Heidi › Cross-border workers
Quasi-resident status: who can apply, and by when?
At least 90% of your household's worldwide gross income has to be taxable in Switzerland. For a couple, both partners are added together — and a single French salary is enough to break the count.
The application goes in before 31 March of the year after the one concerned. It is irrevocable for that year, even if the outcome goes against you, and it has to be made again every year.
What the status opens up: your actual expenses instead of the flat-rate allowances in the tax scale — travel, meals, 3rd pillar, childcare, mortgage interest. It is the only way to claim them when you are taxed at source.
Of worldwide gross income taxable in Switzerland
Worked out across the whole household, partner included.
The last day to apply
For the previous year. Nothing can be caught up after that.
How the 90% is worked out
Income taxable in Switzerland ÷ household worldwide gross income ≥ 90%
Everything counts: salaries, rent, investment income, allowances, from both partners, in both countries.
This is where most applications fall down. Two examples published by the Geneva tax authorities themselves:
| Situation | Share taxable in Switzerland | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Person living in France, with some French income on the side | 75.64% | Refused |
| Couple whose partner works in the canton of Vaud | 68.18% | Refused |
The second example catches everyone out: the partner really does work in Switzerland, but in a canton covered by the 1983 agreement, where the salary is taxed in France. So that income does not count towards the 90% — it even works against you, because it swells the denominator.
The upshot: a couple with both partners working in Switzerland can easily fail the test, while a single person in Geneva passes it without trouble.
What the status lets you deduct
| Deduction | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Travel costs | Your actual costs between home and work, instead of the flat rate |
| Meal costs | Meals taken away from home on working days |
| 3rd pillar (3a) | Your payments for the year, up to the legal ceiling |
| Pension fund buy-ins | Often the biggest deduction, and the most often forgotten |
| Childcare costs | Nursery, childminder, after-school care |
| Mortgage interest | The interest on your loans, including on a property in France |
A correction is there to put right a mistake: a marriage that was not reported, a child left out, the wrong code. It gives you access to no deductions at all.
Quasi-resident status opens up ordinary taxation, and with it your actual expenses. These are two different steps, often mixed up — and they have neither the same conditions nor the same consequences.
Why it can backfire
The status does more than add deductions: it brings all of the household's income into the calculation of your tax rate, including your partner's and anything from a French source.
In other words, you gain deductions but you may move up a band. For a couple on two salaries, or with rental income, the result is often worse than withholding tax. And because the application is irrevocable for the year, there is no way back.
Run the simulation before you apply, every year. Your situation changes — a pension fund buy-in, a child in nursery, a partner going back to work — and the status can win you money one year and cost you the next.
And mind the order of things: 3a payments and pension fund buy-ins have to be made before 31 December. On 1st January it is too late for the year just gone, even though you have until 31 March to apply.
The process, in three steps
-
Gather the household's worldwide income
All gross income, from both partners, in both countries: salaries, rent, investments, allowances. That is the denominator of your calculation.
-
Check that the ratio reaches 90%
The Geneva tax authorities provide a calculator. Below the threshold the application will be refused, and applying anyway gets you nowhere.
-
Apply before 31 March
With the receipts for your actual expenses. The application covers one year only, and it is final once it is in.
The three most common mistakes
- Counting the Vaud partner's salary towards the 90%. It is taxed in France, so it does not count — and it drags your ratio down.
- Applying without running the numbers. The status is irrevocable for the year, even if it costs you more.
- Thinking it is settled once and for all. The application has to be made again every year, and the right is lost as quickly as it is won.
Do you reach the 90%, and would the status win or lose you money?
Heidi's cross-border mode runs both calculations.
The questionnaire, the rules that apply to you, the thresholds and the deadlines are free. The figures — net pay, the cascade, the cost of the commute — 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
- Who gets my taxes as a cross-border worker: France or Switzerland?
- How much do you take home in Switzerland as a cross-border worker?
- How does the Swiss three-pillar pension system work?
Sources
- République et canton de Genève — Determining quasi-resident status
- Frontaliers Grand Est — Tax deductions and quasi-resident status
Page written by the Heidi team and updated on 13 November 2026. Quasi-resident status applies to people taxed at source who live outside Switzerland; the arrangements and the forms are a matter for each canton. The decision rests with the cantonal tax authorities.