In 2026 you file your 2025 Swiss tax return on your canton's software, in German, French or Italian. This guide gives you, in English, the 2026 deadlines checked canton by canton, the 2025 deduction ceilings of eight cantons, the rule for B permits and withholding tax, a glossary of the words on the forms and the list of documents to gather before you open ZHprivateTax, GeTax or VaudTax.
Updated on
Figures for the 2025 tax year (return filed in 2026), single taxpayer, subject to change every year; deadlines checked on the official cantonal pages on 3 September 2026, the date printed on your own return prevails. This page informs: it replaces neither tax advice nor your canton's official instructions. Floxy is not a fiduciary or tax advisor and files nothing on your behalf.
One return covers three taxes: federal direct tax, cantonal tax and communal tax. The Confederation sets a few ceilings that apply everywhere (pillar 3a, childcare, training, commuting); each canton sets its own ceilings for the cantonal and communal part; your commune applies its multiplier. In 2026 you declare your 2025 income and your wealth on 31 December 2025.
The software is cantonal too, and it speaks the canton's language: GeTax and the Geneva online return exist in French only, TaxMe in Bern runs in German and French (the English address of the Bern tax office simply redirects to the German site), ZHprivateTax in Zurich is in German behind the federal AGOV login, eTax PF in Ticino is in Italian. The Confederation explains the basics in English on ch.ch, and a few cantons add English material of their own. The fields, though, stay in German, French or Italian.
Floxy works before that step. All year it files your receipts into an English-language tax folder, sorts them by deduction, applies the ceilings of your canton and of the Confederation to an indicative estimate, and exports PDFs you can hand over or copy from. Filing still happens on the official cantonal software; Floxy never sends anything.
Only the cantons whose ordinary deadline we read on the official page are listed with a date. Other cantons (Lucerne, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Neuchâtel among them) print the date on the return itself: the letter that came with your forms wins over any website, including this one. Every canton lets you request an extension, often online, and the request must leave before the ordinary date. The cantonal pages in French, German or Italian carry the extension procedure step by step.
| Canton | Ordinary deadline 2026 | Status | Official software | Guide on Floxy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vaud | 15 March 2026 (tolerance until 30 June, extension until 30 September) | checked on the cantonal site, 3 Sept 2026 | VaudTax, online | Vaud in French |
| Bern | 15 March 2026 | checked on the cantonal site, 3 Sept 2026 | TaxMe-Online, BE-Login or AGOV | Bern in German or in French |
| Zurich | 31 March 2026 | checked on the cantonal site, 3 Sept 2026 | ZHprivateTax, AGOV | Zurich in English, in German |
| Geneva | 31 March 2026 | checked on the cantonal site, 3 Sept 2026 | GeTax 2025 or the online return, French only | Geneva in English, in French |
| Basel-Stadt | 31 March 2026 | checked on the cantonal site, 3 Sept 2026 | BalTax Online in eSteuern.BS, AGOV | Basel-Stadt in German |
| Valais | 31 March 2026 | checked on the cantonal site, 3 Sept 2026 | VSTax 2025 and the Tell Tax app | Valais in French |
| Ticino | 30 April 2026 | checked on the cantonal site, 3 Sept 2026 | eTax PF 2025, desktop | Ticino in Italian |
| Zug | 30 April 2026 | checked on the cantonal site, 3 Sept 2026 | eTax.zug, AGOV | Zug in German |
| Withholding tax, all cantons | 31 March 2026 to request ordinary assessment (NOV / TOU), no extension | checked on estv.admin.ch, 3 Sept 2026 | cantonal form | B permit guide |
The same receipt is worth a different deduction in Zurich and in Geneva. The table gives the cantonal ceiling (for cantonal and communal tax) of four everyday deductions, for a single taxpayer, 2025 tax year. For federal direct tax the ceilings are national: childcare CHF 25'800 per child, training CHF 13'000, commuting CHF 3'300, pillar 3a CHF 7'258 with a pension fund (20% of net earned income up to CHF 36'288 without). The cantonal ceiling governs cantonal and communal tax, the federal ceiling governs federal direct tax. Where no cantonal ceiling for commuting is listed below, Floxy falls back on the federal figure for its indicative estimate: a cautious rule of the app, not a rule of law. Only the cantonal software computes the two amounts.
| Canton | Health insurance premiums | Commuting | Childcare | Continuing education |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zurich | CHF 2'900 | CHF 5'200 | CHF 25'000 | CHF 12'400 |
| Geneva | CHF 17'122 | CHF 534 | CHF 26'320 | CHF 12'756 |
| Vaud | CHF 5'000 | no published cantonal ceiling | CHF 15'200 | CHF 12'000 |
| Zug | CHF 3'500 | CHF 6'000 | CHF 25'400 | CHF 12'000 |
| Basel-Stadt | CHF 4'200 | CHF 3'200 | CHF 26'000 | CHF 19'100 |
| Bern | CHF 2'450 | CHF 7'000 | CHF 16'000 | CHF 12'500 |
| Ticino | CHF 5'500 | no published cantonal ceiling | CHF 26'200 | CHF 10'700 |
| Valais | CHF 3'620 | no published cantonal ceiling | CHF 10'000 | CHF 12'550 |
If you live in Switzerland without a C permit (B, L or another residence permit), your employer deducts tax at source (Quellensteuer, impôt à la source) and, by default, you file nothing. The Federal Tax Administration states the exception clearly: you can request a subsequent ordinary assessment (NOV in German, TOU in French) from your canton until 31 March of the following year, and that date is a forfeiture deadline, not extendable. Above a gross income threshold set by federal law the ordinary assessment becomes mandatory and you file like everyone else.
The full picture, with the C permit, married couples and what to keep when you leave Switzerland, is on the B permit and withholding tax guide.
The words you will meet on the cantonal software and on the letters from the tax office, with the English meaning Floxy uses in its categories:
The list barely changes from one canton to the next; what changes is the form each figure goes into. For an employee or a family, in the order the documents arrive during the year:
Lohnausweis in January, 3a certificate in February, dentist bill in August: each scan is read by the AI, named in English and filed under the 2025 tax year with its deduction category.
Health premiums, commuting, childcare, training: the estimate uses the ceiling of your own canton and the federal one, whichever is lower, and shows which receipt already documents the line.
15 March in Vaud, 31 March in Zurich or Geneva, 30 April in Ticino or Zug: the folder shows the date read on the cantonal page and what is still missing before it, so you know whether to request an extension.
One click produces the receipts as PDFs sorted by deduction with the totals summed, in the order of the forms; you copy the figures into ZHprivateTax, GeTax or VaudTax, or hand the folder to a fiduciary.
Floxy prepares your file; filing happens on your canton's official software. The pages this guide was checked against, in the canton's language unless noted:
Not for a standard situation: an employee with a salary certificate, a pillar 3a certificate, health premiums and a few bills can complete the cantonal software alone, even in a foreign language, once the figures are gathered. A fiduciary (Treuhänder, fiduciaire) makes sense for self-employment, several properties, an inheritance or a move abroad mid-year. Floxy prepares the same folder in both cases; it never files and never advises.
Your bank or insurer sends the certificate in January or February; it proves the 2025 payments. In the cantonal software the amount goes into the tied pension line (Säule 3a, pilier 3a), separate from insurance premiums, capped at CHF 7'258 with a pension fund or 20% of net earned income up to CHF 36'288 without. Scan it into Floxy and it lands in the tax folder with the right category.
No. TaxMe-Online, the Bern software, runs in German and French; the English address of the cantonal tax office redirects to the German start page (checked on 3 September 2026). Prepare your folder in English with Floxy, then copy the totals into the German or French fields, using the glossary on this page. The Bern deadline and extension steps are on the Bern pages in German and French.
The filing itself has no national app: each canton provides its own software, online or to install (ZHprivateTax, GeTax, VaudTax, eTax PF, BalTax Online, eTax.zug). Some cantons add an official companion app for receipts, such as Tell Tax in Valais. Floxy is the free, canton-independent app for the step before: gather receipts all year, estimate deductions with your canton's 2025 ceilings, export PDFs.
It depends on the canton, never on the Confederation: there is no national date, each canton sets its own between the end of February and the end of April, and several print it on the return itself, where it prevails over any website. The deadline table above lists the cantons whose date we read on the official page, with a link to each canton guide. The ordinary assessment request for people taxed at source is due by 31 March everywhere.
Yes, in every canton, as long as the request leaves before the ordinary date. What changes is the price and the channel: some cantons grant it online for free, others bill the request, and several route it through your commune rather than the cantonal office. An expired deadline cannot be extended after the fact. The canton guides on this site give the procedure and the fee: Zurich, Geneva. One date never moves: the 31 March request for ordinary assessment when you are taxed at source, which the Federal Tax Administration calls a forfeiture deadline.
No. Filing happens on your canton's official software, in its language, with your own login. Floxy handles the step before: it reads and sorts your receipts, keeps them encrypted in Switzerland, estimates your deductions against the 2025 cantonal and federal ceilings and exports the folder as PDFs. You arrive at ZHprivateTax, GeTax or VaudTax with the figures ready instead of a pile of paper.
Written by the Floxy.ch team in Orsières. Figures checked against the official sources cited on this page. About
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