Switzerland — tax on crypto and investments

Country	Currency	Tax year	Authority	Last verified	Status
CH	CHF	1 January – 31 December	Swiss Federal Tax Administration (ESTV / AFC) and the 26 cantonal tax administrations	29-10-2026	approved by the owner (accountant), 28-10-2026; cantonal wealth-tax figures added 29-10-2026, pending owner review

Related article: hq-fs.com/blog/crypto-tax-switzerland

Not tax advice. Rules summarised from official sources, linked where each rule is stated, as verified on the date above. Confirm with a qualified adviser before filing.

At a glance#

Item	Rule
Tax year	Calendar year. Holdings are valued at the end of the tax period (31 December).
Filing deadline (individuals)	Set by each canton. Common default 31 March of the following year. Examples: Basel-Landschaft 31 March (employees), 30 June (self-employed); Zurich 31 March, extensions to 30 November.
Crypto legal / tax classification	ESTV uses the FINMA categories: payment tokens, investment (asset) tokens, utility tokens. Payment tokens are movable capital assets.
Capital gains on crypto	Private investor: tax-free. Losses not deductible.
Capital gains on shares / funds	Private investor: tax-free (Art. 16 para. 3 DBG).
Holding-period relief	None as a rate. A holding period of at least 6 months is one of the five safe-harbour criteria for private status.
Annual exemption / allowance	Not applicable — private gains are fully exempt.
Losses (offset, carry-forward)	Private: not deductible. Professional trader: deductible if booked.
Cost-basis method required	No method prescribed for private investors (gains exempt). Professional: gain = proceeds − acquisition cost − sale costs; taxpayer must prove cost.
Staking / mining / airdrops	Taxable income at receipt, at CHF market value. Staking via pool = income from movable assets. Solo staking and mining may be self-employment income.
Crypto-to-crypto swaps	Private: buying and selling payment tokens is treated like currency transactions; any gain is tax-free. Professional: taxable.
Spending crypto	Income tax: as a sale (private gain tax-free). VAT: paying with a payment token equals paying with legal tender.
VAT / GST on crypto	Buying and selling payment tokens is VAT-exempt, like foreign-exchange trading (Art. 21 para. 2 no. 19 let. d MWSTG). Standard rate 8.1 %.
Withholding or transaction tax	Payment tokens: no withholding tax (Verrechnungssteuer), no stamp duty. Swiss dividends and interest: 35 % withholding tax, refundable to residents who declare.
Reporting obligations (forms, foreign accounts)	Declare crypto in the securities and assets list (Wertschriften- und Guthabenverzeichnis). Zug: code "KR". CARF exchange: not before 1 January 2027.

Capital gains#

Private investor. Gains on private movable assets are tax-free. Losses are not deductible.

Professional (commercial) trader. Gains are self-employment income and are taxed at ordinary income rates. Losses are deductible if booked. ESTV applies the criteria of Circular No. 36 (KS 36, 27-07-2012) to crypto by analogy.

KS 36 safe harbour. The tax authority always treats the person as a private investor when all five criteria are met:

#	Criterion	Threshold
1	Holding period of the assets sold	at least 6 months
2	Transaction volume per calendar year (sum of all purchase prices and sale proceeds)	not more than 5 × the securities and cash holdings at the start of the tax period
3	Gains are not needed to replace missing income	realised gains less than 50 % of net income in the tax period
4	Financing	not debt-financed, or taxable investment income exceeds the proportional debt interest
5	Derivatives	only to hedge own positions

If any criterion fails, commercial trading is not automatic. The authority then judges all facts of the case. Transaction volume and debt financing weigh most; systematic approach and professional know-how weigh less.

Gain computation (professional). Proceeds − acquisition cost − sale costs. The taxpayer must prove acquisition cost.

Income#

Event	Treatment	Value
Salary or fringe benefits paid in tokens	Employment income, on the salary certificate	CHF value at receipt
Mining (proof of work)	Taxable income; self-employment income if the general criteria are met	CHF value at receipt
Staking via a pool	Income from movable assets (Art. 20 para. 1 DBG)	CHF value at receipt
Staking as own validator (no pool)	Check for self-employment; if yes, self-employment income (Art. 18 para. 1 DBG)	CHF value at receipt
Airdrop	Income from movable assets	Market value at allocation
Professional trading gains	Self-employment income	Proceeds − cost − sale costs

Deductions. Costs directly linked to earning the income may be deducted (Art. 32 para. 1 DBG). Transaction costs for buying, switching or selling are not deductible.

Zug detail. Staking, validator and nominator income is declared per currency in section B of the securities list, at the value on the day of legal entitlement, summed for the year.

Rates. Income is taxed at federal, cantonal and communal level. Cantonal and communal rates vary by canton and municipality. This page gives no rate figures.

Wealth tax#

Item	Rule
Who levies it	Cantons only (cantonally regulated wealth tax; Art. 13 para. 1 and Art. 14 para. 1 StHG). No federal wealth tax on crypto.
Valuation date	End of the tax period (31 December)
Value	Market value. ESTV publishes tax values for the most widely held cryptocurrencies in its price list (Kursliste, ICTax).
Coin not in the Kursliste	Market value from a leading trading platform. Zug: year-end price of the platform used for the trades.
No price available	Original purchase price, converted to CHF (Zug)
Kursliste 31-12-2025	Published 01-01-2026: 81 cryptocurrencies, CHF per unit (e.g. BTC 69,571.988489, ETH 2,364.081066, USDT 0.791468). ESTV USD year-end rate 0.79225.
Kursliste 31-12-2026	Not published yet; expected about 01-01-2027 (2024 and 2025 lists were created on 1 January)
Rate	Set by each canton; the commune adds its own multiplier. Figures for the ten largest cantons below.

Cantonal tariffs, tax years 2025 and 2026 (resident individuals, church tax excluded). Tax = simple tax on the tariff × (cantonal multiplier + communal multiplier).

Canton	Tax-free amount (single / married / per child)	Tariff of the simple tax	Cantonal multiplier 2025 / 2026	Capital's communal multiplier 2025 / 2026
Zürich	0 ‰ first slice: 80,000 / 159,000 (2025); 81,000 / 161,000 (2026)	0.5–3 ‰ progressive, separate married tariff (§ 47 StG)	98 % / 95 %	Zürich 119 % / 119 %
Bern	Deduction 0 / 18,000 / 18,000; no tax below 100,000	0.4–1.35 ‰ progressive (Art. 65 StG), unchanged	Steueranlage 2.975 / 2.975	Bern 1.54 / 1.54
Vaud	Threshold 60,000 / 120,000 (indexed)	0.24–3.39 ‰ progressive, indexed (art. 59–60 LI)	155 % / 155 %	Lausanne 78.5 % / 78.5 %
Aargau	Deduction 130,000 / 260,000 / 16,000	0.7–1.6 ‰ progressive (§ 55 StG)	111 % / 103 % (incl. 3 % § 57a surcharge)	Aarau 96 % / 96 %
Geneva	Deduction 87,632 / 175,264 / 43,816 (2025); 87,872 / 175,743 / 43,936 (2026)	Base 1.49–3.83 ‰ plus a supplementary tax without centimes (art. 59 LIPP), indexed	100 % + 47.5 centimes + 1 centime aide à domicile	Ville de Genève 45.49 / 45.49 centimes
St. Gallen	Deduction 75,000 / 150,000 / 20,000	1.7 ‰ proportional (Art. 65 StG)	105 % / 105 %	St. Gallen 138 % / 138 %
Lucerne	Deduction 62,500 / 125,000 / 12,500	0.75 ‰ per unit, proportional (§ 60 StG)	1.55 / 1.45 units	Luzern 1.55 / 1.45 units
Ticino	Deduction 0 / 60,000 / 30,000; no tax below 200,000	1–3 ‰ progressive, 2.5 ‰ on the whole wealth above 1,380,000 (art. 49 LT)	100 % / 100 %	Bellinzona 93 % / 93 %
Zug	Deduction 204,000 / 408,000 / 102,000 (indexed)	0.425–1.7 ‰ progressive (§ 44 StG), indexed	82 % / 78 %	Zug 52.11 % / 52 %
Basel-Stadt	Deduction 75,000 / 150,000 / 15,000	4.5 / 6.5 / 7.9 ‰, separate married tariff (§ 50 StG)	100 % in Basel city (no communal tax); 50 % in Riehen and Bettingen	Riehen 46 %, Bettingen 36.5 %

Worked example (single, net wealth CHF 500,000, canton capital, 2025): Zürich 653.17, Bern 1,596.05, Vaud 2,551.43, Aargau 784.32, Geneva 1,640.92, St. Gallen 1,755.68, Lucerne 1,016.02, Ticino 1,756.30, Zug 192.65, Basel 2,262.50 CHF. Each component is rounded to CHF 0.01; a canton's own assessment may round to CHF 0.05.

Caps not applied by HQ Wealth (they need income or wealth-yield figures): Bern Art. 66 StG (25 % of yield, floor 2.4 ‰), Vaud LICom art. 8, Aargau § 56 StG, Geneva art. 60 LIPP, Lucerne § 62 StG (3 ‰ incl. church tax), Ticino art. 49a LT, Basel-Stadt §§ 51–52 StG.

Mechanism of cantonal variation. Federal harmonisation law (StHG) fixes the tax objects. Each canton sets its own rates, forms and deadlines. The same holdings therefore produce a different wealth and income tax bill depending on the canton and municipality of residence.

Cost basis and record keeping#

Item	Rule
Method for private investors	None prescribed. Gains are exempt, so cost basis does not drive the tax.
Method for professional traders	Follows commercial bookkeeping (Massgeblichkeitsprinzip). No FIFO or average rule found in the ESTV sources read.
Burden of proof	Taxpayer must prove acquisition cost
Evidence of year-end holdings	Wallet print-out of year-end balances (Zug)
Records for the KS 36 test	Holding periods, annual transaction volume, start-of-year portfolio value, realised gains vs net income, debt interest vs investment income, derivatives use

Indirect taxes#

Transaction	VAT treatment
Buying and selling payment tokens (incl. brokerage)	Exempt, like foreign exchange (Art. 21 para. 2 no. 19 let. d MWSTG)
Buying and selling investment tokens	Exempt (Art. 21 para. 2 no. 19 let. e MWSTG)
Buying and selling utility tokens	Taxable if the underlying service is located in Switzerland and no exemption applies
Paying for goods or services with a payment token	Same as legal tender; no barter
Paying with investment or utility tokens	Barter; market value of each side is the consideration
Mining/staking rewarded only by block reward	No supply; block reward is non-consideration; activity is not entrepreneurial
Validation paid by transaction fees	Taxable electronic service at the standard rate if the recipient is in Switzerland
Custody of tokens / private keys by a third party	Taxable service; custody of payment tokens that are not bank deposits under Art. 16 BankG is exempt (let. c)

VAT parameter	Value
Standard rate (from 01-01-2024)	8.1 %
Reduced rate (from 01-01-2024)	2.6 %
Special rate, accommodation (from 01-01-2024)	3.8 %
Registration threshold	CHF 100,000 worldwide turnover from taxable supplies (Art. 10 para. 2 let. a MWSTG); CHF 250,000 for non-profit sports/cultural associations and charities

Other taxes on payment tokens. No withholding tax (Verrechnungssteuer). Not taxable documents for stamp duty: no issuance stamp, no securities transfer stamp. Investment tokens with participation rights are subject to withholding tax on distributions and issuance stamp duty.

Reporting and deadlines#

Item	Rule
Form	Securities and assets list (Wertschriften- und Guthabenverzeichnis) with the cantonal return. Zug: code "KR Kryptowährungen".
Deadline	Cantonal. Basel-Landschaft: 31 March (employees), 30 June (self-employed), 30 November (limited tax liability). Zurich: 31 March.
Extensions	Basel-Landschaft: up to 2 months free and tacit; beyond 2 months CHF 40 fee; beyond 8 months reasons required. Zurich: request before 31 March; up to 30 November.
Withholding-tax refund	Residents get the 35 % back only if income and assets are duly declared; claim within 3 years after the year the income fell due
ESTV crypto contact	krypto@estv.admin.ch

Recent and upcoming changes#

Date	Change	Status
01-01-2024	VAT rates raised to 8.1 % / 2.6 % / 3.8 %	in force
26-09-2025	Parliament approves the CARF multilateral agreement (CARF MCAA) and the amended AEOI Act in final vote	adopted
01-01-2026	Amended CRS in force; extends "Financial Asset" to certain crypto-assets and adds rules on e-money and CBDCs	in force
2026	No CARF duties in Switzerland; no due diligence by crypto service providers; no crypto data received from abroad for calendar year 2026	confirmed
≥ 01-01-2027	CARF implementation at the earliest. Activation needs Parliament to approve the partner states; Federal Council then ratifies. Pre-existing-user cut-off moves to the day before activation with the first partner. ESTV CARF guidance follows the activation decision.	pending

No change to the private capital-gains exemption, the KS 36 criteria or the ESTV working paper was found for 2025 or 2026. The working paper in force is dated 14-12-2021 and reflects cases submitted up to end-2020.

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