Calculate the ICC tax in Vaud with the family quotient

Updated on October, 25th 2023.

Before we start digging into this calculation, note that we can now perform your tax return in the canton of Vaud, Geneva, and Valais!

Now let’s start digging!

If you know how to determine your taxable income, then let’s have a look at the family quotient for the calculation of cantonal and communal taxes in the canton of Vaud.

Family quotient in the canton of Vaud

« My what now ? »

Your family quotient.

And if you are wondering whether this term refers to an IQ test your whole family will have to take… No, that’s not it. 

As you probably know, tax returns are done per household. Therefore, each household gets a family quotient to determine the tax rate. The more people you have in your household, the higher the family quotient will be and the lower the tax rate.

• Single, divorced, widow(er), or taxed separately: your family quotient is of 1
• married couple without children or registered partnership without children: your family quotient is of 1.8 
• Single-parent household: your family quotient is of 1.3

Then, add 0.5 points for each dependent child.

Example…

You are a young married couple without children, your family quotient is of 1.8. 

You are a young married couple with one child, your family quotient is of 2.3. Two children? Your family quotient is of 2.8.

You are a young non-married couple with one child (it goes by the sweet name of concubine), your family quotient is of 1+0.5=1.5. Two children? Your family quotient is of 1+0.5+0.5=2. 

You are a single mother with a dependent child, your family quotient is of 1.3+0.5=1.8. Two dependant children? Your family quotient is of 1.3+0.5+0.5=2.3.

What does this mean in concrete terms?

Imagine, your household has a taxable income of 100,000 CHF with a 2.3 quotient (married with one child).

You divide 100,000 by 2.3 and you get the relevant income for the calculation of the final taxation rate of 43,400 CHF.

The people in charge of determining your taxes will look for the rates corresponding to 43,400 CHF (in the table below) and then apply it to your total income of 100,000 CHF. In this case, for an income of CHF 43,400 (as taxes are specified by bracket of hundreds of income) the corresponding rate is 6.55%, applied to 100,000 CHF, this gives us a base tax of 6,550 CHF.

You are single, without any children (quotient 1) and your taxable income is 100,000 CHF? in this case, your final taxable income remain unchanged: 100,000 CHF.

Please note: This quotient system only works like this if your household is not considered a privileged household. If your income exceeds a certain level, you will no longer be able to increase your family quotient for each child. But they will allow you to deduct a fixed amount while keeping your previous family quotient. 

Remember that you can minimise your taxable income by taking into account all the tax deductions you are entitled to.

Great news: the heavy lifting is done!

Second to last stage: take this last amount and apply it to the scale used in your canton. 

Applicable scale in the canton of Vaud : how does it work?

What is a scale?

Put simply, it is the bracket in which your final taxable income falls.

Up until here, we have seen that this amount corresponds to your gross income, minus your tax contributions (net income), minus tax deductions applicable in your canton (taxable income).

Before looking at the table to see which tax is associated with our taxable income, we divide it by the family quotient as seen above.

Let’s take two examples:

Example 1: single person, without children and with a taxable income of 50’200 CHF, then we divide by 1, which gives again 50’200 CHF… obviously… After calculating discussions, you determined, for instance, that the taxable amount is 50’200 CHF.

Example 2: Married couple with one child, and a taxable income of 115,500 CHF, then we divide by 2.3, which gives 50,217 CHF (this way, we keep the same rate of the 50,200 CHF bracket, but not the same tax amount!)

At this stage, you have to refer to the table listing the various taxable brackets. 

Each canton has its own table.

In the canton of Vaud, this is what it looks like… 

For our example 1: with the taxable income of 50,200 CHF, you can see that the base tax is 3,455 CHF.

In example 2: with a taxable income of CHF 50,200, we will take the corresponding rate, i.e. 6.938%, and apply it to our household taxable income of CHF 115,500. This gives us a basic tax of : 115’500 * 0.06882 = 7’948.70 CHF.

Keep those base taxes in mind and move on to the next step in order to finally precisely calculate the final tax at the communal and cantonal level.

Feeling lazy? Check out our fiscal calculator!

How to apply taxation rates of the canton of Vaud and my commune ?

Phew! We are reaching final stages.

Basically, we will simply take the basic tax determined above according to our situation, and multiply it by the cantonal rate, then in a second step by the communal rate. The addition of the two results will give us our total ICC tax.

How is cantonal tax calculated in the canton of Vaud?

Each year, the canton publishes its tax rate, which applies throughout the year to all communes. The tax rate in the canton of Vaud was fixed at 155% for 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Which means that:

• In example 1: I owe 3,455 CHF * 155% = 5,355.25 CHF in taxes to the canton of Vaud.
• In example 2: We owe 7’948.70 CHF * 155% = 12,320.48 CHF to the canton of Vaud.

How is municipal tax calculated in the canton of Vaud?

Unlike the cantonal rate, which applies to all communes, the Vaud municipal tax rate varies from one commune to the other. 

In Lausanne, it is 78.5% in 2023.

Which means:

• In example 1: I owe 3,455 CHF * 78.5% = 2,712.17 CHF in taxes to my commune. In total, I therefore owe 8,167.63 CHF in taxes to which I still have to add the federal tax.
• In example 2: We owe 7’948.70 CHF * 78.5% = 6’239.71 CHF in taxes to the commune. Which makes a total of 18’710.35 CHF in ICC taxes. 

Here is how we calculate, from A to Z, the annual tax at the cantonal and communal level, with the family quotient.