Your first tax return after moving to Zürich

For employees new to Canton Zürich · Updated October 2026

You registered at the Einwohnerkontrolle within 14 days of arriving, as required. From that moment the tax office knows you exist, and what happens next depends on your permit and your income. This guide walks through the first year, from the registration desk to the first return.

Will you get a tax return at all?

• C permit, Swiss citizen, or married to one: yes, every year. The return arrives on its own and you file it like everyone else.
• B or L permit, employed, salary under CHF 120,000 and nothing else: no return by default. Your employer withholds tax at source each month, and that is the end of it unless you ask for a return yourself, in writing, by 31 March of the following year. Our guide on the voluntary tax return explains when that pays off.
• B or L permit with a salary of CHF 120,000 or more: a return is mandatory, and the tax office sends it. Part years are annualised: arrive in July on CHF 70,000 for the half year and you are over the line.
• Anyone with other income or assets above the limits: in Zürich CHF 3,000 of other income or CHF 80,000 of assets (CHF 160,000 for couples) make a return mandatory, and it is on you to ask for one if none arrives.

What arrives in your letterbox

In January or February of the year after your arrival, a letter from your commune with your access code for the canton's online tool. The tool is where the return is filled in and submitted; paper is still possible on request. Keep the letter: the code is what identifies your return, and whoever files for you needs it.

The first year is a part year

Only the income you earned from your arrival date counts, and deductions with a yearly cap, such as pillar 3a, scale down to the months you were here. The rate, though, is set as if you had earned that income for a full year, so a half year is not taxed at the low rate of a half salary. Income and assets abroad are declared too. They are usually taxed where they are, under the treaties, but they count towards the rate applied to your Swiss income.

What you declared at the registration desk matters

Zürich levies church tax for members of the recognised churches, and the box you ticked when registering is what the tax office uses. On a payslip taxed at source it shows as the last letter of the tariff code. If it is wrong, tell your commune and your employer; our guide on the tariff code explains what else that code says about you.

Documents to keep from day one

• Salary certificate (Lohnausweis): from your employer in January. The single most important document.
• Pillar 3a statement: from the bank or insurer, if you opened one.
• Health insurance premium statement: the yearly letter from your insurer, and bills you paid yourself.
• Transport pass receipts: GA, zone pass or monthly tickets for the commute.
• Bank and depot statements as of 31 December: every account, including those abroad.
• Invoices for job related education, childcare and donations.

The first year at a glance

• Arrival: register within 14 days; the tax office is informed.
• Following January: salary certificate and statements arrive; the letter with the access code follows.
• 31 March: the return is due, extensions are possible. For tax at source without a mandatory return: the voluntary request must be in by this date, and it cannot be extended.