Einzelunternehmen — sole proprietorship, city of Zurich (federal + cantonal + communal tax, AHV/IV/EO, KVG)
Effective burden at €60k
31.0%
What you pay
- Family-allowance contribution (FAK, SVA Zürich) — 1% of profit (max 1,519/year) (deductible from profit)
- AHV/IV/EO old-age, disability and loss-of-earnings insurance (degressive scale) — rate on the whole profit, by band: 5.4% up to 17,600; 5.5% up to 23,000; 5.6% up to 25,500; 5.7% up to 28,000; 5.9% up to 30,500; 6% up to 33,000; 6.2% up to 35,500; 6.5% up to 38,000; 6.7% up to 40,500; 7% up to 43,000; 7.2% up to 45,500; 7.5% up to 48,000; 7.8% up to 50,500; 8.2% up to 53,000; 8.6% up to 55,500; 9% up to 58,000; 9.3% up to 60,500; 10% above (min 530/year) (deductible from profit)
- 03
Direct federal tax (direkte Bundessteuer 2026, single tariff)
Progressive scale · base: annual profit · allowance 15,200 CHF
Annual profit · CHF Rate ≤ 18,000 0.8% 18,000–28,300 0.9% 28,300–42,800 2.6% 42,800–61,000 3% 61,000–66,900 5.9% Annual profit · CHF Rate 66,900–93,700 6.6% 93,700–126,300 8.8% 126,300–169,900 11% > 169,900 13.2% - Mandatory health insurance (KVG basic cover, CHF 300 franchise) — fixed 639.8 per month (deductible from profit)
- 05
Cantonal + communal income tax (Zurich Grundtarif × 214%)
Progressive scale · base: annual profit · allowance 7,000 CHF
Annual profit · CHF Rate ≤ 5,000 4.3% 5,000–9,800 6.4% 9,800–17,800 8.6% 17,800–27,500 10.7% 27,500–38,700 12.8% 38,700–51,800 15% Annual profit · CHF Rate 51,800–69,400 17.1% 69,400–103,400 19.3% 103,400–137,100 21.4% 137,100–190,400 23.5% 190,400–259,700 25.7% > 259,700 27.8%
Eligibility
- Activities: it-services, consulting, liberal-professions, most-independent-activities
- Requires tax residency
- The baseline route for a freelancer in Switzerland: register as self-employed with the cantonal compensation office (SVA), which decides self-employed status case by case on the economic facts, not on your contract. Profit = revenue − actual business expenses. There is no lump-sum or flat-rate regime for the self-employed; the expense slider is the only lever on the base. Modelled for a SINGLE taxpayer with no children resident in the city of Zurich — Switzerland taxes income at three levels and the cantonal/communal part varies several-fold between cantons, so this scheme is Zurich-specific by construction.
Net income examples
| Gross/year | Net/year | Burden |
|---|---|---|
| 30,000 EUR | 18,685 EUR | 37.7% |
| 60,000 EUR | 41,402 EUR | 31.0% |
| 120,000 EUR | 82,592 EUR | 31.2% |
Computed by our open tax engine — assumes no deductible expenses, full-year tax residency. Rules as of Jan 1, 2026.
Important context
Read the health-insurance line first: Switzerland has no public health contribution, but KVG/LAMal basic cover is compulsory for every resident, so it belongs in "income tax + mandatory social and health contributions". It is a FLAT premium, not a percentage — CHF 7,677.60/year here (the median of the 27 approved 2026 standard-model premiums for an adult in premium region ZH1, lowest CHF 300 franchise, accident cover included). That single fact drives the shape of the Swiss burden: it is heavy on modest incomes and light on large ones. Choosing a family-doctor or telemedicine model and a CHF 2,500 franchise cuts it to roughly CHF 4,000/year, which the model does not do for you. The AHV/IV/EO scale is DEGRESSIVE, not flat: 10.0% only from CHF 60,500 of income, falling in seventeen steps to 5.371% at the bottom, with a CHF 530 minimum. Each band's rate applies to the whole income, so the amount jumps at every edge — modelled with the `banded-rate` component added for this scheme (ADR-045). The published scale reads "of at least X but less than Y"; the engine reads "up to and including Y", so an income landing exactly on a band edge is charged the lower rate. Ordering and its residual error: FAK is computed on profit before any contribution deduction and AHV on profit after FAK, which is how the compensation offices treat FAK (an ordinary business expense) but leaves the usual circularity — AHV contributions are added back to the tax-assessed income to form their own base. NOT modelled: the compensation office's administration surcharge (max 5% of the AHV/IV/EO contribution, so under CHF 400 here); the FEDERAL insurance-premium deduction, whose 2026 amount was not confirmed at an official source, which overstates the federal tax line by roughly CHF 80 at a CHF 56,000 revenue; church tax (only for registered members of a recognised church, roughly +10 percentage points of Steuerfuss); the Vermögenssteuer (Zurich taxes net wealth above CHF 81,000, which depends on assets rather than income); and pillar 3a, the single largest lever a Swiss freelancer has — someone with no occupational pension may deduct up to 20% of net earned income, which the model deliberately leaves out so the figure is the maximum-tax case. The cantonal and communal tax is expressed by multiplying the § 35 StG Grundtarif rates by 214% (canton 95% + city of Zurich 119%) rather than as a separate multiplier, because the DSL has no multiplier; the arithmetic is exact. A different Swiss commune changes only that factor and can move the total burden by several points.