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 Zug.
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 Zug
For cantonal and communal tax, Art. 25 para. 1 lit. c 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.
Zug publishes its own practice: Zug tax book, section 16.8 on the special professional expenses of expatriates (updated on an ongoing basis). You can therefore read in advance how the canton reviews the deduction.
How Zug handles the deduction
Zug covers the topic in its tax book with separate sections for expatriates resident in Switzerland and abroad — and, unusually, with its own section on the reasonableness of housing costs.
Zug works with reference values for rent
This is what sets Zug apart from most other cantons: reasonable housing costs are in principle the rent actually paid in Switzerland. A rent that does not match the position, salary and family situation — in other words, too luxurious — can be reduced. As a guideline the tax book gives reference values by net salary II and marital status, applicable from tax period 2009 and understood as annual rent including utilities:
- net salary II up to CHF 250,000: CHF 30,000 single, CHF 42,000 married
- CHF 250,001 to 500,000: CHF 42,000 and CHF 54,000 respectively
- CHF 500,001 to 1,000,000: CHF 54,000 and CHF 66,000 respectively
- above CHF 1,000,001: CHF 66,000 and CHF 78,000 respectively
Two things need to be kept apart. The reference values are reasonableness limits and are stated including utilities — whereas the deduction itself covers the net rent, since utilities are excluded under Art. 3 lit. b ExpaV. And the limit depends on salary: at a net salary II of CHF 240,000, a gross rent of CHF 4,000 a month adds up to CHF 48,000 a year, well above the reference value of CHF 30,000.
Example: arriving mid-year
An IT specialist moves to Zug on 1 April and rents at CHF 3,600 net plus CHF 240 utilities. Tax liability therefore covers nine months. Only housing costs are considered here — relocation and travel costs would be added under the effective option.
- Effective housing costs: CHF 3,600 × 9 months = CHF 32,400
- Flat rate: CHF 1,500 × 9 = CHF 13,500, covering housing, relocation and travel together
- Rate determination: to be assessed separately with part-year liability
With part-year tax liability, it must additionally be assessed to what extent the deduction is annualised for rate determination purposes.
What to watch for in Zug
Zug attracts many group functions, so assignments are common. If you rent above the reference value, be ready to justify the reasonableness — for instance with the market situation when the lease was signed.
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.