TOU: understand your position, then compare.
Geneva frontier worker, Swiss resident or another situation: start here. TOU is a recalculation of your overall tax, with or without Pillar 3a. Your tax domicile, the competent canton and the household’s worldwide position determine the next step.
Annual source tax withheld
TOU with current deductions and current 3a
Same TOU, with an additional 3a payment
First check access or an obligation to use TOU. Then compare A − B, B − C and A − C. Passing the 90% test or being allowed to pay into 3a does not establish a tax advantage.
Calculation coverage: standard Swiss-resident situations can use the official FTA estimate below. Non-residents and complex situations use a detailed preparation worksheet, an indicative access check where relevant, and a comparison using B and C copied from the same identified official Swiss calculator. An automatic full non-resident tax-return calculation is not available on this website.
Is TOU worthwhile for me? And what does Pillar 3a change?
A guided comparison for employees living in Switzerland and taxed at source, including permit B holders. Enter annual salary-certificate figures and household expenses; the FTA calculation service estimates ordinary taxes for your commune. No taxable-income figure to work out yourself.
What your employer withholds
Ordinary taxes with your current 3a payments
Ordinary taxes with an additional 3a payment
Provenance: A is the source tax actually entered from the salary certificate. Resident B and C come from the official FTA service for tax year 2026. Only the differences A − B, B − C and A − C are calculated locally by this website.
Prefer the full official calculator? Open the FTA tool →
Before you begin: documents, scope and TOU rules
Prepare each spouse’s salary certificates (all Swiss jobs), annual withholding, ages, children’s ages, actual health premiums and subsidies, commuting and meal expenses, rent, debt interest, taxable savings/assets and 3a certificates. Enter CHF for the whole of 2026; use 0 when absent. An unknown amount is not zero. In an unfinished year, use a consistent full-year projection for every field.
This estimate covers a full year in one Swiss commune, salaried income, a standard household and ordinary 3a payments. Foreign income/assets, property, self-employment, arrival/departure, a move, shared custody, a family-status change, special deductions or 3a catch-up payments need a full cantonal calculation. For those cases, do not treat this estimate as a recommendation.
Swiss-resident employees taxed at source can generally request TOU even below CHF 120000. The 90% test concerns non-residents. TOU is mandatory from CHF 120000 gross annual employment income for one person, without adding spouses’ salaries; other income, taxable wealth and cantonal rules may also trigger it. A permit alone does not determine tax status.
For tax year 2026, the ordinary request deadline is 31 March of the following year and cannot be extended; an earlier departure has its own deadline. Once requested by a resident, TOU cannot be withdrawn and generally continues in subsequent years while source taxation applies. Payroll withholding continues and is credited against the ordinary assessment. Verify your canton’s procedure before filing.
Your indicative comparison
See taxable incomes, tax components and official deductions
A positive A − C suggests a refund of excess withholding; a negative amount suggests additional tax. A is a withholding credit, not a separate ordinary-tax bill. B − C isolates the tax effect of the new 3a payment; it does not by itself establish that requesting TOU is beneficial. Source withholding already includes standard deductions: they must not be added again as separate “savings”.
An estimate, not a tax assessment or filing recommendation. The FTA model applies commune/year-specific rates and its own deduction assumptions, which may differ from a complete cantonal return. Tax on wealth and personal/church taxes are included where returned. Filing/advice fees, interest, tax paid at 3a withdrawal, product fees and investment returns are excluded. A 3a payment remains locked pension savings, not spendable income. Review the full return and future-year implications before an irrevocable TOU request.
Review my TOU and 3a situation with MathiasFor this comparison the entered year-end net assets are kept identical in B and C. Any additional wealth-tax reduction caused by funding the new 3a payment from those assets is not modelled.
Official Swiss sources and exact calculation provenance
Tax year 2026. Basis verified on 2026-10-20. A is the household’s annual withholding copied from salary certificates. B is ordinary tax returned by the official FTA detailed calculator with existing 3a. C is the same official calculation with existing plus additional 3a. The website performs only A − B, B − C and A − C; it applies no private rate or substitute result.
Federal official calculation and legal basis
- FTA · official Swiss tax calculator
- FTA · source-tax bases and federal scales
- FTA Circular 45 · resident and non-resident TOU
- FTA · Circular 45 annexes and current circular register
- Fedlex · Federal Direct Federal Tax Act (FDTA/LIFD)
- Fedlex · Source Tax Ordinance (OIS)
- FSIO · Pillar 3a rules and official limits
- FSIO · Circular 18a on Pillar 3a contributions and benefits
- FTA · official foreign-exchange rates
- Official salary-certificate guide · 2026
Official cantonal calculation and procedure
The FTA service incorporates commune- and canton-specific parameters for supported resident estimates. TOU access, filing, special allocations and the final assessment remain with the competent canton. A cantonal calculator is official only when it is published by that Swiss authority; it is not replaced by a private calculator.
My non-resident or complex TOU dossier
Prepare the full household position, then compare results copied from the same identified official Swiss calculator. The automatic resident model is not an international tax-return calculator.
2. Open the detailed household preparation worksheet
2. Prepare the full household position
This worksheet does not calculate a full tax return. It organises the figures needed for the official cantonal calculation and can transfer the gross totals into the indicative 90% check. All entries stay in this page; no data is sent or saved by this worksheet.
Use annual 2026 figures in CHF, including both spouses/registered partners. Convert foreign amounts consistently using the appropriate official rate; retain the original amounts and exchange-rate evidence for your return. Zero means absent; a blank expense means not yet verified. Do not upload documents or enter names, addresses or tax identifiers here.
The file is created on your device. It is not sent to Mathias, a government service or an advertiser. Review it before sharing through an agreed secure channel.
Complete the income fields to see your indicative result.
Eligibility formula from the official rule: Swiss-taxable gross income ÷ household worldwide gross income × 100. The unrounded result must be at least 90%. This is an access test, not a tax calculation; it does not decide treaty treatment, exceptions, ex-officio TOU or 3a suitability.
Below 90% does not resolve every case
Geneva lists exceptions involving insufficient income for deductions in the residence country, treaty-recognised foreign pension contributions, and qualifying equal shared custody. TOU can also be imposed ex officio, for example with Geneva property or self-employment, including certain spouse situations. Ask the competent cantonal tax authority to determine these cases under the official rules.
The difference that matters
The website subtracts the official amounts entered. No tax amount or saving is assumed.
Positive = lower Swiss tax in the official results entered; negative = additional Swiss tax. This is local arithmetic on A, B and C, not another official tax calculation or a guarantee. The 3a contribution is money committed to your pension, not a tax refund. French tax, costs, investment risk and tax on withdrawal are not included.
Before requesting TOU
For non-residents, a voluntary TOU request is renewed each year and eligibility must be checked again. A request cannot be withdrawn because the final bill is unfavourable. For Swiss residents, TOU normally continues while source taxation applies. The ordinary 2026 deadline is 31 March 2027; an earlier departure has its own rules. Verify any obligation or ex-officio case with the competent canton.
This preparation worksheet, the 90% test and the comparison run only in your browser, with no saving or transmission of their entries. The separate standard-resident estimate uses the FTA service only after its own agreement. Official links open external services with their own privacy terms. Foreign-country tax, tax credits and 3a withdrawal tax need their own review; a Swiss-only difference is not the household’s global tax result.
Official Swiss calculation bases
Official cantonal calculators and procedures
Separate French filing information — not used in the Swiss calculation
Calculation bases verified on 2026-10-20. Geneva-specific exceptions are shown only for Geneva; other cantons require their own procedure.
Review my complete TOU position with MathiasAdvanced shortcut · 3a only, from taxable income
Already know your taxable income? Quick 3a estimate.
Enter your situation and the contribution you are considering. We compare two calculations from the Federal Tax Administration: without and with that additional pillar 3a deduction.
Your estimate will appear here.
2026 tax data · Swiss Federal Tax Administration. The annual taxes before and after are official service outputs; taxable wealth is fixed at zero in both scenarios. The displayed difference and effective cost are local arithmetic, not an assessment.
The complete contribution goes into your 3a plan. The tax saving reduces its effective cost; it is not a guaranteed investment return.
Put the saving to work thoughtfully.
You could use the saving to ease your household budget, build an accessible emergency reserve, or fund additional long-term saving. Extra 3a contributions remain subject to your annual allowance. Compare the complete plan: fees, insurance protection, investment risk and flexibility all matter.
For ordinary 2026 contributions: CHF 7258 with a pension fund; without one, up to 20% of eligible earned income, capped at CHF 36288. These parameters come from the FSIO and OPP 3. This tool excludes catch-up contributions and assumes eligibility. Pillar 3b does not have the same general 3a deduction. 3a withdrawal is restricted and benefits are taxed when paid out. Source-tax and cross-border situations require an individual check.