Withholding Tax When Changing Jobs: Tariff, Rate and Pitfalls

Withholding tax is deducted directly from salary and paid to the canton. It applies in particular to:

• Foreign employees without a permanent residence permit C (depending on the constellation also with C, if the employment is the only source of income).
• Cross-border commuters resident abroad who work in Switzerland.
• Certain groups of persons such as weekly residents or persons with replacement income.

Swiss nationals and permanent residents pay ordinary taxes and declare in their tax return – for them a job change makes no difference to the form of collection.

From day one the new employer applies the tariff that matches your details in the questionnaire (marital status, children, religion, residence status). Problems arise for three reasons:

• Incomplete details: anyone stating "single" although married is taxed at the wrong tariff.
• Double deduction: with two parallel employers each deducts the full tariff – too much in total.
• Interruption: if the employment changes mid-year, the amount paid so far cannot be credited automatically.

That is why you must state the previous employment subject to withholding tax in the current year to the new employer – the cantonal form is provided for this.

With several concurrent employers the rate determination principle applies: the tax is calculated on total income, but each employer withholds only its share. The tariff follows the higher income.

In practice this means:

• The main employer taxes according to the ordinary tariff.
• The secondary employer applies a rate corresponding to total income – not to the small side income.
• Without coordination you pay too little and later receive a demand for payment.

Anyone with two jobs totalling over 100 percent should clarify the situation once with the tax administration – a phone call is cheaper than a back payment.

Above a certain gross income, persons subject to withholding tax are subsequently assessed in the ordinary procedure – the threshold is around CHF 120’000 depending on the canton (lower for certain types of income).

What you must then do:

• Submit a tax return even though withholding tax was deducted.
• Claim deductions (pillar 3a, further training, commuting costs) – they were not taken into account in the withholding deduction.
• The withholding tax already paid is credited.

A job change can exceed this threshold when two incomes coincide. Check this before the tax return arrives.

For cross-border commuters a job change is more delicate than for anyone else:

• Tax treaties: depending on the state of residence and the treaty, tax is levied in Switzerland, in the state of residence or shared (for Germany, taxation at the place of work with compensation has applied since 2022).
• Change of residence: moving to Switzerland ends cross-border commuter status – ordinary taxation applies from the date of relocation.
• Reporting obligation: the employer must record the place of residence correctly; incorrect details lead to back payments.

Anyone changing residence should inform the employer and the tax administration in advance – not correct it afterwards.

Five steps that avoid back payments:

1. Collect payslips – all deductions so far in the current year.
2. Inform the new employer: previous employment, marital status, children, residence status.
3. Complete the questionnaire correctly and keep a copy.
4. Check the first payslip: tariff, amount of deduction, any corrections.
5. React early to discrepancies – the tax administration prefers to correct before the assessment rather than after.

For the application itself tax plays no role – but in the contract negotiation the net salary is a legitimate topic, especially for cross-border commuters.