News Taxes

Cross-border work: Taxation of cross-border commuters working from home

The Federal Council has created a legal basis for the taxation of cross-border commuters who telework (i.e. work from home). The new rules, which apply since January 1, 2025, will affect around 400,000 cross-border commuters and their employers.

Until now, Switzerland did not have a legal basis for taxing telework performed by an employee living abroad for their Swiss employer. However, some double taxation agreements, for example with France and Italy, already granted Switzerland the right of taxation and Switzerland was able to tax income from this teleworking.

Affected by this taxation are employees of a Swiss employer domiciled in a neighboring Swiss country (Liechtenstein, Italy, France, Germany and Austria) who perform teleworking (e.g. working from home). However, the right of taxation must be provided for in the relevant agreement. Threshold values have been defined with Italy and France. Cross-border commuters resident in France or Italy can perform up to 40% or 25% of their working hours as telework outside Switzerland and the entire income will continue to be subject to taxation in Switzerland.

Employers must comply with the new reporting obligations (in particular, reporting on the percentage of teleworking) based on the respective agreements and inform their affected employees accordingly in advance. Employers must monitor the work locations of their employees and implement the new legislation accordingly in practice.

For individual advice or further information, please contact Remo Merz, certified tax expert, at remo.merz@fineac.ch.

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Remo Merz, 20.01.2025