Switzerland is unfair to married couples
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Marriage is a great thing in which I believe. However, few people know that in Switzerland, you are sometimes better off financially if you are unmarried. There are several disadvantages to being married in Switzerland.
To be precise, married couples with two working spouses have substantial disadvantages over unmarried couples with two working spouses. If only one spouse is working, there could be some advantages to getting married.
Please do not take me wrong; I am not saying you should not get married! We got married last year, and I do not regret it at all. Marriage is about love, not about money!
I think it is essential to know these differences. And it is crucial for your financial future to evaluate the consequences of getting married.
So in this article, we see what financial differences there are between a married couple and an unmarried couple. You will see some substantial differences in taxes and retirement for married couples.
Marriage in Switzerland
In Switzerland, everybody has a civil status: married, single, divorced, or separated. Civil status is an official status that the government keeps track of.
That means that every marriage is made in front of the law. People can then also do a religious marriage. But the religious marriage is optional and does not matter to the government.
For the administration, several things depend on whether you are married or not. We see two things that are very different: taxes and retirement.
Taxes
Whether you are married or not, one thing that will change is the amount of taxes you will pay. If you are unmarried, you will fill out two declarations for taxes, but you will fill out a single one if you marry. The difference is that in the latter case, both your incomes will be accumulated together.
You may think this is the same, but there is a big difference. If you add two incomes together, you will pay more taxes than if you pay separate taxes on both incomes. The reason is that the more income you get, the more taxes you will pay for extra income. Each additional dollar you earn is taxed at increasing marginal tax rates. So, if you both have a significant income, you may pay a lot more.
Since Switzerland is a federal republic, it gets more complicated because each canton has different rules. Some cantons are trying to compensate for the fact that married couples are penalized. It will depend on which canton you are living in. You need to get information from your canton tax department. In most cantons, married couples will pay more.
On the other hand, in a few cantons, they will both pay the same. And in some cantons, it is better to marry. Overall, married couples are disadvantaged in Switzerland.
If you have only one income, this will make very little difference in most cantons. You could save on taxes in several cantons.
I am currently living in Fribourg, Switzerland. I am pretty lucky because, in this canton, it is not bad financially to marry (on the other hand, taxes are bad). There is a slight tax advantage to being married in Fribourg. It is especially true when we have only one salary, as we currently have.
In 2026, we voted to switch to individual taxation. This new tax reform will come into effect no later than in 2032. At this point, married and unmarried couples will pay the same taxes.
Retirement pension
Another thing that is highly unfair to Swiss couples is the retirement pension.
The first pillar pension is highly unfair to married couples. The maximum pension for a single person is 2350 CHF per month. So an unmarried couple will get 4700 CHF per month. But a married couple will only get 3525 CHF per month. This pension is more than 1000 CHF less per month than if they did not marry. If we divorced before retirement, we could get more than 1000 CHF per month. We are not considering doing that at all. But, sadly, this is the case.
I think this is bad. The reasons for this unfairness are ancient. They date back to when only the man was working and bringing money for the family. Therefore, when they started the first pillar, they decided that the wife’s contribution was less critical, and therefore, in retirement, the man should get more than the wife, hence only the 150% for a married couple. This situation may have been the case in the past. But this is not the case anymore. We should fix this situation. There was a discussion about that. However, Swiss people refused it because it would have cost too much for the first pillar.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are two significant disadvantages to getting married in Switzerland if you have two incomes. In my opinion, the biggest one is that you do not get two pensions in retirement. You only get 150% of a single pension. This unfairness does not make sense and is quite sad. For me, marriage should play no part in taxes or pensions. It is a ridiculous and retrograde idea.
Nevertheless, this does not mean you should not marry. We got married and did not regret it!
On the other hand, there are also some advantages to marriage. You will pay fewer taxes on inheritance, for instance. And if one of the spouses dies, the other is entitled, under some conditions, to a widow’s pension.
In the end, money should not play a role in choosing whether to marry or not! Only love and personal reasons should come into play in that decision. Nevertheless, it is crucial to know the differences between a married couple and an unmarried one before your marriage!
No later than 2032, individual taxation will replace joint taxation. This will solve one of the two disadvantages!
To learn more about some disadvantages of living in Switzerland, you can read about the five things I hate about Switzerland.
Do you see any other disadvantages of marriage in Switzerland?
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Hi, in the next Abstimmung about this topic the question of rent wasn’t mentioned. Does this mean that only the taxing is impacted? Would you consider writing about the implications on pension?
https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/abstimmungen/20260308/individualbesteuerung.html#conferenza_stampa__content_gov_de_start_dokumentation_abstimmungen_20260308_imposizione-individuale_jcr_content_par_tabs_1504966442
Hi Anna,
Yes, I have not mentioned it because we don’t yet know the result :)
I will update the article if this vote passes.
As far as I know, the vote will have no implications on pensions, no?
Hi Baptiste,
Now that the new vote has been passed in favor to make all taxing individual and thus more fair, I guess in a few years time when it finally goes into effect. Will that also lower taxation when taking out 2nd/3rd pillar in the same year when married? I guess this vote won’t affect 1st pillar in any way?
Hi Valdas
I have mentioned the new update in the article, thanks.
Normally, nothing will change until 2032.
I have talked in detail about the changes here: Individual taxation – What changes for married couples?
Yes, lump sum withdrawals will not be added together, and as such, we will normally get lower taxation (unless the tax offices are raising them to compensate).
The 150% affects only the first pillar, while the second (and potentially third) pillar does not get affected, correct?
Yes, correct. At least the unfairness is only linked to the first pillar!
Thanks very much for your work! It has really helped us when we initially moved to Switzerland!
Would you consider writing about the same topic, when the couple is married in Switzerland but doesn’t have kids? Does this change the implications anyhow?
Hi Anna
These two points do not change much the implications whether you have kids or not.
* You will still receive only 150% of a full pension at retirement
* Adding the two incomes together will result in more taxes than if both persons were taxed separately.
Hello, I think the marriage penalty will go on a referendum in 2024, according to this website
https://fr.individualbesteuerung.ch/
Hopefully this retrograde rules will change. Thanks for the post!
Hi,
Yes, we will likely vote “soon” on that matter. I hope this will remove one more barrier to marriage and this will make Switzerland more modern (but there is work!).
Time to strike with another initiative against this pathetic archaic system.
It was refused in 2016. We will probably see another initiative like this before 2026 and maybe this one will succeed.
Hello! I got married in another country, does that mean that I am officially married in Switzerland? Or would we be single in Switzerland? Should we make our documents official here? In the event that the couple has children and is not married, I imagine that nothing changes, they are still single for the issue of taxes and retirement … Thank you very much for your help!
Hi Itziar,
Normally, your marriage should be recognized in Switzerland, yes. But I am definitely not a specialist in marriage law.
When you arrive in Switzerland, you should declare trustfully your marital status. And they may validate this with your home country.
Hello Mr. Poor Swiss
Can you recommend a good side to calculate the tax impact? Or would one just need to calculate the two scenarios with the canton tax calculator?
I am asking as I know there are some deductions a married couple can make on the tax declaration?
Hi Stefano,
The way I am doing it, is indeed with the canton tax calculator. I think it’s the more accurate. This is the only tool that will take almost everything into account. It remains an estimate, but it’s the best we can find I think.
I think that some of the states have some good calculators online, but I am not aware of one that works for each state with enough accuracy.
Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for info.
So sad to be taxed because you are married. I want to get married but when I think our net income after marriage will be less in somehow demotivating me. I prefer from this money to travel than to pay more taxes.
Hi Elle,
Yes, I agree that it’s sad. Unmarried couples and married couples should pay exactly the same amount of taxes.
Note that this depends on each state, there are states that are better than others for married couples.
And if only one person is working, the taxes can go down.
I would not let that prevent you from getting married though :)
Thanks for stopping by!