Switzerland’s club of rich foreigners taxed on their spending is shrinking, and paying more

Switzerland has a tax arrangement that exists in few other places. A wealthy foreigner who moves there and does not work in the country can be taxed not on income or wealth, but on the cost of living. The cantonal tax office estimates what the household spends, applies a minimum, and taxes that.

The deal, known as lump-sum taxation, began at Lake Geneva in the early 20th century as a way to attract rich foreign visitors. It has survived a national referendum and abolition in several cantons. It is also, on the latest figures, becoming more exclusive.

Fewer, and richer

According to an analysis of cantonal figures by the Swiss newspaper Blick, the number of people taxed this way fell from a peak of 5,634 in 2012 to 3,478 in 2022, a drop of 38 per cent.

The revenue went the other way. Ticino collected CHF189.5mn from its lump-sum taxpayers in 2024, CHF71mn more than in 2016. Graubünden, which includes St Moritz, raised CHF38mn in 2025, up from about CHF24mn in 2018.

The explanation is a higher entry price. Reforms that took effect in 2016 set a federal minimum taxable base of about CHF400,000 a year, since indexed to around CHF435,000, and cantons raised their own floors.

Less wealthy beneficiaries dropped out or switched to ordinary taxation. Those who remain, and those who arrive, are richer.

The Valais model

Valais now has more lump-sum taxpayers than any other canton: 841, according to figures published in September, ahead of Ticino with 725 and Vaud with 706. They live mainly in Zermatt, Verbier, Crans-Montana and the Goms valley, and come mostly from France, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.

Together they paid CHF122.5mn in 2023, about CHF150,000 each, according to 20 Minuten. In 2012 the canton had about 1,400 such taxpayers, paying CHF84mn. Franziska Biner, the canton’s finance minister, says they spend on property, renovations, hotels and services and support about 4,000 jobs.

Five cantons said no

Not everyone is persuaded. Zurich, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and both Basel cantons have abolished the system. A national initiative to scrap it failed in 2014, when 59 per cent voted to keep it. Left-wing parties in Valais still call it a privilege for the wealthy.

Blick found that the fall in numbers has several causes besides departures: many cantons report switches to ordinary taxation, as well as deaths, naturalisations and marriages to Swiss citizens.

For the families who stay, the arithmetic still works. A fortune large enough to make a CHF150,000 annual tax bill look modest is the kind the cantons most want. The shrinking club suits its members, and its tax collectors, very well.

Sources

• Blick: fewer lump-sum taxpayers, but more tax revenue, in every canton analysed
• 20 Minuten: 841 lump-sum taxpayers bring Valais CHF122.5mn (4 Sep 2026)
• Swiss Federal Department of Finance: taxation according to expenditure
• Beobachter: why there are ever fewer lump-sum taxpayers
• KPMG Switzerland: lump-sum taxation, requirements and amounts

Cover image: Marcel Wiesweg, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped.