Tax at source

Corrections and refunds when tax was withheld

The amount withheld is a standardised guess about your situation — not the final word. When the guess is too high, there are defined ways to get the difference back.

Describe your case Estimate your refund

Deadline 31 March
Threshold CHF 120,000
Nothing is automatic

Three routes back

A tariff correction

The tariff your employer applied is wrong — marriage, children, a church exit or a second job changed your situation mid-year. A correction request fixes the tariff itself.

An ordinary assessment (NOV)

Tax at source ignores most deductions. Filing a return brings Pillar 3a, commuting, further education, debt interest and more into the calculation — and the difference comes back.

Double withholding

Income taxed both abroad and in Switzerland can often be relieved under a treaty — but only if someone claims it. Nothing is refunded by default.

The date that closes the year

The deadline is real: 31 March

Below CHF 120,000 of gross income, tax at source is final unless you ask for an ordinary assessment — the request must reach the canton by 31 March of the following year. Above it, a return is mandatory. Either way, the tax office decides which deductions it accepts. Miss the March deadline and the year is closed; there is no extension for the request itself.

All cantonal deadlines

What it costs

Priced like the return it is

An ordinary assessment is a tax return, so it is priced as one. A standalone correction or a treaty reclaim depends on what has to be reclaimed and from whom, so we quote it once we have seen the case — and the quote is agreed before any work starts.

See the packages

Want a number first?

The calculator shows your tax as the Federal Tax Administration’s own engine computes it — enter what was withheld and it estimates what a return would give back.

Open the tax calculator

Free assessment — no obligation