Swiss Payslip 2026 Decoded Line by Line: AHV, BVG, Tax

What are the 7 lines that make up a Swiss payslip?

A typical Swiss payslip contains seven blocks read top to bottom: (1) gross salary (base + 13th-month salary + bonuses + allowances), (2) the OASI/DI/LEC contribution (5.3% employee share), (3) the unemployment insurance contribution (1.1% employee share up to CHF 148,200), (4) the non-occupational accident (NBU) premium (variable depending on the employer), (5) the occupational pension (BVG/LPP) contribution (variable by age), (6) withholding tax (where applicable), and (7) the net amount paid into your account. Each line refers to a specific federal legal basis (AHVG/LAVS, AVIG/LACI, UVG/LAA, BVG/LPP, DBG/LIFD) and to parameters set by the Federal Council for 2026.

Figures apply to the 2026 tax year. The 2027 parameters will be published by the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) and SECO around October 2026.

Run your exact situation through the Swiss net salary calculator — it applies the official 2026 parameters to all 26 cantons.

Which OASI, DI and LEC contributions are deducted from a 2026 payslip?

In 2026, the employee OASI/DI/LEC contribution is 5.3% of gross salary, with no cap. The employer pays an additional 5.3% in parallel. Breakdown of the three branches: OASI 4.35% employee + 4.35% employer (8.7% total) under Art. 5 para. 1 AHVG/LAVS (English version not available — German official version linked; French version: Fedlex FR); DI 0.7% + 0.7% (1.4% total) under IVG/LAI; LEC 0.25% + 0.25% (0.5% total) under EOG/LAPG. Combined employer + employee total: 10.6% of gross.

The "OASI/DI/LEC" line on the payslip rolls the three branches into a single deduction. No cap applies on the OASI side — an employee earning CHF 500,000/year pays 5.3% on the entire gross. Contributions are mandatory from 1 January following the 17th birthday if gainful employment is exercised (Art. 3 para. 1 AHVG/LAVS), and remain due until the reference age (65). A de minimis salary of CHF 2,300/year is exempt at certain small employers (Art. 14 para. 5 AHVG/LAVS).

Consolidated practical reference: AHV/IV memorandum 2.01 — Contributions of employees and employers (German) (also available in French).

How is unemployment insurance (ALV/AC) withheld on the payslip?

Unemployment insurance applies in 2026 an employee rate of 1.1% on the salary tranche from CHF 1 to CHF 148,200, plus a symmetric 1.1% on the employer side. Above CHF 148,200/year, no unemployment insurance contribution is due — the "solidarity percentage" that applied until 31 December 2022 was automatically removed from 2023 onwards once the unemployment fund's financial position had sufficiently recovered. The ALV cap is aligned with the maximum insured earnings under the UVG/LAA. Legal basis: Art. 3 para. 1 and 2 AVIG/LACI (English version not available — German official version linked).

Verbatim quote from the SECO unemployment insurance factsheet (German) (English version not available; original SECO factsheet in French):

Zur Finanzierung der Arbeitslosenversicherung (ALV) wird auf den Lohnanteilen bis 148 200 Franken ein Beitrag von 2,2 Prozent erhoben. Die Beiträge werden auf der Grundlage des AHV-pflichtigen Monats- oder Jahreslohnes berechnet und je hälftig auf Arbeitnehmer und Arbeitgeber aufgeteilt.

Translation for context: a 2.2% contribution is levied on the salary tranches up to CHF 148,200 to fund unemployment insurance; contributions are calculated on the OASI-liable monthly or yearly salary and are split equally between employees and employers.

Practical consequence: an employee earning CHF 200,000 pays unemployment insurance only on the first CHF 148,200, which is CHF 1,630.20 over the year (1.1% × 148,200). The additional CHF 51,800 carries neither an ALV contribution nor a solidarity contribution. The payslip reflects this through automatic capping: the unemployment insurance line stops growing past the corresponding monthly cap (CHF 12,350/month).

What does the "NBU" or "UVG" line mean on a Swiss payslip?

The NBU line is the non-occupational accident insurance premium taken from your salary. The Federal Act on Accident Insurance (UVG/LAA) (English version not available — German official version linked) requires the employer to insure employees against two distinct risks: occupational accidents (BU) during work, and non-occupational accidents (NBU) in private life. The cost-sharing rule sits in Art. 91 UVG/LAA: the BU premium is fully borne by the employer, the NBU premium is in principle paid by the employee (unless the employer voluntarily takes it on, fully or partially).

Rates vary by industry and by the company's claims history. The Suva (German) (French version: Suva FR) classifies each business into a risk class and applies the corresponding base rate. As a benchmark, the employee NBU premium typically ranges between 0.7% and 2% of UVG/LAA salary for most tertiary-sector employees; it can reach 3-4% in high-risk industries (construction, hospitality). The 2026 maximum insured UVG/LAA earnings are CHF 148,200/year (Art. 22 UVV/OLAA) — above that level, no NBU premium is due.

NBU covers accidents occurring in private life (sport, household, road outside the commute). It is automatically suspended if the weekly working time at a single employer drops below 8 hours (Art. 13 UVV/OLAA) — minor part-time roles are then only covered by the mandatory health insurance against accidents.

Your exact NBU rate appears on the contract document your employer hands over at the start of employment — it depends on the chosen collective insurance foundation (Suva, AXA, Helsana Business, etc.).

How is the BVG/LPP (second pillar) contribution calculated on salary?

The BVG/LPP takes from salary a contribution proportional to age, calculated on the coordinated salary (not on the full gross). Four parameters for 2026 drive the calculation, all set by the Federal Council under Art. 8 BVG/LPP (English version not available — German official version linked):

• Entry threshold: CHF 22,680/year — below that, no mandatory BVG/LPP affiliation (Art. 7 BVG/LPP)
• Coordination deduction: CHF 26,460/year — subtracted from gross to compute the coordinated salary
• Maximum coordinated salary: CHF 64,260/year — cap on the mandatory BVG/LPP salary
• Minimum coordinated salary: CHF 3,780/year — floor if gross is above the entry threshold

The coordinated salary = annual OASI-liable salary − coordination deduction, capped at CHF 64,260. On a gross of CHF 70,000/year, the coordinated salary is CHF 43,540 (70,000 − 26,460). On a gross of CHF 200,000, it is capped at CHF 64,260 — the excess falls under voluntary supplementary occupational pension cover, specific to each pension fund.

The minimum age credits (combined employee + employer contribution) are set in Art. 16 BVG/LPP across four age tranches:

Important: these are the legal minimums. Many pension funds apply more generous supplementary plans (a single rate of 12-18% across all age tranches, reduced or removed coordination deduction, insured salary above the BVG/LPP cap). The exact employee/employer split is also contractual: the employer must pay at least half (Art. 66 para. 1 BVG/LPP), but many employers contribute 60% to 100% of the total. The pension fund's plan, handed over at the start of employment, sets out the actual applicable rates.

The full 2026 BVG/LPP parameters are consolidated on the official FSIO occupational pension parameters page (German) (also available in French).

Who pays withholding tax on a Swiss payslip?

Withholding tax (Quellensteuer / impôt à la source) is deducted monthly from gross salary by the employer for employees without Swiss tax domicile (cross-border workers) or who reside in Switzerland without a C permit (B, L, F, N, G permits, plus a few specific cases). Legal basis: Art. 83 ff. DBG/LIFD at federal level, complemented by cantonal tax laws. Swiss nationals and C permit holders are instead taxed under the ordinary assessment procedure — no withholding tax line appears on their payslip.

The withholding tax rate depends on four combined parameters:

1. Canton of work (or canton of residence for residents) — each canton publishes its own scale.
2. Family situation captured by a tariff letter:
   • A: single, no children
   • B: married, single-earner couple
   • C: married, dual-earner couple (each spouse on their own scale C)
   • H: single-parent family
   • G: replacement income (unemployment, accident)
3. Number of dependent children giving rise to deductions, coded by a digit (A0, A1, A2 …).
4. Membership of a recognised church (Y with church tax / N without).

The 2026 scales are published by each cantonal tax administration and consolidated in machine-readable format (TXT/ZIP) on the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) page for payroll software integration (FTA reference page available in French). Readable PDF versions are available on cantonal websites: Geneva (AFC-GE), Vaud (ACI), Zurich (Steueramt, German).

As a rough benchmark — typical average withholding tax rate for a single person without children (scale A0) in 2026 — for a deep-dive on the canton-by-canton net differential at equivalent gross, see the comparison real net pay differential Geneva vs Vaud 2026:

Figures are order-of-magnitude — for the exact 2026 values by canton, family situation and income tranche, the Nsix net salary calculator applies the official scales published by the FTA.

Quasi-resident special case: a cross-border worker who earns ≥ 90% of their worldwide income in Switzerland can request a subsequent ordinary assessment (TOU/NOV) (Art. 99a DBG/LIFD). They are then taxed using ordinary-regime deductions (pillar 3a, occupational expenses, BVG/LPP buy-backs, etc.) rather than the flat withholding tax scale. The request must be filed every year by 31 March of the following year.

How do you verify that the displayed net pay is correct?

The net amount is calculated by successive subtraction: gross minus OASI/DI/LEC, minus unemployment insurance, minus NBU, minus BVG/LPP, minus withholding tax. The logic looks simple, but three classic traps explain most year-end errors.

Trap 1 — The 13th-month salary does not face the same caps in practice. A manager on CHF 12,000/month + 13th-month earns CHF 156,000 gross over the year. In the November when the 13th is paid, the ALV base exceeds the annual cap of CHF 148,200 — the payslip must automatically cap the unemployment insurance deduction. If the contribution keeps running at 1.1% on the full CHF 24,000 (salary + 13th that month), there is a capping error to correct in the year-end reconciliation.

Trap 2 — BVG/LPP uses a coordinated salary, not gross. On a monthly gross of CHF 6,000 (i.e. CHF 78,000/year), BVG/LPP does not levy on CHF 78,000 but on CHF 78,000 − CHF 26,460 = CHF 51,540 (coordinated salary). A payslip applying a flat percentage to gross overstates the employee contribution by about 51%.

Trap 3 — Withholding tax does not cover everything. The flat withholding tax scale already integrates standardised deductions (spouse, children, average health insurance premiums) but does not include additional personal deductions: pillar 3a, BVG/LPP buy-backs, actual transport expenses, actual childcare costs. A cross-border worker or B-permit holder contributing CHF 7,258 to their pillar 3a in 2026 does not see this deduction anywhere on the payslip — they need to request a withholding tax rectification or subsequent ordinary assessment (FTA reference page in French) by 31 March of the following year. More on this in the guide Swiss pillar 3a 2026 limit and actual tax deduction.

Procédure

How to read a Swiss payslip in 5 steps

Line-by-line review procedure applicable to any payslip issued under Swiss law.

1. 1

   Identify total gross salary

   Add up base salary, pro-rated 13th-month (if paid monthly), bonuses, OASI-liable flat allowances (family allowances, company car, meals), and overtime. This is the calculation basis for every deduction.

2. 2

   Verify the OASI/DI/LEC line at 5.3%

   The employee OASI+DI+LEC deduction is 5.3% of total gross in 2026, with no cap. On CHF 8,000 gross, the deduction is CHF 424.00. Any discrepancy beyond a few cents needs to be explained by your payroll team.

3. 3

   Verify the unemployment insurance line at 1.1% with the cap

   The unemployment insurance deduction is 1.1% on the CHF 0 to CHF 148,200 annual tranche (CHF 12,350/month). Above that, no contribution. If your regular monthly gross is above CHF 12,350, the ALV line must stop at CHF 135.85 maximum (1.1% × 12,350).

4. 4

   Verify the BVG/LPP line against your age and pension plan

   Compare the deducted contribution to your annual pension statement from your fund. The employee share typically ranges between 3.5% (age 25-34) and 9% (55+) of the coordinated salary. If your employer applies a supplementary plan, the contribution is computed on a different basis than the mandatory minimum.

5. 5

   Verify the NBU line and withholding tax

   The NBU premium appears either as a percentage or as a fixed amount — check consistency with your contract. For withholding tax (where applicable), compare against the official scale published by your canton of work using your tariff code (A0, B1, C2, etc.). The Nsix Talent calculator recomputes the 7 lines in parallel for confirmation.

What do the concrete gross → net calculations look like for 3 typical profiles in 2026?

Three realistic profiles: an employee at CHF 6,000/month, a manager at CHF 12,000/month, and a senior executive at CHF 25,000/month. Common assumptions: 35-year-old employee (BVG tranche 35-44 = 5% employee share), canton of Vaud, C permit (therefore no withholding tax), NBU premium of 1.4% of UVG/LAA salary, statutory minimum BVG plan with a coordination deduction of CHF 26,460.

Case A — Employee at CHF 6,000/month (annual gross CHF 78,000 over 13 months = CHF 6,000 × 13)

Over the year, total gross is CHF 78,000 and total net comes to about CHF 69,339 — a social and pension deduction rate of around 11.1%. No withholding tax is taken (C permit → ordinary assessment). Cantonal and communal Vaud income tax is settled separately via tax bill, around CHF 8,000-9,000/year for this single profile in Lausanne.

Case B — Manager at CHF 12,000/month (annual gross CHF 156,000)

Important detail: the unemployment insurance contribution caps at CHF 135.85/month as soon as gross exceeds CHF 12,350. The NBU premium applies the same cap, at CHF 12,350 monthly. Mandatory BVG/LPP caps the coordinated salary at CHF 64,260/year — above that, the mandatory contribution stagnates. The employer's pension fund may complement this with a supplementary plan covering the additional CHF 91,740 (156,000 − 64,260), with rate and split specific to the fund. If this supplementary plan withholds, say, 5% on the employee side, the actual BVG deduction can reach CHF 650-700/month instead of CHF 268.

Case C — Senior executive at CHF 25,000/month (annual gross CHF 325,000)

Three simultaneous caps kick in: unemployment insurance stops at CHF 135.85/month (1.1% of 12,350), NBU stops at CHF 172.90/month (1.4% of 12,350), mandatory BVG/LPP caps at CHF 267.75/month (5% of 5,355 monthly coordinated). The marginal social deduction rate on the tranche above CHF 148,200 therefore drops to just 5.3% (OASI/DI/LEC with no cap) — one of the factors that makes high compensation particularly efficient in Switzerland compared to France or Germany, where social charges remain partially uncapped.

That said, most upper-tier employers apply generous supplementary BVG/LPP plans (10-18% total on full salary, with the employer often paying 60 to 100%). The "true net" of this profile therefore heavily depends on the employer's pension plan — the annual BVG pension statement provides the exact detail.

On which lines do — or do not — personal tax deductions (pillar 3a, BVG buy-backs) appear?

None of the major optional tax deductions appear on the monthly payslip of a resident taxed under the ordinary assessment procedure. The pillar 3a contribution (deductible up to CHF 7,258 in 2026 for an employee affiliated to a pension fund), the BVG/LPP buy-back for missing contribution years, the retroactive pillar 3a buy-back created on 1.1.2025 (Art. 7a BVV 3/OPP 3) — all of these are deducted at the annual tax return stage, not month by month on the payslip. Practical consequence: the tax saving from a pillar 3a contribution never shows on the salary statement; it surfaces later on the reduced cantonal and communal tax bill, or on the federal direct tax refund.

Exception for those taxed at source: a cross-border worker or B/L permit holder can request a withholding tax rectification (FTA reference page in French) by 31 March of the following year, attaching evidence of pillar 3a payments, childcare costs and BVG/LPP buy-backs. The rectification gives rise to a withholding tax refund paid separately. For worldwide incomes earned ≥ 90% in Switzerland, subsequent ordinary assessment (Art. 99a DBG/LIFD) is more favourable: it opens all ordinary-regime deductions.

The net salary calculator integrates these optional deductions in "annual tax simulation" mode to give a gross → net view after pillar 3a and BVG/LPP buy-back optimisation, and quantifies the tax saving by canton.

What differences exist between a cross-border worker's payslip and that of a Swiss resident?

A cross-border worker's payslip is identical to a resident's for Swiss social contributions: same 5.3% OASI/DI/LEC, same 1.1% unemployment insurance, same NBU premium, same BVG/LPP. The lex loci laboris principle (law of the place of work) drawn from Regulation (EC) 883/2004 imposes social cover in the country of employment for EU/EFTA cross-border workers — so Switzerland for a cross-border worker working in Switzerland, even if they live in France or Germany.

The only operational difference visible on the payslip: the withholding tax line is mandatory for the cross-border worker (no Swiss tax domicile). The canton of work levies the withholding tax according to its own scales; for FR-CH cross-border workers from the 8 signatory cantons of the agreement of 11 April 1983 (BE, BS, BL, JU, NE, SO, VD, VS — German official version linked; EN version not available), Switzerland transfers 4.5% of the gross salary back to France, and the cross-border worker pays tax directly in France — the withholding tax line on their payslip is then zero or matches the retrocession. For Geneva cross-border workers (international regime outside the 1983 agreement), withholding tax is fully levied in Switzerland.

Special case cross-border telework: since the EU/EFTA multilateral agreement of 1 July 2023 and the Franco-Swiss addendum of 27 June 2023, a cross-border worker can teleworking up to 49.9% of their time from their country of residence without changing social-security affiliation (social threshold), and up to 40% on the Franco-Swiss tax side without triggering partial taxation in France. The payslip stays identical as long as these thresholds are not crossed — for details on threshold effects and country-by-country rules, see the evergreen guide to the 40% tax and 49.9% social thresholds for cross-border workers.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I see 5.3% and not 6.4% on my OASI/DI/LEC line?

5.3% is only the employee share (4.35% OASI + 0.7% DI + 0.25% LEC). The employer share, of the same amount, is paid in parallel by the company directly to the compensation fund — it does not appear on your payslip. The combined total is 10.6%, but you only bear 5.3% of your gross.

Why does the BVG/LPP line vary from month to month?

Is the 13th-month salary subject to the same contributions as base salary?

What is the difference between gross salary and OASI salary?

My employer also pays charges — how do I know the total cost?

Do I need to keep my payslips in Switzerland, and for how long?

What happens on my payslip when I change canton?

Does an unpaid internship or apprenticeship trigger social deductions?

Why is the NBU premium on my payslip higher than my colleague's?

Is federal direct tax deducted separately on the payslip?

For complex personal situations (pillar 3a, BVG/LPP buy-backs, quasi-resident status, atypical supplementary pension plan), seek the advice of a certified trust company (fiduciaire) or accredited pension advisor — the payslip only materialises legal parameters, but your annual tax optimisation plays out elsewhere.