Inheritance Tax by Canton in Switzerland: Rates, Exemptions and Open Questions

Switzerland taxes inheritances, but only at the cantonal level. There is no federal Erbschaftssteuer, and the federal government in Bern does not touch what a descendant, a spouse or an unrelated heir receives. Whether an heir owes anything at all is decided by the canton where the person who died was last domiciled, since each of the 26 cantons has written its own inheritance tax law with its own exemptions, thresholds and rates.

This page compares those 26 systems side by side, using the same official federal source for every row, so the comparison is honest about what each canton's own law actually establishes. A few cantons have historically circulated with a specific inheritance tax percentage for children that could not be confirmed here. Rather than repeat an unconfirmed number, this page states what is confirmed for each of those cantons and points to where the actual rate can be checked.

Information last verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Swiss law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

No federal inheritance tax, only cantonal law

Switzerland has never had a national inheritance tax. Under the federal tax administration's own comparison, the confederation itself levies no Erbschaftssteuer, and with the exception of Schwyz and Obwalden, every other canton levies its own. This is a genuine division of power, not a gap that the cantons happen to have filled.

That means the applicable law depends entirely on where the deceased was domiciled at the time of death, not on where an heir lives, not on the deceased's nationality, and not on where the assets happen to be held. A person who dies domiciled in Zürich is subject to Zürich's inheritance tax law, even if every heir lives abroad.

Spouses are exempt in every canton

A surviving spouse or registered partner pays no inheritance tax anywhere in Switzerland. The federal comparison states this without a single carve out: all 26 cantons exempt the surviving spouse or registered partner from both inheritance and gift tax.

This is the one rule on this page with no exceptions and no cantonal variation at all. A widow or widower inheriting from a spouse never owes cantonal inheritance tax on that inheritance, regardless of which canton the couple lived in.

Schwyz and Obwalden: no inheritance tax of any kind

Two cantons go further than exempting particular heirs. Schwyz and Obwalden levy neither inheritance tax nor gift tax on anyone, meaning a child, a sibling, a friend or an unrelated beneficiary all inherit free of cantonal tax in those two cantons.

This is confirmed verbatim in the federal comparison, which states plainly that both cantons impose neither tax. It is a genuinely different policy from a canton that exempts descendants but still taxes more distant heirs, which is the ordinary pattern everywhere else in the table below.

Graubünden: children, grandchildren and great grandchildren pay nothing

Graubünden has sometimes been described online as charging a small inheritance tax on direct descendants, somewhere around one percent. The canton's own rule, as reflected in the federal tax administration's comparison, is that children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, including adopted children, are exempt entirely.

That earlier figure does not hold up against this source and should not be relied on. Graubünden does still tax more distant heirs at meaningful rates, so the exemption is specific to direct descendants and the surviving spouse, not a statement that Graubünden charges no inheritance tax at all.

The cantonal table for direct descendants

The table below lists what the federal tax administration's own comparison confirms for a direct descendant, meaning a child, grandchild or great grandchild, in each of the 26 cantons. Every row traces to the same named, dated source, so a reader can weigh a "not stated" entry against a confirmed "exempt" entry rather than treating both the same way.

Four cantons where the specific rate is not settled here

Luzern, Vaud, Neuchâtel and Appenzell Innerrhoden each tax direct descendants in principle, but only above a substantial per heir allowance, and the federal comparison used for this page does not itself print the specific percentage that applies once that allowance is used up. Each is described below at the level this page can actually support.

Luzern exempts descendants at the cantonal level, but individual municipalities are separately entitled to levy their own tax, called a Nachkommenserbschaftssteuer, on a gift or bequest to a descendant above CHF 100,000. The rate that municipality applies is not stated in the federal comparison, so it should be checked with the municipality itself before assuming any figure.

Vaud does tax descendants, but only above a CHF 251,000 threshold, and the amount above that threshold is reduced on a sliding scale before a progressive cantonal tariff applies. The federal comparison confirms the threshold and the sliding mechanism without printing the top marginal rate, so the actual percentage should be confirmed with the Vaud cantonal tax administration.

Neuchâtel allows a CHF 50,000 deduction, but the federal dossier grants it only to children and parents, passing to a predeceased child's own children by substitution. A grandchild whose parent is still living falls under a different mechanism: a CHF 10,000 threshold that is a cliff edge rather than a deduction, because exceeding it taxes the entire sum rather than only the excess. Confirm which of the two applies before relying on either. Again, the mechanism and the deduction are confirmed, while the specific rate is not, and should be checked with the Neuchâtel tax authority directly.

Appenzell Innerrhoden allows a CHF 300,000 deduction per child before tax applies to anything above it. As with the other three, the deduction is confirmed and the applicable percentage is not, so a reader planning around a specific figure should confirm it with the canton first.

Solothurn's separate Nachlasssteuer

Solothurn does not fit neatly into either an exempt or a taxed column. An individual heir's own share is not subject to Solothurn's Erbanfallsteuer, but the canton separately levies a Nachlasssteuer, a tax on the estate itself, before any distribution to heirs takes place.

The practical effect is that Solothurn is not genuinely tax free for an inheritance, even though no single heir is personally taxed on what they receive. The estate as a whole bears the tax first, and what reaches the heirs afterward is what remains.

The JUSO federal initiative: rejected 30 November 2025

A federal popular initiative from the JUSO, the youth wing of the Swiss Social Democratic Party, proposed a national inheritance and gift tax of 50 percent above a CHF 50 million exemption, with the revenue earmarked for climate spending. The Federal Council recommended rejecting it without a counter proposal, and it went to a popular vote.

Voters rejected the initiative on 30 November 2025, and no canton approved it. Press coverage of the official results put the margin at roughly four out of five voters against, though that specific figure reflects reporting on the count rather than this page's own independent read of the raw federal tally, so treat the precise percentage as approximate rather than settled to the decimal.

The practical result is straightforward regardless of the exact margin. Inheritance tax in Switzerland remains exclusively cantonal, with no federal layer, exactly as it was before the vote.

Reading this table like a professional, not a shortcut

Treat this page as a comparison across 26 systems, not as a substitute for advice on a specific estate. The canton that actually governs a case is the one where the deceased was last domiciled, and that canton's own tax administration is the authority to contact for a current, precise figure.

Cantonal tariffs, allowances and deductions do move over time, and a number that was accurate at the point this page was last verified may not remain accurate indefinitely. Anyone planning around a specific figure, rather than simply understanding the shape of the system, should confirm the current rate directly with that canton before relying on it.

Estate planning choices made elsewhere on this site interact with these cantonal rules without being covered by them here. Our guide to writing a will in Switzerland and our page on advance inheritance and lifetime gifts both affect what an estate looks like by the time cantonal tax applies to it, and our broader guide to Swiss inheritance law sets out how the rest of the system fits together. For the wider legal picture, see our guide to Swiss law.