Switzerland tax residency: the 30-day and 90-day rules
You’re resident in Switzerland for tax if you live there intending to stay — your tax domicile — or if you stay there for at least 30 days while working, or at least 90 days without working. A temporary break doesn’t interrupt the stay. Cantonal taxes use the same 30 and 90 days.
Switzerland tax residency: a domicile or a stay
Article 3 of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Tax makes you liable to Swiss tax on the basis of personal attachment if you have a tax domicile or a tax residence in Switzerland:
- Tax domicile — you live in Switzerland intending to stay permanently, or federal law assigns you a domicile there.
- Tax residence — you stay in Switzerland, regardless of temporary interruption, for at least 30 days while working, or at least 90 days without working.
- Not resident — someone who lives abroad and is in Switzerland only to attend a school or for care in a medical institution.
The Tax Harmonisation Act sets the same 30 and 90 days for cantonal and communal taxes.
| At a glance | Switzerland |
|---|---|
| Working there | a stay of at least 30 days |
| Not working | a stay of at least 90 days |
| A break | a temporary interruption doesn’t end the stay |
| Federal and cantonal tax | the same thresholds |
Counting a stay
The law counts the length of a stay, not days in a year, and a temporary interruption — a trip home, a holiday elsewhere — doesn’t end it. It doesn’t say how long a break may be, or whether the days away count towards the 30 or 90 — so keep a record of when you were there and when you left.
Worked example
You arrive on 1 March and don’t work in Switzerland. Counting every day there, the day you arrive included, 29 May is your 90th day — from then you’d be resident for Swiss tax. Working there, the 30th day — 30 March — would be enough.
France counts the days of the calendar year instead: see France’s 183-day rule. Liechtenstein, next door, counts a stay of more than six months: see Liechtenstein tax residency. Other countries, side by side: 183-day rule by country.
How FlySee counts it
FlySee has no Switzerland tracker, and there’s no calculator here: the law counts the length of a stay “regardless of temporary interruption” without saying how a break is counted. FlySee’s Log records every day you’re in Switzerland and when you left, and its export lists them — the record of how long you stayed.