HR update innovations 2025/2026

Swiss salary certificate and Guideline to complete the salary certificate

For the 2025 tax year, the version valid from 1 January 2025 must be used.The guideline specifies that in field H, the employee’s full and current residential address (name, full first name, and address) at the time of completion must be entered.

The phrase "part-time employment" in figure 15 of the salary certificate is now required for rele-vant employees.

On 09.12.2025 the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) published the guidelines for the 2026 salary certificate, along with an FAQ. The following key changes will be effective as of January 1, 2026:

• The commuting reimbursement rate will increase to CHF 0.75 per kilometre
  (previously CHF 0.70).
• Expense regulations submitted for approval to the cantonal tax authority must follow the structure to the templates provided by the Swiss Tax Conference.
• The non-declarable benefits according to figure 72 have been expanded: This includes
  discounts from third parties as well as the annual amount for gifts in kind (vouchers) and event admission tickets, which has been increased to a maximum of CHF 600 per year

Entry into force of the protocol to the Double Taxation Convention (DTC) between Switzerland and France

The protocol to the convention between Switzerland and France aimed at avoiding double taxation officially entered into force on 24 July 2025, with application scheduled from 1 January 2026. This protocol formalizes rules that had been applied provisionally under the agreement concluded at the end of 2022.

New Federal Act on Automatic Exchange of Salaries (LEADS)

Switzerland is preparing to strengthen tax transparency with the introduction of the “Federal Act on the Automatic Exchange of Salaries” (LEADS), which will enter into force on 1 January 2026. This legislation will establish the framework for the automatic exchange of salary data with partner countries, such as France and Italy.

LEADS will focus on exchanging salary data, limited to international agreements such as double taxation conventions. Although the law initially targets mainly Italy and France, it could be extended to other countries. Further details can be found in our blog.

Important dates:

2025: First data exchange with Italy (concerning 2024 salaries).
2027: First data exchange with France (concerning 2026 salaries).

Exchange of information with Italy

In accordance with Article 7, paragraph 1, of the cross-border worker agreement between Switzerland and Italy, the State in which the cross-border worker performs dependent employment must transmit each year, no later than 20 March of the year following the tax year in question, the information necessary for taxing the cross-border worker. This information includes in particular:

• The worker’s surname, first name, date of birth and residential address;
• Place of origin (for Swiss residents) or place of birth (for Italian residents);
• The tax identification number assigned by the State of residence;
• The gross amount of salaries, wages and other similar remuneration received;
• The amount of compulsory social security contributions paid;
• The total amount of withholding tax deducted;
• The employer’s contact details (name, address and tax identification number).

The tax authorities of the cantons concerned (Graubünden, Ticino and Valais) transmit these details directly to the Italian tax authority. In return, the Italian tax authority sends information on cross-border workers resident in Switzerland to the Federal Tax Administration (AFC), which then forwards them to the cantonal tax authorities.

Exchange of information with France

Article 6 of the telework protocol between Switzerland and France provides that the State where the employer is located must transmit annually, no later than 30 November of the year following the one in which the remuneration was paid, the below information to the State of residence of the employee:

• Surname(s), given name(s), date of birth, postal code of the place of residence, as well as any other elements facilitating identification (address, place of birth, civil status, tax identification number, if available);
• The calendar year in which the income was received;
• The number of days or the percentage of telework performed;
• The total amount of gross remuneration paid.

Employer information obligation

Employers impacted by these information exchanges are required to inform their employees about the existence of these agreements, the data transmitted to the tax authorities, as well as the timing and modalities of transmission. This transparency is essential.

Extension of the mutual agreement under Article 15(4) of the Double Taxation Convention (DTC) between Germany and Switzerland

The mutual agreement regarding Article 15(4) of the DTC between Germany and Switzerland has been extended until 31 December 2027. This agreement clarifies the application of Article 15(4), which governs the taxation of cross-border employment income for persons holding managerial or representative functions.

New digital procedure for claims for compensation for loss of earnings (APG) from 2026

From 2026, claims for compensation for loss of earnings (APG) for persons performing service in the army, civilian service, civil protection, or in the context of Youth and Sport must be submitted exclusively in digital form. The current paper form will be discontinued. Note that other loss-of-earnings benefits (maternity, allowance for the other parent, etc.) are not affected by this change.

For employees performing service, here are the main steps of the new procedure:

1. Notification of service days 
   The service organization (army, civilian service, civil protection, etc.) will declare the number of service days performed via the new APG portal, developed and managed by the Compensation Fund (CdC).
2. Notification to the service member
   A notification will be sent to the service member by SMS or e-mail, inviting them to complete their APG claim. In exceptional cases, the claim may be sent by post.
3. Simplified claim completion
   The service member will log into the APG portal to confirm and complete their information, including employer details and family situation. To simplify the process, some data will be automatically prefilled from social insurance registers. In case of difficulties, a dedicated service center will be available to provide assistance.
4. Transmission to the compensation fund
   Once the claim is validated, the APG portal will automatically identify the competent compensation fund based on the information provided by the service member and will forward the file.
5. Processing and payment
   After verification of the information, the compensation fund will contact the employer to obtain missing data necessary for the APG calculation. Once the calculation is complete, payment or crediting will be made directly to the service member or to their employer, as appropriate.

What about other professional situations?

For persons in other professional situations (self-employed, etc.), the procedure will be slightly adapted to meet their specific needs.

Gradual increase in the retirement age for women

The reform aimed at stabilizing the Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance (OASI21) has already been in force since 1 January 2024. From 1 January 2025, the retirement age, now called the “reference age,” for women will increase gradually by three months per year for each cohort, starting with women born in 1961. In 2026, the reference age will therefore be 64 years and 6 months for women. Further information is available in our blog “AHV21: Changes in 2025”.

AHV contributions

Improved social coverage for short-term employees in certain cultural and media sectors:

From 2026, even very low salaries will be subject to AVS contributions from the first franc for employees in the following sectors:

• Choirs
• Design companies
• Museums
• Electronic and print media

This rule already applied to employees in private households, dance, theater, orchestras, radio and television.

New unemployment benefit (UB) forms from October 2025

From October 2025, new forms will be introduced for processing unemployment benefit (UB) claims. These forms have been completely revised and adapted to the new SIPAC 2.0 payment system, which will be used to manage these benefits.

Key changes to note:

• New forms mandatory from January 2026: From this date, the old versions of the forms will no longer be accepted by unemployment insurance funds.
• Integration into the SIPAC 2.0 system: The new forms will include a QR code and standardized fields. Information entered will be automatically read by character recognition software and then transferred directly into the SIPAC 2.0 system.
• Uniformity of forms: To ensure efficient and error-free processing, it is imperative that the fields and QR codes of the new forms are displayed identically. The old forms will no longer be valid from January 2026.

For employers:

Employers who generate UB forms via their own software will need to adapt their tools to comply with the new requirements. We recommend anticipating these changes to ensure a smooth transition and avoid any delays in processing claims.

Occupational pension

From 2026, survivors’ and disability pensions from mandatory occupational pension (LPP) that began in 2022 will be adjusted for the first time according to price developments, with an adjustment rate set at 2.7%. Pensions that began before 2022 will be adjusted only in 2027, at the same time as AVS pensions.

With regard to old-age pensions from the LPP, their adjustment depends on the financial capacities of the pension institutions.

Moreover, the minimum interest rate in the LPP will remain set at 1.25% in 2026. This decision was made by the Federal Council at its meeting of 5 November 2025.

Outsourcing of payroll services

For our outsourcing of payroll services, we can present the ISAE 3402 Type II certificate in accordance with the "International Standard of Assurance Engagements". The annual report is available in summer of the following year. We are happy to provide the current 2024 report on request.

With this certificate, we provide you, as the responsible party and decision-maker, with the assurance that our payroll outsourcing services have an adequate internal control system and that all relevant business processes are monitored. This audit report confirms that we have established all necessary controls and implemented them over a defined period of time.

Provide your auditors with our ISAE attestation. This can support the planning of the audit and have a positive impact on costs, as audit procedures in connection with outsourced payroll accounting can be reduced. We will be happy to send you the document on request and answer any questions you may have.

On-site support

If you need support with payroll processing in the event of short or long-term absences such as maternity/paternity/carer's leave, illness, accident or fluctuation, we will be happy to provide you with on-site or remote support. Depending on the job profile, we will provide you with the right person from our team of payroll experts. As part of a staff leasing programme, they will take care of payroll processing on site and support your payroll managers as required.

Abacus payroll software

If you use Abacus Business Software for payroll accounting, we can show you how you can make your payroll processing more efficient, for example with suitable wage types, tables, automation, time management tool (also to record and monitor the telework/home office days) or interfaces.

Employer obligations: 

We are up-to-date with the latest developments in the areas of tax, social security, immigration, labour law, etc. and we are happy to support you with any kind of questions on employer compliance. For example, we can support you with your special cases relating to retroactive withholding tax reporting, cross-border employment, international board of directors. Or perhaps you have already asked yourself whether your expense regulations or employee benefits are still up to date - we are also happy to help you with this.

Our experts are personally available to you on all of the above topics. We look forward to hearing from you.