How to calculate wealth taxes in Geneva?

Introduction

If you have already read the article about the income taxes in Geneva, then the calculation of the wealth tax will be a piece of cake. 

Otherwise, I would advise you to go have a look at it before you start reading the next paragraphs. 

If you want to file your tax return for the canton of Geneva, don’t forget that we can free you from this burden. 😉 In the meantime, on this page, I present you 4 steps to calculate your wealth taxes in Geneva.

Ready… steady… go! 

What are the wealth tax rates in Geneva in 2025?

To start things off gently, and to reassure some while worrying others, I’d like to give you an overview of the tax burden associated with your wealth in 2025. To do this, I’ll take an average between the least expensive commune (Genthod, Cologny) and the most expensive commune (Avully, Onex or Chancy).

• With taxable assets of CHF 50,000: you will have to pay tax of CHF 138, i.e. a tax rate of 0.277%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 100,000: you will pay tax of CHF 277, i.e. a tax rate of 0.277%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 150,000: you will pay tax of CHF 445, i.e. a tax rate of 0.296%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 200,000: you will have to pay tax of CHF 627, i.e. a tax rate of 0.314%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 250,000: you will pay tax of CHF 821, i.e. a tax rate of 0.328%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 500,000: you will pay tax of CHF 2,029, i.e. a tax rate of 0.406%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 750,000: you will have to pay tax of CHF 3,408, i.e. a tax rate of 0.454%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 1,000,000: you will have to pay tax of CHF 4,931, i.e. a tax rate of 0.493%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 2,000,000: you will have to pay tax of CHF 12,239, i.e. a tax rate of 0.612%.
• With taxable assets of CHF 4,000,000: you will have to pay tax of CHF 28,523, i.e. a tax rate of 0.713%.

Now that you have an approximate idea of the amount of wealth tax you will have to pay in the canton of Geneva, I suggest going further by explaining to you step by step how to calculate this tax.

Determining your assets: from gross to net wealth

The first step before proceeding with the calculations is to determine your taxable wealth. Nothing could be simpler: start by adding up the financial value of all your assets, both in Switzerland and abroad (yes, even that little French savings plan your parents opened for you when you were just 10, which has now grown quite nicely). This total represents your gross wealth:

• Cash
• Current account
• Financial stocks (stocks, bonds, shares)
• Private loans 
• Cars
• Boats
• Fiscal value of your real estate properties
• investment fund shares
• Art and valuable objects 
• Your property: This is a more complex subject. Depending on whether your property is located in the canton of Geneva, elsewhere in Switzerland or abroad, the value to be declared may vary considerably, even if the purchase price is identical. For the time being, the most important thing to remember is that all your properties must appear on your Swiss tax return.

Are you done? To find out the net wealth and move on to the next stage, you now have to  subtract all authorised deductions.

Debts: mortgage, unsecured and private debts

Although a recent vote is expected to affect the deductibility of interest on such debts, the following remains applicable for the 2025 tax return.

Mortgage debts

Without going into too much detail, you probably have an idea of what this means. When you buy a property and use a financial institution to finance all or part of the purchase price, the balance of your mortgage at December 31st of the current year can be deducted from your taxable assets.

Unsecured debt (or private debt)

This rather technical term, known in French as ‘dettes chirographaires’, refers to unsecured debts, as opposed to mortgage debts, which are secured by real estate. If you fail to repay a mortgage debt, the bank can sell the property and recover the proceeds of the sale first. In contrast, unsecured debts have no collateral or priority order. These may include consumer loans, money borrowed from family or friends, unpaid tax debts, or student loans. Regardless of whether your debts are secured or not, unsecured debts are also deductible for their remaining amount as of December 31.

Exemption (or social deduction on wealth)

Most cantons set a tax-free amount, and where this is not the case (Vaud, for example), the first few francs are exempt from wealth tax. In Geneva, the social deduction on wealth depends on your personal situation. For 2025, the tax-free amount is :

• Per single taxpayer: CHF 87,632 compared with CHF 86,833 in 2024
• Per married couple: CHF 175,264 compared with CHF 173,666 in 2024
• Per dependent child: CHF 43,816 compared with CHF 43,417 in 2024

All good? Did you find your taxable wealth? Let’s move on to the calculation of the tax burden. 

Calculation of the wealth tax

Now that you’ve precisely determined the amount of your taxable wealth, you must, just like for income, run it through a “three-step calculator” to determine your total tax liability:

1. Determine the base wealth tax, which itself is calculated in two sub-steps.
2. From this amount, calculate the cantonal tax.
3. Finally, add the municipal tax to obtain the total amount due.

Let’s start with the first step.

Step 1: Calculation of basic wealth tax in Geneva

A word of caution: this first step is somewhat complex. You might need to read the paragraph twice to fully understand the mechanism, but don’t worry, with our illustrations and numerical examples, you’ll easily be able to apply it to your own situation.

Take your taxable wealth and find out which bracket it falls into in the two lists below.

If you wish, you can find them here (for the year 2024). The canton of Geneva has just released the 2025 tax scales, but unfortunately, at the time this article is being updated for 2025, they have not yet been published on their official website.

• Determine the tax corresponding to the previous bracket (and addition the amounts of both tables)
• Apply the rate of the current bracket to the difference between the maximal number of the previous bracket and your taxable wealth. Do this on both tables. 

Table 1: basic tax on wealth for 2025

Table 2: additional tax on wealth for 2025

Let’s use an example to clarify all this. You will see, in reality, appearances are deceptive and what follows is actually simple, as long as we take it step by step.

Calculation of the first table: basic tax on wealth 

My cousin Chloé, who is single and has no children, lives in Bardonnex and works in Carouge. She has gross assets of CHF 250,000 and no current debts.

To calculate her basic wealth tax, she must deduct the CHF 87,632 free of tax.

She obtains an amount of (CHF 250,000 – CHF 87,632) = CHF 162,368.

Her assets are in the 2nd bracket, ranging from CHF 118,399 to CHF 236,795.

As we saw in the article on income tax, the 1st step in calculating basic tax is to identify the amount of tax accumulated from the previous bracket. In this case: CHF 176.40.

To this amount must be added the tax for the current band, calculated on the difference between taxable assets and the maximum figure for the previous band.

In other words: 162,368 – 118,398 = CHF 43,970. The rate to be applied is 1.91 per thousand – so multiply by 0.00191 (not 1.91% per cent).

43’970 x 0,00191 = 83.98 CHF.

By additioning both amounts, we get 176.40 + 83.98 = 260.40 CHF.

Chloé’s basic wealth tax is therefore CHF 260.40.

Calculation of the second table: additional tax on wealth

Before moving on, since we’re in the middle of the tables, let’s take this opportunity to assess the additional tax.

The procedure is the same as for basic tax.

If we go back to our table, Table 2: Supplementary wealth tax, we quickly realise that we are still in the 2nd bracket between CHF 118,399 and CHF 236,795.

The first step is to look at the maximum tax of the previous bracket. In our example this is 0. Which saves us a few blue banknotes and a few gray cells. 

We still have to apply the rate of the current bracket to the difference between the maximal amount of the previous bracket and that of the taxable income, that is 162’368 – 118’398 = 43’970 CHF.

43’970 x 0.0000956 = 4.20 CHF.

Chloé’s addition wealth tax is thus of 4.20 CHF. 

All this brain-bending for such a small amount! 

Step 2: calculation of the cantonal tax

Cantonal and local taxes are calculated on the basis of the basic tax, which in Chloé’s case is CHF 260.40.

For now, we do not take into account the additional tax but patience, it will come. 

To this base ICC, we have to add… 

• The cantonal additional cents to the rate of 47.5 % for Geneva. 
• The additional cents of home assistance to the rate of 1% for Geneva. 

260.40 CHF x 0,475 = 123.68 CHF.

260.40 CHF x 0,01 = 2.60 CHF.

 Chloé’s cantonal tax is therefore of 260.40 + 123.68 + 2.60 = 386.67 CHF.

Last step: Add the additional wealth tax. In our example, we take our CHF 386.67 and add our CHF 4.20.

Don’t give up, we are almost done!

Step 3: communal tax calculation

Unlike income, it is only the municipality in which you live that will tax your wealth. At what rate? You can find the 2025 tax rate values for each municipality in the canton of Geneva here.

In order to complete our example, we will focus on some municipalities:

Don’t panic, there is only one step!

We need to find the tax rate of our commune, in our example: Bardonnex, and apply this rate to our basic tax.

Step 4: all that remains is to add up all these amounts

If you want to know the total amount of your cantonal and communal taxes on your assets, do like Chloé and add up all the numbers you found. 

To remind you, we calculated… 

• A base ICC of 260.38 CHF
• An additional tax of 4.20 CHF
• For a total cantonal tax of 390.87 CHF
• A communal tax of 111.96 CHF

The amount of the ICC on wealth is thus of 502.83 CHF.

And at the federal level? Good news, unlike the income tax, there is no federal tax on wealth. 

How can I optimise my wealth tax in Geneva?

To sum up, to optimise your wealth tax, you can either increase your debts, which means paying interest, or find investment solutions that allow you to legally avoid declaring certain assets on your tax return.

Increasing your debt

This strategy can only be advantageous if the interest you pay on the debt is less than the gains you make from it. It’s a bit technical, but the idea is simple: if you borrow money, it’s to make a profit. The aim is for this profit to be greater than the cost of borrowing. In that case, and for now, not only do you generate a return, but you also reduce your taxable assets.

Invest your money in a tax-efficient way

In Switzerland, the 3rd pillar A and the assets held in your pension fund are tax-free assets. So what does this mean? Making BVG/LPP purchases or investing each year in your 3rd pillar can, over the long term, significantly reduce your wealth tax. But beware: LPP buy-ins are a complex subject that merits in-depth analysis before you take the plunge.

How can FBKConseils help you with wealth tax issues in Geneva?

As always, FBKConseils is at your side to answer your questions and help you with all your tax affairs.

Filing your tax return

At FBKConseils, we offer a comprehensive service to help you declare your income and assets in Geneva. We have developed a 100% digital platform that allows you to create a personalised quote, receive a list of the necessary documents by email, and submit all these documents directly to our secure platform, accessible from our website.

Tax return training

We also offer our customers training sessions that will give you a better understanding of this field, the impact of your decisions, what can be deducted and, above all, how to become more independent in the years to come.

Verification of your tax decision

Just as important as the tax return, checking your tax assessment decision ensures that the tax authorities have fully understood your situation. In the event of an error, we can help you to lodge a complaint to correct what needs to be corrected.

Tax simulation

Before committing yourself to any project, whether it’s changing your life, getting married or having a child, we believe it’s always essential to simulate all the tax implications.