Shares in %
2025 receipts
Value added tax: 27 870 mn
Direct federal tax: 30 480 mn
Withholding tax: 6 291 mn
Mineral oil tax: 4 276 mn
Stamp duty: 2 480 mn
Tobacco duty: 1 980 mn
Other tax receipts: 6 807 mn
Nontax receipts: 4 509 mn
Investment receipts: 985 mn
VAT accounts for 32.5% of receipts, making it the most important source of receipts for the Confederation, together with direct federal tax. Domestic consumption is taxed. This includes the acquisition of domestic goods and services, as well as imports. Exports are not subject to VAT.
Direct federal tax accounts for 35.6% of receipts. Together with value added tax, it is the most important source of receipts for the Confederation. Direct federal tax is levied on the income of natural persons and on the net profit of legal entities. The proportions of income tax and profit tax receipts are more or less balanced at 48% and 52%, respectively, of direct federal tax. The 2025 receipts are derived mainly from taxable income and profits from 2024. Starting in 2026, receipts from the supplementary tax should be generated in addition with the implementation of OECD minimum taxation.
Withholding tax accounts for 7.3% of total receipts. It is designed as a safeguard tax for direct taxes and is intended to ensure that income from movable capital assets is taxed (especially dividends and interest income). The receipts arise from the difference between funds received and reimbursed (including the provision for refunds still expected), and can fluctuate considerably from year to year.
The consumption tax levied on petroleum and fuel, among other things, will amount to 5.0% of receipts in 2025. Overall, around three quarters of these receipts are earmarked for road transportation and aviation (60% of the basic tax and all of the surtax). Receipts have been trending downward since 2008. This is due to the fact that, on the one hand, engines are becoming increasingly efficient and, on the other, the number of electric vehicles is growing.
Stamp duty accounts for 2.9% of receipts. Transfer stamp tax, which accounts for more than half of stamp duty, is levied on purchases and sales of Swiss and foreign securities. The revenue from transfer stamp tax depends primarily on the volume of taxable securities turnover of Swiss securities dealers. The issue tax on the accumulation of net assets/equity fluctuates considerably, as it depends on the equity requirements of companies. The third component is insurance premium stamp duty, which is collected on certain insurance premiums and whose trend is relatively stable.
Tobacco duty accounts for 2.3% of receipts. This duty is levied on domestically manufactured and imported tobacco products and substitutes. The revenue is used to co-finance the federal AHV contribution. Receipts have been trending downward since 2012, falling by around 2% annually.
Other tax receipts consist essentially of transportation levies (e.g. heavy vehicle charge and motorway tax), incentive fees (e.g. CO2 tax), the grid supplement and import duties. They account for 7.9% of total receipts. Effective since 2024, import duties on industrial products have been abolished, while customs duties on agricultural products remain.
Nontax receipts account for 5.3% of receipts. Among other things, they include receipts from royalties and concessions, such as profit distributions from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to the Confederation. Starting from 2024, only the basic amount has been budgeted (667 mn). Nontax receipts also include items such as the military service exemption tax, cantonal contributions (e.g. cantonal contributions to the railway infrastructure fund), miscellaneous receipts (e.g. building receipts) and financial receipts (e.g. interest receipts).
Investment receipts account for 1.1% of receipts. In 2025, 80% of these receipts will come from dividend distributions by companies with a federal stake (including Swisscom, Swiss Post and RUAG). Other investment receipts will be generated by the repayment of loans and the sale of tangible fixed assets.
Development of 2025 receipts
in CHF bn and % of GDP
Relative to the June 2024 estimate, receipts will climb by 3.8% in 2025, making receipt growth stronger than nominal GDP growth (+2.8%). Consequently, the receipt ratio will rise from 10.1% to 10.2% of GDP.
Development of selected 2025 receipts
in CHF mn and %
Receipts of 85.7 billion are expected in 2025, which is 3.2% more than in the previous year's budget. The current estimate for 2024 is somewhat lower than in the 2024 budget (-0.4 bn), due primarily to the absence of the budgeted profit distribution by the Swiss National Bank (2024 budget: 0.7 bn).
Relative to the estimate, receipts will grow by 3.7% in 2025 (+3.0 bn). This growth is mainly attributable to direct federal tax and value added tax (+1.0 bn each), as well as the SNB's profit distribution (+0.7 bn), which has been included in the budget once again.
With regard to direct federal tax, income tax will grow substantially (+0.6 bn) on the back of rising household income in the 2024 tax year and the progressive tax rate. The profit tax estimate for 2024 has been revised sharply upward in light of the receipts earned in the first few months of the year. Relative to the estimate, growth in line with nominal economic growth is expected for 2025 (+2.8%, or +0.4 bn). The 2024 VAT estimate has been revised downward due to slower nominal economic growth. Compared to the estimate, an increase of 3.9% is expected in 2025 (+1 bn), which is greater than the nominal economic growth rate (+2.8%). This is attributable to the VAT increase in favor of AHV in 2024. Some of the additional receipts will not be realized until 2025 (+0.3 bn) because of the time lag caused by tax collection.
Data
Detailed data for longer periods are available under the following links:
- Link data portal
- Link Open Government Data
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Last modification 22.08.2024