Heidi › Cross-border workers
How much do you take home in Switzerland as a cross-border worker?
The Swiss social security contributions taken off your payslip come to about 11 to 15% of the gross. That is far less than in France — but the payslip only tells you the start of the story.
Three heavy costs never appear on it: tax, health insurance and the commute. They are what makes the difference between a salary that impresses and a take-home figure that disappoints.
And a fourth, invisible one is added: currency exchange. You are paid in francs, you live in euros, and a few centimes of difference in the rate comes to several hundred euros a year.
AVS, the biggest line on the payslip
Plus 1.1% for unemployment and about 1.3% for non-occupational accident cover.
Where you pay your taxes in France
Everywhere else, Geneva included, tax is withheld at source.
Step 1 — What the payslip takes off
| Deduction | Employee rate | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| AVS, AI, APG | 5.3% | Basic pension, disability, loss of earnings |
| Unemployment insurance | 1.1% | With a reduced solidarity rate above the ceiling |
| Non-occupational accident | ≈ 1.3% | Accidents in your private life |
| Pension fund (LPP) | ≈ 5% | Your 2nd pillar. Rises with age, from 7% to 18% shared with your employer |
| Total taken off | ≈ 11 to 15% | Depending on your age and your pension fund |
On a salary of 6,500 francs a month, that comes to about 800 francs of deductions, so a payslip net of around 5,700 francs.
They pay their own share of AVS, unemployment and LPP, plus occupational accident insurance and family allowances. What you really cost them is well above your gross — which is why Swiss salaries are high and employee contributions low.
Step 2 — Your tax depends on your canton
This is the French-Swiss quirk everyone discovers too late: two cross-border workers on the same salary do not pay their tax in the same place.
| The canton you work in | Where you pay | How |
|---|---|---|
| Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Jura, Bern, Solothurn, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft | In France | Nothing is withheld in Switzerland. You declare and pay in France, later on |
| Geneva, and all the other cantons | In Switzerland | Withholding tax, taken straight off the payslip |
In the eight cantons covered by the 1983 agreement, your Swiss exemption rests on one piece of paper: the certificate of tax residence, stamped by the French tax authorities, to be given to your employer before 1st January.
Without it, your employer has to deduct withholding tax. You then pay twice, and getting it back takes months.
And this regime has a hidden cost for you: since nothing is deducted, the French tax bill lands in one go, the following year. Many new cross-border workers have not set the money aside.
Step 3 — The three costs that are not on the payslip
| Cost | Rough size | Why it catches people out |
|---|---|---|
| Health insurance | 8% of your taxable income under the CMU, or a premium per person under LAMal | It never shows up on the Swiss payslip |
| Currency exchange | From 0.5% to over 2% depending on your bank | Taken quietly on every conversion, twelve times a year |
| The commute | Fuel, tolls, parking or a season ticket, wear on the car | Two hours a day and several hundred euros a month |
Gross − contributions − tax − health insurance − currency exchange − commute
That full line is what you should compare with a French salary, not the Swiss gross.
Look at the real exchange rate your bank gives you, not the one quoted in the press. The gap between a traditional bank and a multi-currency account is often more than 1.5% — on 70,000 francs a year, that is over 1,000 francs of difference, for exactly the same transfer.
It is the only item on this page you can improve in an afternoon, without negotiating with anyone.
What about the 13th salary?
Very common in Switzerland, it is not compulsory: your contract tells you. Where it exists, it is usually paid in November or December, sometimes spread over the year.
Beware the shortcut: a 13th salary is not "one free extra month". It is subject to the same contributions and the same tax as the rest, and it pushes up your annual income — so your tax band, and your health contribution if you are on the CMU.
The three most common mistakes
- Comparing the Swiss gross with the French net. That is the comparison that makes people dream, and it is the wrong one. Compare net after tax, health insurance and the commute.
- Forgetting to set money aside for French tax. In the eight cantons covered by the agreement, nothing is deducted: the bill arrives all at once, the following year.
- Letting your bank handle the exchange. It is the easiest item to cut, and the one most often ignored.
Your canton, your age, your family, your commute: how much are you really left with?
Heidi's cross-border mode runs through the whole cascade.
The questionnaire, the regime that applies, the thresholds and the deadlines are free. The figures — net pay, the full cascade, the cost of commuting — are in Heidi Plus.
Read next
- Retirement as a cross-border worker: AVS, the second pillar and the second right to choose
- Family allowances for cross-border workers: Switzerland or France?
- What happens to my second pillar when I leave my Swiss job?
- Unemployment as a cross-border worker: where to register, who pays and how much?
- G permit: conditions, going home and changing employer
- Quasi-resident status: who can apply, and by when?
- Who gets my taxes as a cross-border worker: France or Switzerland?
- Cross-border workers: LAMal or French cover? The right to choose explained
- How many days of remote work can I do without losing my cross-border worker status?
- How does the Swiss three-pillar pension system work?
Sources
- Frontaliers Grand Est — The 1983 agreement and the eight cantons it covers
- Social security contributions and pension cover for cross-border workers: rates and a sample payslip
Page written by the Heidi team and updated on 13 November 2026. The contribution rates are those that apply to employees in Switzerland; the LPP share depends on your age, your coordinated salary and the rules of your pension fund. The amounts given as examples are for illustration.