Until 31 December 2024 it was possible to enter Switzerland with CHF 300 of shopping per person per day without paying Swiss VAT. From 1 January 2025, the limit is CHF 150 per person per day.
The Federal Council decided in October 2024 to cut the tax-free limit, despite negative reactions from many consumers and consumer associations.
Politicians in some of the border cantons, St. Gallen and Thurgau in particular, have long lobbied for a reduction in the daily tax-free allowance. One politician in Thurgau was pushing for the daily tax free limit to be cut to CHF 50 and would prefer it to be zero. Retailers in these regions are forced to compete with cheaper imported goods and don’t like the competition.
Many consumer associations are firmly against making it more expensive to shop abroad. Switzerland is often referred to as Europe’s high-priced island. Consumer associations view cross-border shopping as catalyst for lower prices in Switzerland.
Others point out the unintended consequences of a lower tax-free limit, a key one being more frequent trips. The allowance is applied daily, so some may now replace a single weekly shopping trip with two, adding to road traffic and vehicle emissions.
Goods imported into Switzerland broadly fall into two categories: those for which only VAT is due, and those for which both duty and VAT are payable. Goods attracting duty in addition to VAT include: alcohol, tobacco and certain foodstuffs, which include meat (excluding fish and wild animals), butter and cream, and oil, fats and margarine. Goods attracting duty have their own duty-free limits. 1 kg of meat, 1 kg/litre of butter/cream, 5 kg/litres of oil, fats and margarine, 5 litres of alcoholic drink under 18%, 1 litre of alcoholic drink over 18%, and 250 cigarettes can be imported duty free. Alcoholic drink and tobacco duty-free allowances only apply to those 17 and above.
There is also another wrinkle: while duty is only levied on amounts exceeding duty-free limits, VAT is levied on everything once the tax free limit has been reached. So an individual bringing in CHF 160 of goods will trigger a VAT payment of CHF 12.96 (160 x 8.1%), not CHF 0.81 ((160 – 150) x 8.1%).
Duty rates for meat products make importing more than 1 kg of them uneconomic. Between 1 kg (duty free) and 10 kgs the rate is CHF 17 per kg, and beyond 10 kgs the rate is CHF 23 per kilogram. The duty on butter and cream (16 kg/litre) beyond the duty free allowance (1 kg/litre) is also steep – more information on duty can be found here. These tarifs are aimed at protecting Switzerland’s livestock industry.
A PDF summary of the new tax-free import allowances and duty rules can be found here.
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