Moving canton mid-year: which canton taxes you, and when it settles (2025)

Key takeaways

• One canton taxes your whole year: where you were domiciled on 31 December. Not a split, not a pro-rata.
• You file one return, in that canton, covering the full year, including the months you lived somewhere else.
• The old canton refunds the instalments you paid it, with interest, and that refund and the new bill arrive months apart.
• Property in another canton is the exception: it stays taxable where it stands, and both administrations may write to you.
• A pension lump sum is taxed where you lived on the day it fell due, not on 31 December.

The 31 December rule

For cantonal, municipal and federal income and wealth tax, your tax domicile at the end of the tax period determines who assesses you for that whole period. The rule for cantonal and municipal tax is Art. 4b para. 1 of the tax harmonisation act (StHGStHGThe cantonal tax harmonisation actFRLHIDITLAIDSteuerharmonisierungsgesetz: the act that tells all 26 cantons which taxes they must levy and how the rules must be shaped. It sets the frame; each canton still fixes its own rates and many of its own deduction ceilings inside it.Where you see itIn citations as StHG Art. 13 or similar, usually beside the DBG article covering the same point federally.Open in the glossary →, the federal law that binds all 26 cantons). Direct federal tax follows the same canton under DBGDBGThe federal income tax actFRLIFDBundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer: the act that governs federal income tax for the whole country. Almost every federal rule a guide cites comes from here, which is why the abbreviation appears so often beside an article number.Where you see itIn citations, as DBG Art. 33 or similar. French and Italian sources call the same act LIFD.Open in the glossary → Art. 105 para. 1.

Move from Vaud to Zurich in May and Zurich taxes your entire year, January to December. It applies Zurich rates, and the rates of the Zurich municipality you live in on 31 December. Vaud taxes none of it, despite having had you for five months.

The rule works in both directions, which is worth knowing before you fix the date of a move:

• Moving to a cheaper canton in December applies the cheaper rates to the whole year.
• Moving to a more expensive one in December applies those to the whole year too.

What you actually do

Less than people expect.

1. Deregister in the old municipality and register in the new one. Each commune sets its own registration deadline, so check the one your new commune publishes and register early.
2. Wait for the filing notice from your new canton. It comes from the new one, for the whole year.
3. File one return, in the new canton, covering the full year and all your income, wherever in Switzerland you earned it.
4. Ask the old canton for the instalments back. They are refunded to you, not passed to the new canton. See the next section.
5. Claim your withholding-tax refund in the new canton. Swiss dividends and interest are paid out after 35% withholding tax (VerrechnungssteuerVerrechnungssteuerSwiss anticipatory taxFRimpôt anticipéITimposta preventivaA tax withheld on certain Swiss investment income, including dividends and taxable interest, at a rate of 35%. Swiss residents can generally reclaim it by properly declaring both the assets and their income and meeting the refund conditions.Where you see itOn Swiss bank and broker statements, next to each dividend or interest payment.Open in the glossary →), which you reclaim through your tax return. For the year of the move, the new canton handles that refund, including for amounts that fell due while you still lived in the old one.

You do not file two returns, and you do not split your income between cantons. The exception is property, below.

What happens to the tax you already paid

The old canton cannot assess you for that year, so it cannot keep the instalments you paid it. They come back to you.

Zurich states it directly in its collection directive (ZStBZStBThe Zurich tax manualZürcher Steuerbuch: Canton Zurich's own practice manual, published in German only. It is where the canton writes down how it applies a rule in practice, which is often more specific than the law behind it.Where you see itIn citations as ZStB 132.1 or similar, wherever a Zurich-only practice is stated.Open in the glossary → 172.1, margin no. 22): on a move to another canton you are in principle no longer taxable there for that tax period, and tax already paid is as a rule refunded to the taxpayer, with credit interest (VergütungszinsVergütungszinsCredit interestFRintérêt rémunératoireWhat Zurich pays you on tax you handed over before the general due date. The mirror of Ausgleichszins, which is what it charges on anything still outstanding after that date.Where you see itSettled in the final bill, after your assessment.Open in the glossary →). It can be reduced if earlier assessments are still open or you owe tax from before.

Two things catch people out.

The refund and the new bill are separate events. They do not net off and do not arrive together. Money leaving your account and money arriving can be months apart.

It does not happen on its own. The refund goes to whatever bank details the old canton holds, so confirm they have your new address and account.

Zurich's directive is Zurich's. The logic follows from StHG Art. 4b everywhere. The old canton cannot tax that year, so it cannot keep the money. Only the handling is cantonal.

The property exception

Immovable property does not follow you. A flat or house is taxed by the canton where it stands, regardless of where you live.

So if you own property in the canton you left, that canton keeps a claim on it. StHG Art. 4b para. 2 says that a tax liability in another canton based on an economic connection runs for the whole tax period, even if it starts, changes or ends during the year. Owning a flat there is such an economic connection. Your income and wealth get allocated between the cantons for the property portion, and you may hear from both administrations. This is ordinary intercantonal allocation, and it is the one situation where a mid-year move genuinely produces more paperwork rather than less.

There is one more exception in the same article, and it matters if you cashed in a pension. A lump sum from a pension fund or pillar 3a is taxed in the canton where you lived on the day it fell due. The 31 December rule does not decide it.

Moving abroad is a different question

Everything above concerns moving between Swiss cantons. Leaving Switzerland works differently: your unlimited tax liability ends when you deregister and leave, and you are assessed for the part-year you were resident.

If you are leaving, the deadline that catches people is that outstanding tax generally has to be settled before departure, and the 31 March deadlines for the year you were here still apply. Those are the deadline for filing, and the deadline for the applications a source-taxed person has to make. Deal with it while you still have a Swiss address and a Swiss bank account, not afterwards.

First Swiss return? Start with your first Zurich tax return. The bill that arrives before any of this settles is the provisional tax bill.

1. 1Where you lived on 31 DecemberAssesses the whole year, at its own rate and its municipality's
2. 2The canton you leftTaxes none of that year, and refunds the instalments you paid it, with interest
3. 3Your returnOne return, filed in the new canton, covering all twelve months
4. 4Property in another cantonThe exception: it stays taxable where it stands, for the whole year

There is no pro-rata split of your income between the two cantons.

Taxed by the canton you moved to

• Salary and other income, wherever in Switzerland you earned it
• Wealth other than property
• Direct federal tax for the whole year

Taxed where it is, not where you are

• A flat or house you own in another canton
• The income and wealth allocated to that property
• A pension lump sum, taxed where you lived on its due date

The middle case is intercantonal allocation: both cantons assess a share, and both may write to you.

Common questions

Which canton do I pay tax to if I moved during the year?

The one where you were domiciled on 31 December. It assesses the entire year at its own rates and your new municipality's. That includes the months in your previous canton.

Do I file two tax returns?

No. One return, in the new canton, for the whole year. The exception is property in another canton, which brings that canton into the picture through intercantonal allocation.

Sources

The sources below support the tax figures and rules discussed in this guide. Follow the links to check the original guidance and its scope.

1. StHG (SR 642.14) Art. 4b — the 31 December rule (para. 1), the pension lump-sum exception (para. 1, second sentence) and property for the whole tax period (para. 2) — fedlex.admin.ch
2. DBG (SR 642.11) Art. 105 para. 1 — direct federal tax is collected by the canton where you were domiciled at the end of the tax period — fedlex.admin.ch
3. Canton Zurich — ZStB 172.1, Weisung der Finanzdirektion über den Bezug der Staats- und Gemeindesteuern, margin no. 22 (refund of instalments on a move to another canton; withholding-tax refund handled by the new canton) and no. 25 (credit interest on the refund) — zh.ch
4. Canton Zurich — ZStB 49.1, Merkblatt on the principles of temporal assessment for natural persons — zh.ch