Selling a Swiss Holiday Home as a Foreigner: Tax and Lex Koller Rules

When you sell a Swiss holiday home as a foreigner, the main tax is the cantonal property gains tax on your profit, levied by the canton where the property lies. The Confederation does not tax private property gains (Federal Tax Administration). All cantons tax short holding periods more heavily, so selling after only one or two years can be expensive. Your buyer pool is shaped by Lex Koller and the Second Homes Act. This is general information, not tax advice; ask a Swiss tax advisor for a calculation before you commit to a sale.

Who Taxes the Gain

Switzerland taxes real estate gains where the property is located. For a chalet in Zermatt or Verbier, that is the Canton of Valais; for St. Moritz, Davos or Klosters, Graubünden; for Gstaad and Saanen, Bern. Your nationality and residence do not change the cantonal rules.

The taxable gain is, broadly, the sale price minus the investment costs: the purchase price, value-enhancing investments (not ordinary maintenance), and costs linked to buying and selling such as the usual broker commission. What exactly counts is defined by each canton.

Under the double-tax treaties Switzerland has concluded, gains from immovable property are generally taxable in the country where the property is located. Your country of residence then either exempts the gain or credits the Swiss tax, depending on the treaty and its own law. Check both sides before you sell.

Short-Holding Surcharges: Canton Examples

Every canton must tax short-term gains more heavily (Art. 12 para. 5 of the Tax Harmonisation Act). The details differ considerably. The figures below come from the Federal Tax Administration's overview for the 2025 tax period (ESTV, property gains tax) and the Canton of Zurich tariff.

Valais (Zermatt, Verbier, Crans-Montana, Saas-Fee)

Valais applies three base rates depending on the size of the gain, increased during the first five years of ownership:

Year of ownership	Gain up to CHF 50,000	CHF 50,001–100,000	Above CHF 100,000
1st year	19.2%	28.8%	38.4%
2nd year	18.0%	27.0%	36.0%
3rd year	15.6%	23.4%	31.2%
4th year	14.4%	21.6%	28.8%
5th year	13.2%	19.8%	26.4%
Base rate	12%	18%	24%
After 25 years	1%	2%	3%

Rates decline further with longer ownership until they reach the minimum after 25 years.

Example: selling in Zermatt after two years. Assume a taxable gain of CHF 300,000. Applying the rate for gains above CHF 100,000, a sale in the second year of ownership costs around CHF 108,000 (36%), in the third year around CHF 93,600 (31.2%), and at the base rate around CHF 72,000 (24%). This is a simplified illustration; the tax office calculates the exact amount, including the rules on deductible costs. The point is clear: a few months can be worth tens of thousands of francs.

Graubünden (St. Moritz, Davos, Klosters, Laax)

Graubünden applies a progressive tariff. If you sell within two years, the tax increases by 2% for each month the holding period falls short of two years. Selling after 14 months, for example, means 10 months short and a 20% surcharge. After more than ten years of ownership, the tax is reduced by 1.5% for each further full year, up to a maximum of 51%.

Bern (Gstaad, Saanen, Wengen, Grindelwald)

Bern calculates a simple tax on a progressive scale and multiplies it by the cantonal and communal tax rates. The surcharge for short holding periods is steep:

Holding period	Surcharge
Under 1 year	+70%
1 to under 2 years	+50%
2 to under 3 years	+35%
3 to under 4 years	+20%
4 to under 5 years	+10%

From five years of ownership, the taxable gain is reduced by 2% per year, up to 70%. Bern waives the surcharge in certain cases, for example a sale in the course of an estate liquidation or where the seller can show that any speculative intent is excluded.

Zurich, for comparison

Zurich's rates run from 10% to 40% of the gain. The tax increases by 50% for a holding period under one year and by 25% under two years, and it falls by 5% after five full years, rising step by step to 50% after 20 years. How timing interacts with the rest of a sale is covered in our owner's guide to selling property in Switzerland.

Other Costs of Selling Early

Mortgage prepayment

If your holiday home is financed with a fixed-rate mortgage, repaying it early usually triggers a prepayment penalty. Ask the bank for a figure early. Some banks allow the mortgage to be transferred to a replacement property or taken over by the buyer.

Commission and fees

Broker commissions in resort regions are often at the upper end of the Swiss range. Notary and land registry fees are cantonal. See our guide to real estate agent commission in Switzerland.

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Lex Koller: Who Can Buy Your Holiday Home

Lex Koller (the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Persons Abroad) mostly restricts buyers, not sellers. As a seller, it matters because it determines who can buy from you.

• Buyers without restrictions: Swiss citizens, EU/EFTA nationals living in Switzerland, and foreigners with a C permit can buy a holiday home without authorisation.
• Buyers living abroad: They need an authorisation from the canton. Holiday homes can be authorised only in designated tourist locations, within annual cantonal quotas, for natural persons buying in their own name, and usually up to around 200 m² of net living space.
• One holiday home per family: If the buyer, their spouse or a minor child already owns a holiday or second home in Switzerland, the authorisation is granted only on condition that the existing one is sold first.

Reselling to another foreign buyer

Under current rules, a sale from a foreign owner who bought with an authorisation to another person abroad still requires the buyer's authorisation, but it does not use up a unit of the cantonal quota. On 15 April 2026, the Federal Council opened a consultation proposing that every holiday-home purchase by a person abroad should count against the quota, and that quotas should be reduced (admin.ch). The consultation ran until 15 July 2026; the changes are not in force. If they are adopted, resale to foreign buyers could become harder in resorts where quotas are already scarce.

Cantons and tourist communes can also add their own restrictions. Read your original authorisation decision: it lists the conditions (for example on use and letting) that apply to your property. For the buyer's side, see our Lex Koller guide.

The Second Homes Act (Zweitwohnungsgesetz)

Since 2012, municipalities with more than 20% second homes may in principle not authorise new second homes. For sellers, the key distinction is:

• Flats that existed or were approved before 11 March 2012 can generally continue to be used and sold as second homes. Since 1 October 2024, the rules for renovating and extending them have been relaxed (HEV Schweiz).
• Newer flats may carry a restriction to use as a primary residence or as a tourist rental. Such restrictions are tied to the property, so they pass to the buyer and narrow the market.

Buyers and their banks will check which category your flat belongs to. Have the building permit and any land register notes ready. The status also affects price; our property valuation guide explains what else drives value.

Securing the Tax: What Buyers Expect

Cantons have a statutory lien on the property for the property gains tax. If the seller has moved abroad and cannot be reached for payment, the canton can enforce against the property, meaning the buyer's property (UBS). For that reason, buyers and their notaries usually insist that the expected tax is deposited with the tax authority or paid directly from the purchase price. Agree the mechanism in the purchase contract, and have the tax estimated beforehand so that the amount is realistic.

Practical Checklist Before You Sell

1. Get a tax calculation for your canton and holding period, and check whether waiting a few months would cross a surcharge step.
2. Ask your bank about the prepayment penalty on your mortgage.
3. Check your Lex Koller authorisation and any conditions attached to it.
4. Clarify the second-home status of the flat.
5. Check your home country's tax rules on foreign property gains.
6. Decide how to sell. A discreet sale avoids a public price history in a small resort where everyone knows everyone; our off-market vs on-market comparison weighs both routes. Our guide on selling without Homegate or ImmoScout24 explains how it works, and how long it takes to sell in Switzerland covers resort timelines.

About the Author

Benjamin Amos Wagner

Founder of Expat-Savvy.ch & Offlist | Connecting Expats with Homes