Corporate tax in Switzerland: cantonal rates and how to calculate it

Which taxes does a Swiss company pay?

An SA/AG corporation or Sàrl/GmbH LLC is a taxpayer in its own right, including when one person owns all its shares. The company’s tax bill is separate from the shareholder’s personal income and wealth taxes.

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VAT, payroll contributions and any property-related taxes are not included in an ordinary corporate income tax rate. A full cash budget must account for these obligations separately.

Taxable profit starts from the accounting result, with adjustments where tax rules require them. Personal expenses paid by the company do not become deductible business expenses simply because they were booked. Provisions also need a valid basis and supporting evidence.

There is no federal corporate capital tax. Cantonal taxable equity can include share capital and reserves, so it is not simply the initial incorporation deposit. A company with substantial equity and little profit can still face capital tax.

After company tax, a dividend can create a further tax charge for the shareholder. Salary has different tax and social insurance consequences. Read our Swiss dividends guide when considering distributions.

Statutory and effective rates

Corporate income taxes are themselves deductible in determining taxable profit. A rate applied after deducting tax is therefore not directly comparable with a percentage of profit before tax.

Consider a deliberately simplified example containing only federal tax. With CHF 100,000 before tax and an 8.5% deductible tax, the charge is approximately CHF 7,834 and the after-tax result is approximately CHF 92,166. The effective burden on the pre-tax amount is about 7.83%.

8.5% ÷ (1 + 8.5%) ≈ 7.83%. This explains the relationship between the two bases. It is not a complete Swiss company tax calculation: cantonal and municipal taxes, capital tax and fiscal adjustments are absent.

Do not add 7.83% to a combined effective rate found in another table. That would usually count federal tax twice. Also check calculator input definitions: Geneva’s official tool asks for taxable net profit after tax, while our simplified estimator below takes profit before income tax.

Corporate tax calculator for 2026

Use the same annual profit to compare two cantonal capitals. The result is an income-tax planning estimate, not a municipality-specific assessment or a calculation of the owner’s personal taxes.

Official cantonal comparison: 2025

The table uses the FTA’s 2025 tax statistics, published in June 2026. Its scenario is a commercial, industrial or banking corporation without participations, situated in the cantonal capital, with CHF 2 million of capital and reserves and a 20% return.

Percentages represent the combined burden of income and capital taxes, including cantonal, municipal and parish taxes and direct federal tax, relative to profit before deduction of taxes paid during the financial year. These are scenario results for 2025, not universal 2026 rates.

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Source: FTA, 2025 tax statistics, “Sociétés anonymes 2025”, page 13. The publication excludes Geneva’s fixed professional tax from its Geneva figure.

Stans has the lowest burden and Zurich the highest in this particular scenario. A different municipality, profit level or amount of equity can change the comparison. A company holding participations also falls outside these assumptions.

The 2026 calculator and this 2025 table are intentionally separate: they differ in year, tax scope and assumptions. Do not interpret a difference between them as a simple year-on-year rate change.

Two Geneva examples

Example 1: return on equity affects the combined burden. In the same official 2025 statistics, a Geneva company with CHF 2 million of capital and reserves shows a 16.27% combined burden at an 8% return, compared with 14.70% at a 20% return. Capital-related charges help explain why one percentage cannot describe every company.

Example 2: the capital-tax credit. Since 2024, Geneva allows a credit against capital tax based on 100% of cantonal and communal income tax, within the applicable rules. Federal income tax is not the amount used for this credit.

If capital tax before credit is CHF 4,000 and the relevant cantonal and communal income tax is CHF 3,000, the residual capital tax is CHF 1,000. The CHF 3,000 income tax remains due. An excess credit does not create negative capital tax or a refund of the difference.

These examples explain the mechanism. Use the official calculation for the actual tax year, profit, equity and location.

Build a useful company tax estimate

• Start with forecast accounts and distinguish profit before and after tax.
• Identify the registered office, effective management and any permanent establishments.
• Review non-deductible expenses, tax adjustments and admissible loss carryforwards.
• Determine taxable equity and any capital-tax credit.
• Use the actual municipality and parameters for the relevant tax year.
• Include instalments and settlement dates in the cash forecast.

Compare tax alongside rent, recruitment, operating costs and customer access. A lower-tax registered address does not by itself establish where the company is effectively managed or remove obligations connected with its activity elsewhere.

Special regimes, participation relief, international groups, minimum taxation and intercantonal allocation require separate analysis. The simplified calculator is not designed to resolve those situations.

If you are choosing a structure before launch, also read our guide to starting a business in Switzerland. A sole proprietor’s business income follows personal taxation rather than the company-tax model explained here.

Frequently asked questions