Corporate tax rate in Switzerland: what companies pay in 2026

How the Swiss corporate tax rate is built

A Swiss company's profit tax is the sum of three layers (federal, cantonal and communal) assessed on one profit base and collected through one annual return. The base is the statutory financial statement, adjusted for tax (Art. 58 DBG). The Confederation takes a flat 8.5% of profit after tax (Art. 68 DBG); the canton sets its own rate; the commune applies a multiplier to the cantonal amount. The cantonal and communal layer is what produces the spread between 11.66% and 20.54%.

The 8.5% and 7.83% figures describe the same federal tax. Swiss profit taxes are a deductible business expense (Art. 59 DBG), so the statutory 8.5% on after-tax profit equals 8.5 ÷ 108.5 = 7.83% of pre-tax profit. Cantonal statutory rates are quoted the same way, which is why published effective rates always look lower than the statutory arithmetic suggests.

Losses soften the base: a company may offset losses from the seven preceding financial years (Art. 67 DBG); there is no carryback. Corporate income tax is one part of the system described in our Swiss tax system guide; the rest of our tax and accounting guides cover VAT, withholding tax and individual taxation.

Corporate tax rates by canton in 2026

Effective combined corporate income tax in 2026 ranges from 11.66% in Lucerne to 20.54% in Bern, measured at the cantonal capitals (KPMG Swiss Tax Report 2026, published May 2026). Lucerne took first place from Zug after cutting its rate from 11.91%; Zug answered with a cut from 11.85% to 11.71%. The TRAF-driven reduction wave has ended: since 2025 the movement is small cuts in central Switzerland and increases where the global minimum tax bites.

The figures are the maximum effective pre-tax rates in each cantonal capital. A company seated in another commune of the same canton pays a different multiplier, so the true rate can sit noticeably above or below the published one.

How much is Swiss capital tax?

Every canton levies an annual capital tax on a company's net equity (between roughly 0.001% and 0.5% as of 2025) while the Confederation has not taxed corporate capital since 1 January 1998. The base is paid-in share capital, open reserves and retained earnings, plus taxed hidden reserves (Art. 29 StHG). In the city of Zug the burden is about 0.07% of equity; in the city of Zurich about 0.17%, as of 2025.

Two reliefs matter in practice. First, most cantons tax equity attributable to participations, patents and intra-group loans at a reduced rate (Art. 29 para. 3 StHG). Second, cantons may credit profit tax against capital tax (Art. 30 para. 2 StHG), Geneva and Vaud among them, so a profitable operating company often pays no separate capital tax at all. The levy bites where there is large equity and little profit: a holding company with CHF 50 million of equity in Geneva owes capital tax of roughly CHF 90,000 a year even in a loss year.

What TRAF changed in 2020 — and which reliefs remain

The Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing (TRAF) abolished the cantonal holding, domiciliary and mixed-company regimes on 1 January 2020 and replaced them with instruments open to every company. They apply at cantonal and communal level only; the federal 8.5% is never reduced by them.

Whether a patent box or super-deduction pays off depends on the canton's implementation and the relief cap. The standard way to fix the treatment before committing is an advance tax ruling with the cantonal administration. In the rulings we run, the points that consume the most time are the nexus documentation behind a patent-box claim and how the 70% overall cap interacts with the R&D super-deduction. The headline rate is rarely where the negotiation sits.

How participation relief works

Dividends a Swiss company receives from a participation of at least 10% (or with a market value of at least CHF 1 million) reduce its profit tax in proportion to that income (participation relief, Art. 69–70 DBG). Technically the income stays in the base and the assessed tax is then reduced by the ratio of net participation income to total profit; economically, qualifying dividends arrive nearly tax-free at federal and cantonal level.

Capital gains qualify too, on stricter terms: the company must sell at least 10% of the other entity and must have held the stake for at least one year (Art. 70 para. 4 DBG). Participation relief survived TRAF unchanged; since the holding privilege ended in 2020, it is what keeps Swiss holding companies viable.

Pillar Two in Switzerland: who pays the 15% minimum

Groups with consolidated revenue of at least EUR 750 million pay at least 15% in Switzerland through the qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT), in force since 1 January 2024. The income inclusion rule (IIR) followed on 1 January 2025; the undertaxed profits rule (UTPR) has, for now, not been introduced. The Federal Department of Finance expects first receipts in 2026, initially estimated at CHF 1–2.5 billion a year.

For companies below the threshold (the overwhelming majority) nothing changes: the cantonal rate in the table above is the rate. For in-scope groups, a seat in Lucerne or Zug no longer delivers 11.7%: the QDMTT collects the difference to 15% in Switzerland. Several cantons are converting the lost rate advantage into qualified refundable tax credits and similar measures: Grisons, Basel-Stadt, Zug, Lucerne and Schaffhausen have moved first. From 1 January 2026 Switzerland also provisionally applies the agreement on exchanging GloBE Information Returns, so group filings will circulate between tax administrations. Our Pillar Two advisory page sets out the assessment we run for in-scope groups.

When the headline canton rate is not your rate

The published cantonal rate misstates the real burden in four recurring situations. First, capital tax: asset-heavy or loss-making companies pay it regardless of profit, and crediting differs by canton. Second, the commune: KPMG's figures are measured at the cantonal capital, and multipliers elsewhere in the canton move the effective rate by up to a percentage point or more in either direction. Third, profit thresholds: Basel-Stadt charges 14.53% only above CHF 50 million of profit, and Vaud and Schaffhausen run progressive bands, so the marginal rate jumps as the company grows. Fourth, Pillar Two: for a group above EUR 750 million of revenue, every sub-15% canton rate is topped up anyway.

A fifth effect sits outside profit tax entirely. Distributing the taxed profit triggers 35% withholding tax on dividends (Art. 13 VStG), refundable or reducible under treaties and the intra-group notification procedure. The owner-level mathematics are set out in our guide to dividend taxation in Switzerland. Choosing a canton on the headline rate alone therefore misprices most structures; weighing all five effects against a specific business plan is the core of our Swiss tax advisory work.

When Swiss corporate tax returns are due

A Swiss company files one tax return a year with its canton of seat, covering federal, cantonal and communal tax. Filing deadlines are cantonal: most fall between 31 March and 30 September of the year following the financial year, and extensions are granted routinely on request, often into the following spring.

Payment runs ahead of assessment. Cantons issue provisional invoices during or shortly after the tax year, based on the last assessment or the company's own estimate, with the final settlement following the definitive assessment. Direct federal tax, administered by the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV), generally falls due on 1 March of the year after the tax period, payable within 30 days. A newly incorporated company should correct an unrealistic provisional invoice early: cantons charge interest on any shortfall against the final assessment.