For many people starting their career, taxes are the first real contact with "adult bureaucracy". Here are the basics, from what taxes are actually for, to a ready-made checklist for your first tax return.
Taxes fund the infrastructure and services everyone uses daily, even if you rarely notice it directly. Your tax franc flows roughly into three pots:
How much goes where is partly up to you, through your tax rate and place of residence, cantons and municipalities set their own rates, so the tax burden can differ substantially depending on where you live.
Once you're an adult and/or have your own income, you generally have to file your own tax return, even with a small apprentice's salary. In principle, the following are taxed:
Foreign employees without a C settlement permit are often taxed directly through their salary via Quellensteuer (withholding tax) (see Salary & Deductions), everyone else files their own tax return.
It's best to gather these documents throughout the year, rather than searching for them right before the deadline.
Salary certificate, bank statements, receipts & co. at a glance, as a PDF to print out or tick off on your phone.
Open PDF ↗Not your entire gross salary is taxed, deductions reduce your taxable income and therefore directly reduce your tax bill.
Keep receipts for further education, professional literature, public transport passes or donations throughout the year, it saves you real money in the end. Checking your cantonal tax office or a tax program is worthwhile the first time, so you don't miss any deductions.
Switzerland has a progressive income tax: the more you earn, the higher the rate on the additional portions of income. Important to know when your salary suddenly rises after your apprenticeship, more gross doesn't automatically mean proportionally more net.
Illustrative tax rate on total income (federal + cantonal + municipal, simplified, varies significantly by canton), not tax advice.
Säule 3a (pillar 3a) is the third of three pillars in the Swiss pension system (see Salary & Deductions). For your tax return, it's enough to know: what you pay in can be deducted directly from your taxable income up to an annual maximum amount, but in exchange the money is locked in until shortly before retirement.
Those who start early with pillar 3a benefit most from compound interest over decades. More on 3a with ETFs instead of just a savings account under Investing.