Swiss taxes for Brits: leaving HMRC behind, the UK–Swiss treaty and your State Pension

Move to Zurich and Switzerland taxes you on your worldwide income, but HMRC only lets go when the UK rules say so. The good news: a long-standing treaty sorts out most overlaps, and your State Pension keeps rising.

The short version

• Once you live in Zurich you pay three layers of income tax: federal, cantonal and municipal (plus church tax if you belong to a recognised church). Most foreign employees without a C permit have it taken at source from their pay [9].
• Leaving the UK tax system is down to the Statutory Residence Test, not to your Swiss permit. Tell HMRC with a P85 or the SA109 pages of a return.
• The 1977 UK–Switzerland double taxation convention, last amended by a 2017 protocol, decides who taxes what. Private pensions are generally taxed only where you live [2][3].
• Switzerland is on the DWP's list of countries where the State Pension is uprated each year, and your Swiss contributions can count towards UK entitlement [5][8].
• UK rent and some other UK income stay taxable in the UK even after you've gone [4].

How Switzerland taxes residents

The first surprise for most Brits is that there isn't one taxman but three. The Confederation levies direct federal tax, the canton of Zurich levies cantonal tax, and your Gemeinde (in the city, the City of Zurich) levies municipal tax on top. Canton and commune both work with a multiplier, the Steuerfuss, applied to a basic tax. For 2026 and 2027 the canton's multiplier is 95%, cut from 98% by the Kantonsrat in December 2025 [10]. Each commune sets its own, which is why the same salary is taxed differently in Küsnacht and Kreis 4.

The other differences from life back home in the UK:

Swiss social security (AHV/IV/EO, unemployment insurance and your pension fund) comes off your pay separately, much like National Insurance.

Tax at source or a full return?

If you work for a Swiss employer and don't hold a C permit or Swiss citizenship (and aren't married to someone who does), your employer deducts tax at source every month [9]. Earn at least CHF 120,000 (about £109,300) gross a year and you're moved to a compulsory ordinary assessment and must file a full return. The same happens if you have at least CHF 3,000 of other income not taxed at source, or worldwide taxable wealth of at least CHF 80,000 (CHF 160,000 for a married couple) [9]. Below those levels you can ask for an ordinary assessment yourself, which is worth doing if you pay into a Pillar 3a or have big deductions, but the application must reach the cantonal tax office by 31 March of the following year [9]. Our guide to withholding tax, cantons and lump-sum taxation goes through the details.

Leaving the UK tax system properly

The UK taxes by residence, not citizenship. Getting a B permit in Zurich doesn't end UK residence on its own; the Statutory Residence Test does, one tax year at a time.

1. Check the automatic overseas tests. If you're moving for a full-time job, the third test is the usual one: full-time work abroad, fewer than 91 days in the UK and fewer than 31 days working more than three hours in the UK in the tax year. See the Statutory Residence Test explained.
2. Look at split-year treatment for the year you go, so that your Swiss salary from the move date is outside UK tax. Our split-year guide explains the cases.
3. Tell HMRC. Use form P85 if you were employed and won't do a Self Assessment return; otherwise report the move on your return with the SA109 residence pages. Our guide to telling HMRC with the P85 covers both.
4. File on paper or through software. Non-residents can't use HMRC's online service for the residence pages: you post an SA100 and SA109 (deadline 31 October), use commercial software that supports the SA109, or use an agent [4].

Zurich is a short flight from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh, which makes it easy to pop home for long weekends. Count your UK days: a few weddings, Christmas and a run of Friday-to-Monday trips can push you towards the sufficient ties test.

The UK–Switzerland double taxation convention

The convention dates from 1977 and came into force on 7 October 1978. It has been amended several times, most recently by a protocol signed on 30 November 2017, which has applied in the UK from 6 April 2020 for income tax and capital gains tax [3]. The FCDO's own guide puts its purpose simply: you shouldn't pay tax on the same income in both countries [1].

Source: the 1977 UK–Switzerland convention as amended by the 2017 protocol [2].

Residence tie-breaker. If both countries treat you as resident, Article 4 looks first at where you have a permanent home available, then at where your personal and economic relations are closer [2]. Keeping the family home in Guildford "just in case" can matter here.

How the relief works. Where the UK may tax income under the convention (UK rent, for example), Switzerland exempts it, though it may count it when setting your rate. Where Switzerland taxes, the UK gives credit for Swiss tax against UK tax on the same income [2].

Pensions. Article 18(1) is the big one for retirees: a UK private or workplace pension paid to someone resident in Switzerland is "taxable only" in Switzerland [2], once HMRC has accepted a treaty claim so the payer stops deducting UK tax. Article 18(2) works the other way for lump sums: a lump sum from a scheme set up in one country is taxable only in that country [2]. A tax adviser who knows both countries can check your situation before you draw anything. Never move a UK pension into a Swiss or other overseas scheme without regulated financial advice; our guide to UK pensions abroad and the transfer warnings explains why.

Your UK State Pension in Switzerland: uprated

This is where Switzerland beats Dubai or Australia. The DWP pays the annual increase to people living in the EEA or Switzerland [5], and GOV.UK confirms the pension "will be increased each year" there in line with the UK rate [8]. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27 [6], up from £230.25 in 2025/26, and someone living in Zurich gets the rise just as they would in Leeds.

Three more points:

• Swiss years can help you qualify. Swiss social security contributions can be counted to meet the qualifying conditions for a UK State Pension [8]. They don't add to the amount, but they can get you over the minimum.
• Payment. You claim through the International Pension Centre and can be paid every 4 or 13 weeks into a Swiss or UK account. Payments into a Swiss account are converted, with a 0.39% conversion charge [7].
• Tax. Non-residents usually don't pay UK tax on the State Pension [4]. In Switzerland it's declared as income alongside any AHV pension.

You can also fill gaps in your UK record; see voluntary National Insurance from abroad. Swiss pensions themselves (the AHV, your pension fund and Pillar 3a) are covered in our guide to Pillar 2 and Pillar 3a.

Other UK income that follows you

• UK rent. Still taxable in the UK. Register with the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme (form NRL1) so your letting agent or tenant can pay the rent gross, and file a UK return [4]. Switzerland exempts it under the treaty but may count it for your Swiss rate.
• Savings and ISAs. You can keep an ISA but can't pay into it once non-resident. Interest and dividends from UK accounts go on your Swiss return. See ISAs when you move abroad.
• Personal Allowance. As a British citizen you keep the UK Personal Allowance as a non-resident, so modest UK income may be covered [4].

Tax is the topic that comes up most in our community group for Brits in Switzerland, usually in March when the Swiss forms land and someone discovers the joint assessment rules.

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = CHF 1.0976). Tax is general information, not advice.

Sources

1. GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in Switzerland (updated 24 December 2025)
2. GOV.UK (HMRC): 1977 UK–Switzerland Double Taxation Convention as amended by the 2017 Protocol
3. GOV.UK (HMRC): Switzerland tax treaties
4. GOV.UK: Tax on your UK income if you live abroad
5. GOV.UK (DWP): Countries where we pay an annual increase in the State Pension
6. GOV.UK: The new State Pension, what you'll get
7. GOV.UK: State Pension if you retire abroad
8. GOV.UK: Benefits and pensions for UK nationals in the EEA or Switzerland
9. Kanton Zürich Steueramt: Quellensteuerpflichtige Personen
10. SRF: Im Kanton Zürich sinken die Steuern (15 December 2025)

Keep reading

• Swiss tax for Brits: withholding tax, cantons and lump-sum taxation
• Pillar 2 and Pillar 3a: Swiss pensions and your UK pensions
• The UK State Pension abroad: frozen or uprated?
• Double taxation agreements and reliefs