Marriage penalty to be abolished Tax revolution decided - will I have to pay less from this year?

Switzerland is changing its tax system. In future, each person will be taxed individually, regardless of marital status. But what does this mean in concrete terms for married couples, families and incomes? blue News answers the most important questions.

Keystone-SDA

08.03.2026, 21:01

SDA

Swiss voters decided with around 54% in favor that every person should be taxed individually in future, regardless of marital status.

This represents a fundamental change to the Swiss tax system. But what applies now? blue News answers the most important questions.

Today, married couples and same-sex couples living in a registered partnership are taxed jointly. If both spouses are gainfully employed, they sometimes have to pay more tax than cohabiting couples with separate tax assessments and similar financial circumstances due to progression.

However, depending on the distribution of income, the marriage certificate can also pay off in tax terms; in such cases, this is referred to as a marriage bonus. There are also deductions for married couples and dual earners. According to the Federal Council's dispatch on the bill, around 610,000 married couples are likely to be affected by the marriage penalty for federal tax purposes. In contrast, around 670,000 married couples have tax privileges.

The law on individual taxation requires the federal government, cantons and communes to tax each private individual individually. Everyone will have to pay tax on their own income and assets, and married couples will have to submit two dossiers in future.

Whether a couple has a marriage certificate or not should therefore no longer play a role. And in the event of a change in marital status, a new tax return would no longer be necessary. Cantons and municipalities will be given up to six years to implement this system change.

This means that you will not be taxed again from next year. The changeover will take place by 2032.

Would you like to know whether you will have to pay more or less in future? Find out here:

Will you pay more or less?The marriage penalty is abolished - calculate what this means for you here

Parliament has designed the tax rate model in such a way that the losses in federal tax would currently amount to around CHF 630 million in the 2026 tax year.

Around CHF 130 million of this would fall to the cantons, as they would receive part of the federal tax revenue. The impact of the proposal on cantonal and municipal taxes remains to be seen. This depends on how it is implemented in the cantons and their tax rates and deductions.

The bill was not only opposed by a cross-party committee including the Center Party and SVP with a referendum, but also by numerous cantons. Ten of them even decided to hold a cantonal referendum, which is very rare.

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The Conference of Cantonal Governments (KDK) refers to previous measures taken by the cantons to eliminate the so-called marriage penalty in taxes. Individual taxes lead to massive, unnecessary interventions in the tried and tested system of cantons and municipalities and to around 1.7 million additional tax dossiers. The cantons will have to implement individual taxation over the next few years.

The child deduction for direct federal tax will be increased from the current CHF 6,800 to CHF 12,000, but will now be split equally between both parents. The majority in parliament did not want unused deductions to be transferred from one parent to the other.

The minority would have wanted to prevent the deduction from lapsing if someone earns too little to have to pay federal tax.

Income from assets is allocated to the partners according to the ownership structure. This is the current practice for unmarried couples. If something is owned jointly, such as a bank account, it is divided equally. In the case of real estate, the entry in the land register is decisive.

No. Parliament has adjusted the rates in its decisions on individual tax so that the tax rates for low and middle incomes will fall. However, they will be increased for very high incomes.

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Overall, married couples with roughly similar incomes are likely to see their tax burden reduced, while couples with one income or a high and a low income will tend to have to pay more federal tax. The rate adjustment may also result in higher bills for unmarried people, especially those on high incomes.

No. Parliament is debating a popular initiative from the center party that wants to abolish the marriage penalty, but only for federal tax. However, it does not propose individual taxes, but continues to want joint assessments for married couples. Legal provisions should prevent married couples from being discriminated against compared to cohabiting couples.

The initiative remains in the political process, wrote the center after the vote. The SVP, which had also opposed individual taxation, is also backing the centrist initiative. The center assumes that a vote could take place this year. The initiative is currently before the responsible committee of the Council of States. This committee did not want to decide on the initiative until after the vote on individual taxation and therefore suspended its work.