Taxed at source in Zurich: when you must file a tax return (2026)

How the subsequent ordinary assessment works in Zurich

On a B permit, your employer deducts tax from your salary every month. In some situations that is not enough, and you file a normal Swiss tax return on top. The procedure is called the subsequent ordinary assessment (nachträgliche ordentliche Veranlagung, NOV). The tax office then works with your actual income, assets and deductions, and the tax at source already deducted is credited without interest.

The framework comes from federal law and applies in every canton: if your gross salary reaches CHF 120,000 or more in a tax year, you are assessed under the ordinary rules (federal Ordinance on Tax at Source, Art. 9). For married couples, each salary counts on its own. If you are only taxable in Switzerland for part of the year, for example after moving here from abroad, only your regular salary is scaled up to twelve months. One off payments such as a bonus count as paid. And once you are in the NOV, you stay in it until tax at source ends for you. What the other cantons require is in our comparison of all cantons.

This article covers what applies on top of that in the canton of Zurich. Tax year 2026, checked October 2026.

Who has to file a tax return in Zurich

If your salary is below CHF 120,000, one of the following conditions is enough in Zurich. The rules are set in the Zurich tax manual no. 87.3 (Zürcher Steuerbuch), the cantonal tax office's information sheet on tax at source, valid from 1 January 2024, margin no. 14 para. 1:

• You want to reclaim withholding tax (Verrechnungssteuer).
• You have income from self employment, such as a side business. There is no minimum amount.
• Your income not taxed at source is CHF 3,000 or more. This includes interest, dividends or rent, but not self employed income, which the point above already covers.
• Your taxable assets are CHF 80,000 or more. For married couples taxed together, the line is CHF 160,000 or more combined.

No deductions are taken into account for these thresholds (margin no. 14 para. 1, last sentence). According to the tax office page Quellensteuerpflichtige Personen (as at 10 September 2026), property abroad and its income do not count. Whether debts may be deducted from your assets, the tax manual does not say explicitly. If a debt is the only reason you are below CHF 80,000, we clarify this for your case.

Important: for these reasons, you have to act. The tax office does not necessarily know about your portfolio. For a salary of CHF 120,000 or more, on the other hand, the office starts the assessment on its own.

Zurich thresholds 2026 and their sources

The cantonal tax office sets these amounts under § 8 para. 3 lit. a of the Zurich Ordinance on Tax at Source I (LS 631.41). The same amounts appear in the information sheet for employees taxed at source (in German), valid for payments due from 1 January 2026, section 13.1.

A note on wording: the tax manual and the information sheet say “mindestens”, which means “at least”. The canton's application page (as at 7 September 2026) says “über”, meaning “above”. This only matters if you are exactly on the line. The tax manual is the binding text, so the obligation already applies at exactly CHF 80,000.

If you moved to Switzerland from abroad during the year, the tax manual only regulates the scaling for your salary (margin no. 13 para. 2). None of the sources we checked says whether the CHF 3,000, CHF 80,000 or CHF 160,000 are scaled. We clarify that for your case.

Application, form and deadline in Zurich

• Deadline: 31 March of the following year. For the tax year 2026 that is 31 March 2027. For a voluntary application this deadline cannot be extended (Zurich application page).
• How: only electronically through ZHServices. Married couples both submit it (Zurich tax manual no. 87.3 margin no. 15 para. 3).
• Formal errors: if the application is not in the right form, you get ten days to fix it. After that, the office will not consider it and the tax at source deducted becomes final (margin no. 15 para. 4).
• Leaving Switzerland: the deadline for the application ends when you deregister. If you do not deregister properly, it counts as expired on the day you actually leave (Ordinance on Tax at Source I, § 9 para. 2). If you are already in the NOV, you are assessed for the part of the year until your tax liability ends (margin no. 16).
• Moving to another canton: the canton where you live at the end of the tax period is responsible for the whole year (Zurich Tax Act § 104 para. 4 with Art. 38 para. 4 of the federal Tax Harmonisation Act).

The responsible office is the Kantonales Steueramt Zürich, Privatpersonen, Quellensteuer, Bändliweg 21, 8090 Zürich, quellensteuer@zh.ch, phone +41 43 259 37 00 (information sheet 2026, section 16). The Zurich Tax Act (§ 93 para. 3) names the municipal tax office for requesting the forms. The tax manual and the information sheet point to the cantonal tax office and ZHServices. That is the route we recommend.

If you crossed a threshold in past years and did not report it, the tax office can open the assessment on its own for the last five tax periods. Older years fall under the back tax procedure (margin no. 14 para. 3).

Choosing the ordinary assessment voluntarily: is it worth it?

If none of the conditions applies, you can still apply for the NOV, also by 31 March through ZHServices (margin no. 15 para. 1). It is interesting if you have deductions the monthly deduction ignores, such as pillar 3a contributions. The numbers are in our article on pillar 3a with a B permit.

Before you decide: the application cannot be withdrawn (Ordinance on Tax at Source I, § 9 para. 4). From then on you file a tax return every year until tax at source ends for you, including years in which the result is higher than the tax at source.

Example from Zurich

Elena is single and lives in Winterthur. Her gross salary for 2026 is CHF 95,000, so below CHF 120,000. On 31 December 2026 she has CHF 30,000 in a savings account and securities worth CHF 60,000. She has no debts.

Together that is CHF 90,000, more than the Zurich line of CHF 80,000 for a single person. Elena therefore has to apply for the subsequent ordinary assessment through ZHServices by 31 March 2027 and file a tax return for 2026. From then on this applies every year until her tax at source ends.

Check your own case

The calculator on our page about the tax return with a B permit opens with Zurich selected. It asks for your civil status, salary, assets and income and shows you whether you need to act.

Sources and status

All information applies to the tax year 2026 and was checked in October 2026. This article does not replace individual advice. The official documents are in German.

• Zurich tax manual no. 87.3, information sheet of the cantonal tax office on tax at source for employees, valid from 1 January 2024, margin no. 13 to 16
• Information sheet on tax at source, valid for payments due from 1 January 2026, sections 13.1 and 16
• Zurich Ordinance on Tax at Source I (LS 631.41), § 8 and § 9
• Zurich Tax Act (LS 631.1), § 93, § 93a and § 104 para. 4
• Tax office page for people taxed at source, as at 10 September 2026, and the application page for the subsequent ordinary assessment, as at 7 September 2026
• Federal Ordinance on Tax at Source (SR 642.118.2), Art. 9 and 10

Rather not fill in the tax return yourself? We take care of it for you, see your Zurich tax return with FIN.

Related FIN services

• Tax return in Zurich
• B-Permit Tax Return
• Taxed at source: thresholds of all cantons
• Wrong tax at source deduction in Zurich
• The 5 most important deductions in Zurich
• Tax return deadlines 2026 by canton