined to determine residence for treaty purposes and the allocation of taxing rights.

• Tax domicile: an adult ordinarily acquires a Swiss tax domicile by living in Switzerland with the intention of remaining there on a lasting basis. The intention is inferred from observable facts, including the home, family life, work and other enduring ties. An address registration or a statement of intent alone is inconclusive. Article 3(2) also recognises a domicile fixed by federal law. One exceptional example concerns an adult under comprehensive curatorship, whose legal domicile is at the seat of the adult-protection authority under Article 26 of the Swiss Civil Code (Zivilgesetzbuch, ZGB). There is no minimum number of presence days for the domicile ground.
• 30-day stay with gainful activity: the person stays in Switzerland for at least 30 days, allowing for temporary interruptions, and carries on gainful activity (Erwerbstätigkeit) there. This means work for remuneration, such as employment, professional services or a business carried on independently. What matters is where the individual actually performs the work: working from Switzerland for a foreign employer may qualify. Receiving a pension, dividends or returns on investments does not itself amount to working. Making investment decisions about one's own private portfolio is generally private asset management, regardless of where the account or securities are held. Managing other people's portfolios for a fee while physically in Switzerland is different: the service is performed there even if the clients and assets are abroad. Extensive trading for one's own account can exceptionally be classified as a professional securities business, depending on the facts.
• 90-day stay without gainful activity: the person stays in Switzerland for at least 90 days without carrying on gainful activity during the relevant stay, again allowing for temporary interruptions. The distinction concerns what the person does, not whether they have any income at all: a person living on passive income may fall under this test.
• Study or institutional-care exception: a person domiciled abroad does not acquire a Swiss tax domicile or a qualifying stay solely because they came to attend an educational institution or to receive care in a medical institution. The exception is tied to those facts. Outpatient treatment while living in a private apartment was not treated as institutional care in Federal Supreme Court judgment 2C_186/2020. Especially strong connections to Switzerland can also call for a separate domicile analysis.
• Swiss public service abroad: under Article 3(5), a person living abroad and wholly or partly exempt there from income tax in connection with work for the Confederation or another Swiss public-law body can remain personally liable for federal tax under the specific statutory conditions. The rule also addresses certain family members. It requires no Swiss presence days. Article 6(4) limits the relevant federal tax scope. The cantonal harmonisation law does not simply reproduce this federal ground.

Day counting

• Tax domicile: no day threshold applies. The relevant question is when the factual Swiss domicile begins or ends. Spending fewer than 30 days in Switzerland does not protect a person who has actually established a Swiss tax domicile.
• 30-day stay with gainful activity: count actual days in Switzerland during a qualifying stay, which may consist of one period or a small number of connected periods. Days spent abroad between visits do not count towards 30 days, and separate visits are not automatically combined merely because they occur in the same year. A short departure may be a temporary interruption if the overall circumstances show that the Swiss stay continued. A departure that ends it requires a fresh period on return. Article 3 does not prescribe how to treat a partial entry or departure day. In the absence of a verified general federal counting rule, include both boundary days in a conservative working count and retain travel records.
• 90-day stay without gainful activity: apply the same distinction between Swiss presence, a temporary interruption and separate visits, using the 90-day threshold. A brief absence may preserve the connection between periods. Days abroad do not themselves build the 90-day total. Treat partial entry and departure days conservatively in the same way as for the 30-day test.
• Study or institutional-care exception: days that fall within the specific exception are not automatically included in the 30- or 90-day minimum. In judgment 2C_186/2020, inpatient-treatment days did not build the 90-day threshold, although the stay on either side remained connected.
• Swiss public service abroad: no physical-presence count applies to this special federal ground.

Tax consequences

Under DBG Article 8, personal liability begins when the Swiss tax domicile or qualifying stay begins and ends when the relevant Swiss connection ceases. Federal Supreme Court judgment 2C_186/2020 confirms that, once a qualifying-stay threshold is reached, liability runs from the first day of the connected stay, not merely from the thirtieth or ninetieth day. A temporary absence within that stay may be covered by liability even though its days abroad did not help reach the threshold.

For liability covering only part of a tax year, DBG Article 40(3) taxes income of that period. Regular income is annualised for the rate calculation, while the statutory treatment of irregular income differs. A move between Swiss cantons has separate rules, including StHG Article 4b.

Ordinary personal liability generally reaches worldwide income for direct federal tax and, at cantonal and municipal levels, wealth as well. Internal allocation rules and an applicable treaty can limit Swiss taxation of particular foreign items. A non-resident can also have limited Swiss tax liability on specified Swiss-source income or assets, even without acquiring a Swiss tax domicile or qualifying stay. Working in Switzerland for fewer than 30 days is therefore not necessarily tax-free. The question of limited taxation is separate from residence.

Expenditure-based taxation under DBG Article 14 is a special way of calculating the tax base for an eligible foreign national, not another route to tax residence. Conditions include establishing a Swiss tax domicile for the first time, or returning after at least ten years abroad, no gainful activity in Switzerland, and availability under the relevant canton. The indexed federal minimum base for 2026 is 435,000 Swiss francs (CHF), alongside other statutory minimum and control calculations. Zurich, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt have abolished the cantonal regime.

Migration / residence

Citizens of the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) benefit from the Switzerland–EU free-movement framework. For employment lasting no more than three months in a calendar year, a residence permit is generally unnecessary, but the work must be notified under the applicable procedure. For employment exceeding three months, an EU/EFTA national registers with the municipality within 14 days of arrival and before starting work, and applies for a permit. An L permit normally covers employment shorter than one year. A B permit covers employment for at least a year or an indefinite term.

An EU/EFTA citizen who will live in Switzerland without working, including a person of private means, must register and apply for the relevant permit. Sufficient resources and adequate health and accident insurance are required. Different admission rules govern nationals outside the EU/EFTA.

These immigration time limits are separate from the tax-law 30- and 90-day tests. A permit and municipal registration can provide evidence of a person's circumstances, but do not decide the date on which a Swiss tax domicile or qualifying stay begins. The competent cantonal tax administration ordinarily issues a tax-residence certificate (Ansässigkeitsbescheinigung) after assessing the tax position. A municipal address confirmation is not equivalent to that certificate, and a treaty claim must satisfy the particular treaty.

Orientation references

• Bundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer (DBG): Articles 3, 5, 6, 8, 14 and 40 address personal and limited liability, commencement, expenditure-based taxation and part-year assessment.
• Bundesgesetz über die Harmonisierung der direkten Steuern der Kantone und Gemeinden (StHG): the cantonal personal-tax framework and the separate rule for moves between cantons.
• Schweizerisches Zivilgesetzbuch (ZGB): Articles 23–24 on civil domicile and Article 26 on the domicile of an adult under comprehensive curatorship.
• Federal Supreme Court, judgment 2C_186/2020 of 28 December 2020: connected stays, temporary absences, institutional care and retrospective commencement.
• Federal Supreme Court, BGE 137 II 246: physical work location and a Swiss employer in the separate context of limited tax liability.
• Swiss Federal Tax Administration, Rundschreiben Nr. 215: indexed federal amounts for 2026.
• Federal Department of Finance, Besteuerung nach dem Aufwand: official overview of expenditure-based taxation and cantonal availability.
• Swiss Federal Tax Administration, Kreisschreiben Nr. 36, Gewerbsmässiger Wertschriftenhandel: criteria distinguishing private investment from professional securities trading.
• State Secretariat for Migration, FAQ – Free Movement of Persons: registration, work and residence conditions for EU/EFTA citizens.