Move before or after New Year: what it means for your taxes
Moving to another canton? For taxes, what counts is where you live at the end of the year, and that for the whole year. Here you see how much the moving date makes with your income. Free, no account, calculated in your browser.
The rule
If you change canton within Switzerland, you pay income and wealth tax for the whole year in the canton where you live at the end of the year.
Move on or before 31 December 2026 and the new place applies for all of 2026. Move on or after 1 January 2027 and you still pay 2026 at the old place, and from 2027 at the new one.
Direct federal tax is the same everywhere; only the canton that collects it changes. The difference comes from cantonal and municipal tax. References: Art. 4b StHG, Art. 105 DBG.
Your calculation
Ubivo only receives the two places, to load the tax data of these municipalities. Household, income and wealth stay in your browser; nothing is stored.
The household types of the FTA tax statistics. Registered partnership as married.
Salary before deductions. For couples, both incomes together.
Net wealth after debts. The calculation uses exactly the chosen level.
Enter both places and your income, and the calculation appears here.
What else applies
- Residence: what counts is where you actually live, intending to stay. The date you register with the municipality does not decide on its own, and a move on paper only does not count. (Art. 3 StHG)
- Wealth: what counts is the amount at the end of the year, taxed where you live then. (Art. 17 StHG)
- Lump sum from a pension fund or pillar 3a: here it is not the end of the year that counts but your residence on the day the payment falls due. The calculator does not take this into account. (Art. 4b StHG, Art. 105 DBG)
- Property in another canton: it stays taxable for the whole year in the canton where it is located; the move changes nothing. The calculator works without property. (Art. 4b StHG)
- Church tax: not in the figures. They are calculated without religious affiliation, like the FTA tax statistics. If you belong to a recognised church, church tax comes on top at both places.
Not covered
- Moving from or to another country: you are then taxable in Switzerland for only part of the year, and the calculation is different. (Art. 15 StHG, Art. 40 DBG)
- Withholding tax: if you are taxed at source (tax deducted directly from your salary, without an ordinary assessment), other rules apply. Please ask the tax office.
Not tax advice. The calculator follows the law and estimates with FTA data; what counts is the assessment by your tax office.
Typical moves, already calculated
Frequent moves between two cantons, calculated for example households: what difference it makes whether you move before or after New Year.
- From Zurich to Zug
- From Zug to Zurich
- From Zurich to Baar
- From Zurich to Freienbach
- From Zurich to Rapperswil-Jona
- From Lucerne to Zug
- From Lucerne to Hergiswil
- From Lucerne to Küssnacht
- From Bern to Solothurn
- From Biel to Solothurn
- From Neuchâtel to Bern
- From Olten to Aarau
- From Basel to Liestal
- From Liestal to Basel
- From Basel to Allschwil
- From Basel to Rheinfelden
- From Geneva to Nyon
- From Nyon to Geneva
- From Lausanne to Geneva
- From Geneva to Lausanne
- From Lausanne to Fribourg
- From Sion to Lausanne
- From Neuchâtel to Lausanne
- From Winterthur to Frauenfeld
- From Winterthur to Schaffhausen
- From St. Gallen to Herisau
- From St. Gallen to Teufen
- From Lugano to Zurich
- From Chur to Zurich
Moving within the same canton
If you change municipality within the canton, you pay cantonal tax in the same canton anyway. Which municipality receives the municipal tax for the year of the move is up to each canton. We only calculate for cantons whose rule we have read in the cantonal tax act.
| Canton | Rule | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Zurich | The municipality where you live at the end of the year receives the municipal tax for the whole year. | StG ZH (LS 631.1), § 190 Abs. 1read on 31 October 2026 |
| Bern | The municipality where you live at the end of the year receives the municipal tax for the whole year. | StG BE (BSG 661.11), Art. 251 Abs. 1 i. V. m. Art. 165 Abs. 4read on 31 October 2026 |
| Lucerne | The municipality where you live at the end of the year receives the municipal tax for the whole year. | StG LU (SRL 620), § 237 Abs. 1 und 2read on 31 October 2026 |
| Zug | The municipality where you live at the end of the year receives the municipal tax for the whole year. | StG ZG (BGS 632.1), § 171 Abs. 1 i. V. m. § 11 Abs. 3read on 31 October 2026 |
| Aargau | The municipality where you live at the end of the year receives the municipal tax for the whole year. | StG AG (SAR 651.100), § 156 i. V. m. § 20 Abs. 2 und 3read on 31 October 2026 |
For the other 21 cantons we have not verified the rule. The calculator shows no figure there; please ask the tax office of the new municipality.
Frequently asked questions
Does the date I register with the municipality count?
What counts is your tax residence: the place where you stay intending to remain. Registration alone does not decide. If you only really move after New Year, you still have your old residence on 31 December.
I am moving on 31 December. Where do I pay?
What decides is where you live at the end of the year. If you live at the new place on 31 December, you pay the whole year’s taxes there.
Does federal tax change too?
No. Direct federal tax is the same throughout Switzerland. It is collected by the canton where you live at the end of the year; the amount stays the same.
What if I come from abroad or move abroad?
Then this rule does not apply: you are only taxable in Switzerland for the time you live here. This calculator does not cover that.
Is church tax included?
No. The figures are calculated without religious affiliation. If you belong to a recognised church, church tax comes on top at each place, and it too can widen or narrow the difference.
To make a move before New Year work: Give notice on your flat shows the date you are free from and by when the notice must reach the landlord. A new address in mind? The free Ubivo report shows taxes, health insurance and commutes for any Swiss address.
Method and sources
- Tax data: tax burden per municipality from the tax calculator of the Federal Tax Administration (FTA), the same figures as in the Ubivo report. Year per municipality as the FTA holds it; cantons without newly adopted rates are still on the previous year.
- Calculation: income times the tax burden of the household type in the municipality, joined linearly between the data points, rounded to whole francs. Plus cantonal and municipal wealth tax for the chosen wealth level.
- Assumptions of the FTA statistics: gross salary from employment, age 35, children aged 3 and 10, with two incomes half each, no religious affiliation, standard deductions only. Pillar 3a, pension fund buy-ins, debt interest or high work expenses are missing.
- No figure outside the data: for incomes below the lowest or above the highest data point, and for moves within the same canton without a verified rule.
- Older sources cite Art. 68 StHG and Art. 216 DBG. These articles were repealed on 1 January 2014; the rule is now in Art. 4b StHG and Art. 105 DBG.
Legal basis (Fedlex, in German): Art. 4b StHG, Art. 3 StHG, Art. 15 StHG, Art. 17 StHG, Art. 105 DBG, Art. 40 DBG