Your tax at source tariff code, explained

For employees taxed at source in Canton Zürich · Updated October 2026

Somewhere on your payslip is a short code, something like A0N or C1Y. It decides how much tax your employer withholds every month, and it is set once, at the start, from what you told your employer and your commune. If your life has changed since, the code may be wrong, and a wrong code costs money every single month.

Reading the code

The code has three parts: a letter for your family situation, a digit for the number of children, and a letter for church tax.

• A: single, divorced, widowed or separated, no children in the household.
• B: married or in a registered partnership, only one of you earns.
• C: married or in a registered partnership, both of you earn, in Switzerland or abroad.
• H: single and living with children you support.
• 0 to 9: the number of children you receive child allowances for.
• Y or N: church tax yes or no, from what you declared at registration.

So B1Y is a married sole earner with one child who pays church tax, and C0N is a two-earner couple without children and without church tax. There are further letters for cross-border commuters from Germany and for replacement income such as daily allowances; your employer knows them.

What each part does to your money

The letters are the whole difference between the single rate and the married rate. B is the gentlest: the married tariff assumes one income carries the household. C is higher than B, because the tariff assumes a second income exists and sets the rate accordingly, but still usually below A. Each child lowers the rate, because the tariff builds in the child deductions. Y adds the church tax of your commune on top.

When the code is wrong

The code is only as current as what your employer knows. These events change it, from the following month:

• You marry, or enter a registered partnership.
• Your spouse starts or stops working, here or abroad.
• A child is born, or child allowances start or stop.
• You separate or divorce.
• You leave the church, in writing, or you were never a member but ticked the box at registration.

Tell your employer, with the paper that proves it. The correction applies from the next month, not backwards.

Getting past months corrected

For the months already withheld at the wrong code, there is a separate procedure: a request for recalculation of the tax at source, filed with the cantonal tax office by 31 March of the year after the tax year. That date is written into the law and cannot be extended. The recalculation fixes a wrong code, a wrong number of children, a wrong church letter or a wrong gross salary. It never adds personal deductions such as pillar 3a or commuting: for those you need the ordinary assessment, which our guide on the voluntary tax return explains.