What this is about
People posted to Switzerland for a few years often pay twice: the home abroad keeps running, and a second one is added here. Swiss tax law has a deduction built for exactly that — the special professional expenses of expatriates. How it works in general is set out in our guide to the deduction. This article is about the canton of Basel-Landschaft.
Who counts as an expatriate
Before the cantonal level matters at all, the basic condition has to be met. Art. 1 para. 1 ExpaV covers two groups: managers and specialists with particular professional qualifications who are posted to Switzerland temporarily by their foreign employer. Not everyone who comes to Switzerland on a fixed-term basis meets that test.
What "temporary" means is set out in Art. 1 para. 2 ExpaV: employment limited to a maximum of five years. And under Art. 1 para. 3 ExpaV the deduction falls away in any case where fixed-term employment is replaced by permanent employment — even if the five years have not been used up.
The legal basis in Basel-Landschaft
For cantonal and communal tax, Art. 29 of the cantonal tax act applies — the provision on the other costs required to carry out your profession. The special professional expenses of expatriates are given shape by the federal Expatriates Ordinance, which applies directly to federal direct tax.
Basel-Landschaft publishes its own practice: circular no. 511 of the Basel-Landschaft tax administration on the deduction of special professional expenses for expatriates (dated 21 January 2016). You can therefore read in advance how the canton reviews the deduction.
How Basel-Landschaft handles the deduction
Basel-Landschaft does something no other canton in the series states as clearly: the circular expressly confirms that the provisions of the Expatriates Ordinance are applied in practice to cantonal and communal tax as well. That settles any discussion about whether the ordinance is followed at cantonal level.
Two points Basel-Landschaft clarifies expressly
A rented-out home abroad means no deduction. The circular says so directly — if the home abroad is rented out, the housing deduction falls away. That is the same logic as under federal law, only stated more plainly.
The intention to return is central. Basel-Landschaft stresses that alongside fixed-term employment, what matters is the intention to return abroad, referring to a decision of the cantonal tax court. Anyone claiming the status should be able to derive that intention from the contractual documents.
Also worth noting is the transitional point: anyone who already qualified as an expatriate when the revision came into force could keep the status until the end of the current assignment period — even if they would no longer qualify under the new, narrower rules.
Example: residence and workplace in different cantons
An assignee works in Basel-Stadt and lives in Binningen: CHF 3,400 net rent plus CHF 230 utilities. Her home abroad stands empty and is not rented out.
- Effective housing costs: CHF 3,400 × 12 = CHF 40,800
- Governing: the practice of Basel-Landschaft, not that of the workplace
- Flat rate: CHF 18,000 for housing, relocation and travel together
Had she sublet the home abroad, the deduction would have fallen away — the circular is unambiguous on that point.
What to watch for in Basel-Landschaft
Many assignees work in Basel-Stadt and live in Basel-Landschaft. The canton of residence governs the deduction — and the two Basels handle reasonableness differently: Basel-Stadt names a 20 percent limit, Basel-Landschaft relies on the ordinance.
Regardless of canton, it is almost always the same points that cost people the deduction: gross rent claimed instead of net rent, the wrong provision cited, rate determination overlooked when arriving or leaving mid-year, or the home abroad left undocumented. The details are in our guide to the deduction, and what applies to travel and relocation costs is in the article on those.
Who carried the costs is decisive
What matters is who bears the costs economically and how any employer reimbursement is treated for tax purposes. An actual reimbursement against receipts generally rules out an additional deduction. Where a lump sum is paid and added to taxable gross salary in the salary statement, a deduction remains possible.
Every case is different — the potential usually is not
Whether and how much you can deduct depends on your situation: how the assignment is set up, your employment contract, your housing situation abroad, and who actually carried the costs. This article sets out the principles and a simplified example; it does not replace individual advice. What does generalise: on fixed-term assignments, deductions are regularly left on the table — a second look is almost always worth it.