How to calculate net salary in Switzerland

A Swiss payslip subtracts three groups of items: social insurance contributions (the same across the country), the pension fund (depends on your employer) and taxes (depend on your canton and family situation).

The first two are fixed or near-fixed percentages of your salary. Taxes vary much more: for the same gross salary, net pay in Zug is not the same as in Bern or Bellinzona.

The biggest deduction is AHV/IV/EO (old-age, disability and income-loss insurance): 5.3% of gross salary, with no upper cap. It funds retirement pensions, disability benefits and maternity or military-service allowances.

Then comes unemployment insurance (ALV): 1.1% of gross salary, but only up to an insured-salary ceiling of CHF 148,200 per year. Above that threshold, nothing more is due today.

Finally, non-occupational accident insurance (NBU), typically around 1.4%: it covers accidents outside work. Some employers pay it in full themselves.

If you earn more than CHF 22,680 a year, part of your salary goes into the occupational pension fund. Not all of your salary is insured: the so-called coordination deduction of CHF 26,460 is subtracted first.

The contribution rate rises with age: from about 3.5% between 25 and 34 to about 9% after 55. By law the employer pays at least half; your half is what you see on the payslip.

This money is not lost: it stays yours, earns interest and you withdraw it (under precise rules) at retirement, to buy a home or if you leave Switzerland.

If you hold a B permit or are a cross-border worker, tax is withheld directly from your payslip (withholding tax). If you're a citizen or hold a C permit, you pay the following year through the tax return.

Tax depends on canton, municipality, marital status and number of children. It's the item with the biggest differences from one person to another.

On a gross salary of CHF 80,000, single with no children, social contributions are about CHF 6,300, the pension fund about CHF 2,700, and taxes range from a few thousand francs in low-tax cantons to over CHF 10,000 in heavier ones.

The final net can therefore differ by several thousand francs a year just by moving canton. That's why it's worth running the calculation with your own numbers.