Hi everyone. I’m in a slightly non-standard situation so wanted some initial advice (before potentially also speaking to a tax advisor).
I am losing my job and being placed on 12 months garden leave. This means I keep receiving my regular salary for 12 months, after which I am free to take up another job. During this time, I plan to travel abroad for long holidays, spending little (if any) time in Switzerland - but I need to still be a resident here to keep receiving the salary.
I’m in Zurich now. In an ideal world I’d like to move to Zug or Schwyz and benefit from lower taxes, but given my plans to travel and to be away, you could argue my centre of life wouldn’t really be there. But then, it wouldn’t be in Zurich either, since I will have given up my apartment and life there. Is my new tax residence likely to be challenged or questioned if I did this? (especially if I got a much smaller apartment or even a WG?). Furthermore, I don’t know yet what I will do at the end of the 12 months. If I get a job in Switzerland, I’d definitely stay in Zug/Schwyz, but realistically I’m more likely to be able to find a job in another country, in which case I’d end up deregistering, making my stay in the new canton rather short.
Also, to confirm, if I registered in the new canton later this year (say, September), would my income for the whole year (2026) be taxed at the lower rate, rather than just the portion from September? I am on an EU B-permit paying quellensteuer but filing a tax form since my income is above 120k. Would the cantons figure it out between themselves and refund me the higher quellensteuer paid to Zurich?
Correct, the garden leave is not in itself relevant from a legal or administrative point of view. I’m basically just an employee for one more year, but I am free to travel and do what I want. I would like to move this year to a low tax canton but in practice will go travelling and won’t spend a lot of time in Switzerland, and I’m questioning whether the authorities will view this as a legitimate move. I do plan to see a professional but I’m first gathering some opinions to help me formulate the right questions.
If you de-register and register in a new canton, I think you wouldn’t have problems. In fact, maybe downsizing going to a flatshare might make sense to save money while unemployed.
But given that new rents are high and moving costs great, you might also check how much you save.
It used to be that moving part way through a year would mean that you are taxed in the whole year in the new canton, but I don’t know if this rule has changed and the tax is apportioned. You probably want to double check that. I might even be dependent on permit type.
I know nothing about taxation at source. With regular taxation, your residence on December 31 determines the canton you’re taxed by. So moving to a low-tax canton, even if it’s just to have an address there, is probably beneficial since ZH is anything but low-tax.
But you still lose your B permit if you’re abroad for more than the allowed time and are found out.
You are technically still employed - and if you spend >6 months abroad, you risk losing your B-permit. Now, in theory, it’s 6-months consecutive, so you can come back every 5 months for a day and avoid that… but you risk them challenging you having your center of life in Switzerland…
Historically, this was hard to track. I’m told with the new Schengen border system, this is auto-tracked… not sure how true that is.
Damn a dream come true, how to find such generous companies i thought they all operate on principle “suck all your blood to the last drop” and here 1 year of high paid vacation, you must be some top management ehh the life some people live…Regarding the topic, since you submit tax declaration then whole 2026 will be calculated based on where you are on 31 december 2026, so yes being in Zug/certain gemeinden Schwyz will reduce your tax and you get your money back, best to check on comparis which gemeinde exactly. Also as was mentioned you should periodically come back to Switzerland to avoid possible automatic cancellation of permit…
I was very jealous of my friend. He got fired with 1 year pay and also didn’t have to work most of his 6 month notice period so had about 18 months of ‘paid leave’. On top of that he got a better job 3 months later!
Thank you everyone for your input. Sounds like this is workable, I’ll talk to a professional tax advisor to get a more authoritative viewpoint. Would you recommend I find one in ZG/SZ as they may be more accustomed to these kinds of questions, or can any local professional advise?
Thanks for the warning about the 6 months, I hadn’t thought of that. I can come back once in awhile, not a big problem. Just curious, what would actually happen if I didn’t return, and they found out and forcibly deregistered me? Would they tell the company to stop paying me as I’d be illegally employed? Sounds nasty but also pretty unusual. In a similar vein, ignoring the canton move, what would happen if I just gave up my apartment completely and paid no rent while receiving my salary, but then also had no address? What if I did that for 5 months and then came back to find another apartment so as not to breach the 6 month rule, is that legit or illegal? (aren’t B-permit holders allowed to go on long holidays?)
Yes, people with B permits can go on long holidays. But, AFAIK there must be a registered address. It may be a flatshare or even a friend’s address, but there must be a registered address.
Find a friend to register at. Probably the canton doesn’t care too much. It might be an issue losing your permit if you are non-EU.
Another risk is that another country that you spend time in considering you resident there instead and you have a bigger tax liability in another country.
Without a registered address, or if you stay longer, they withdraw your B-permit.
Upon withdrawal, your employer is notified that you are no longer legally allowed to be employed in Switzerland (as there are tax implications for your employer).
Your employer then has two options: setup a contract with you as a foreign resource (rare, but possible), where they pay taxes to whatever country you are tax resident in (keep in mind in some countries it’s as low as 45 days to become tax resident) OR terminate your employment contract (and not pay you as you are no longer legally resident in CH).
On the registered address - had a similar one when my wife moved in with me… As I own my house, and she wanted to keep her flat - we didn’t really do much and she kept paying her flat. After 3 months (don’t ask me how they knew, I presume Bunzli) - her landlord wrote her a letter stating she wasn’t resident there, and that she was in breach for not notifying them that that flat wasn’t her primary residence anymore… and the landlord (or more accurately, the agency) notified the ZRH gemeinde that she wasn’t resident at that flat. Was all a little surreal, as my view was “hey, you pay your rent, who cares what happens”
In no particular order a few points to consider - I wouldn’t use an advisor and try to make it work myself - but I also understand why others recommend this in your situation - as it has many variables. I also wouldn’t want to do something like this myself as it’s not my lifestyle =)
If you want to make a proper move with a moving company it costs money - consider it as a part of equitation.
Also, if you need to rectify any issues with your apartment it may cost money depending on whether you have an insurance for it and what kind of defects there are.
Finding a reasonably priced apartment in ZG isn’t easy and in a commutable distance to ZH in SZ isn’t easy - however if your objective simply having any low tax address, maybe maybe it makes sense to consider the entirety of SZ plus a few low tax cantons.
Research whether a canton has an option for receiving official communication electronically (in ZG they have and are enhancing eZug).
There’s a time limit for which you can freeze your permit without loosing it - if you want to do it officially.
Don’t forget that you will remain a Swiss resident for all purposes, for a relatively short leave (tax, health, vehicle insurance etc.)
Your gain not only on lower tax rates but also on capability to deduct more (and then tax it with a lower rate), ie. when comparing compare the varying taxable amount - not the same amount.
Your gain is also on a lower health insurance cost.
The point I am the most uncertain about: unemployment - if you are interested in it at all - they normally expect you to announce yourself when you know you’re dismissed - not when your contract expires - otherwise you’d probably get penalised with one or more months of payments - and they normally expect you to start applying in this very moment when you know. Now with your 12 month garden leave, I don’t know how it would work out, it’s so long. Also, I don’t know how it’d work cross canton, technically you should already consult them in your canton, but you’re about to become a burden for another canton. I’ve never claimed it, so even more so I don’t know how it works cross canton.
To be honest, considering all pros and cons I’d rather stay where I am and travel for a max allowed period and if I really wanted to save some extra, I’d rent out the apartment temporary. But maybe your tax advantage is so huge that it makes sense to bother with all this..
You don’t need a tax advisor. Everything is on ch.ch in plain English. You pay taxes according to tax band of the place you’re registered at 31.12.xxxx
Your only problem is SEM which is looking after you. If they ever got a hint that you didn’t spend 6m+ in a year in Switzerland they’ll like to revoke your permit. That being said I don’t think they can realistically do it for EU citizens as technically they could announce to terminate your permit based on the past absence they have learned about but they won’t have any point to refuse your application to re-issue it if you’re in Switzerland, have a job and place to stay (well, there would be a problem if you miss the notification and won’t come back on time to appeal).
On practical terms, avoid Zug. I lived in both. SZ is like ZH, you just register at the municipality and that’s all. In ZG you first deal with SEM by yourself, once they do the background check they issue a paper for ZG municipality, much like if you just came to Switzerland and were registering for the first time (this again is not an issue, but you can see that SEM is more vigilant for tracking foreigners in ZG)
I’ve changed gemeinde in the past, not canton but had to write a letter to request to be taxed under my new permanent address. Moving cantons is more complicated and OP might be stuck paying Zurich taxes at least for the current year.
i thought they all operate on principle “suck all your blood to the last drop” 
and here 1 year of high paid vacation, you must be some top management