Deductible professional expenses, item by item
These are the expenses your work imposes on you, and the tax system takes account of them. You still need to know which ones count, up to what amount, and whether the flat rate does not already serve you better than your receipts.
Updated 2026-08-17
Professional expenses are the outlays necessary to earn your income: what you pay because you work, and would not pay otherwise. Federal law makes them deductible, an ordinance of the Federal Department of Finance sets the flat rates, and each canton adds its own scales for cantonal and communal tax.
As long as you are taxed at source, none of this concerns you directly: your employer’s tariff already contains a flat-rate share of professional expenses, identical for everyone. These items only become real deductions under subsequent ordinary taxation. This guide describes what you will then be able to claim, and what will not go through.
The federal ceilings in force
These amounts are those of the direct federal tax. They form the common base; your canton applies its own limits alongside, sometimes broader, sometimes narrower.
| Deduction | 2026 amount |
|---|---|
| Travel costsHome – work commute, main activity | up to CHF 3'300 |
| Meals away from homeWithout canteen or employer contribution, full year | up to CHF 3'200 |
| Meals with a canteen or a contributionFlat rate halved | up to CHF 1'600 |
| Other professional expensesFlat rate covering tools, clothing, literature, home office | 3 % of net salary · min. CHF 2'000 · max. CHF 4'000 |
| Expenses of a secondary activityFlat rate applicable to the second job | 20 % of the secondary income · min. CHF 800 · max. CHF 2'400 |
The home – work commute
Public transport: the actual cost
You deduct what you pay: route pass, general travel pass, regional network pass, or tickets if your journeys are irregular. The amount admitted stops at the federal ceiling, which is reached as soon as a general travel pass appears in the file.
This ceiling is one of the rare limits that hits long distances: beyond it, the expense stays with you with no tax effect. The cantons have each set their own ceiling for cantonal tax, and it does not always coincide with the federal one.
Car: the exception, not the rule
A private vehicle is admitted only if public transport is unavailable or not reasonably to be expected: no service, timetables incompatible with yours, disability, a considerable time saving over the whole journey. Compensation is then calculated per kilometre, at a rate set by the federal ordinance and taken over by the cantons.
Weekly residence
If your work obliges you to stay during the week far from your home, the additional housing cost and the weekly return trips are deductible. It is a common situation among newcomers whose family remains established elsewhere — and an item that withholding at source ignores entirely.
Meals taken away from home
The flat rate applies per working day, when the length of the break or the distance does not allow you to go home to eat. It is counted in actual days: holidays, public holidays, illness and working from home are taken off.
The flat rate is halved as soon as the employer contributes to the meal in any way whatsoever: company canteen, meal vouchers, contracted restaurant, cash contribution. That contribution usually appears on the salary certificate, and the administration checks it.
Shift or night work opens a particular flat rate, which does not accumulate with that of ordinary meals for the same days.
Other professional expenses
This is a catch-all category, covered by a flat rate proportional to net salary and bounded by a floor and a ceiling. It includes tools, work clothing, specialist literature, private computer equipment used for work, and the home office.
This flat rate is granted without receipts. You may substitute your actual expenses for it, but then for the whole category and with documents: it is not possible to keep the flat rate and add an expense on top.
The home office
A separate deduction for a work room presupposes three cumulative conditions: you regularly carry out a substantial part of your work at home, your employer does not make a suitable workstation available to you, and one room is mainly devoted to that use. A corner of the living room is not enough.
When the conditions are met, a share of the rent proportional to the floor area is taken into account. For an employee working partly from home, the calculation rarely exceeds the flat rate: check before giving up the flat rate.
Continuing education
The costs of education and professional development for occupational purposes, retraining included, are deducted separately and against receipts, within an annual limit set by federal law. It is not a professional expense in the strict sense but a general deduction: it does not consume the flat rate above.
Two reservations. Initial education — a first upper-secondary qualification — is not deductible. And what your employer covers is not either: only the share you bear counts.
Flat rate or actual expenses: which wins
The question does not arise in the same way for every item. Some are always actual, others always flat-rate, and only one is a matter of choice.
| Item | Regime | What decides |
|---|---|---|
| Home – work commute | Actual expenses, capped | The cost of the pass, or the mileage if the car is admitted. |
| Meals away from home | Flat rate per working day | No choice: the flat rate is the rule, halved if the employer contributes. |
| Other professional expenses | Flat rate or actual expenses, at your choice | Actual expenses only win above the flat-rate ceiling — so rarely on an average salary. |
| Continuing education | Actual expenses, capped | Against receipts, employer’s share deducted. |
| Secondary activity | Flat rate on the secondary income | Actual expenses are admitted if they are higher and documented. |
The rule of thumb fits on one line: the flat rate for other professional expenses beats actual expenses for most office employees, and loses for trades that buy their own tools. Do the calculation once, it will hold for several years.
What is not deductible
These expenses come up constantly and open no rights. Entering them exposes you to an adjustment, with interest.
- What your employer reimburses. Reimbursements appear at figure 13 of your salary certificate — see how to read it.
- Ordinary clothing, even bought for the office. Only protective clothing or a uniform counts.
- Meals on non-working days, and those taken at home while working remotely.
- Traffic fines, private parking costs, convenience tolls.
- Initial education and childcare costs, which fall under other deductions.
- A move for personal convenience. Only a move imposed by the employer can be admitted.
Putting the file together
- 01
Count your working days
The meal and travel flat rates depend on them, and a part-time level of employment reduces them proportionately. Figure 15 of the salary certificate mentions the periods of employment.
- 02
Gather the documents proving the cost
Transport pass, training invoices, statement of meal contributions. The flat rates require nothing; everything else does.
- 03
Compare the total with the withholding flat rate
The tariff already contains a share of expenses. If your actual items stay below it, ordinary taxation would cost you more than it brings in.
- 04
Decide before 31 March
That is the TOU request deadline, and it is a forfeiture deadline. The decision is irreversible — see what it commits.
Frequently asked questions
I work from home three days a week. What do I lose?
The meal and travel flat rates, which are counted in days of attendance. You do not automatically gain a home office deduction in exchange: that presupposes the employer does not provide you with a workstation, which is rare in chosen remote work.
My employer pays me a flat meal allowance. Can I still deduct?
Yes, but at half the flat rate. Any employer contribution — cash, vouchers, subsidised canteen — halves the flat rate, whatever its amount.
I have two employers. How are the flat rates counted?
The main activity opens the ordinary flat rates; the second falls under the secondary activity deduction, calculated on that income alone. Also add the salary certificates together: this is the case in which withholding at source is most often wrong.
Must receipts be attached to the tax return?
Cantonal practices vary. Continuing education and actual travel costs are almost always requested. Keep all your documents for at least five years: the administration may ask for them long after the assessment decision.
Do professional expenses reduce my monthly withholding?
No. The tariff applied by the employer does not move. The deduction only materialises through ordinary taxation, and the refund arrives several months after the end of the year concerned.
Can I deduct my computer and my phone?
They fall under other professional expenses, and therefore under the flat rate. Deducting them on top would mean giving up the flat rate for the whole category and substantiating every expense, private share deducted — a calculation that rarely pays.
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