Relocating to Nidwalden: tax, health premiums, rent and naturalisation

Tax

Income and wealth tax in Nidwalden

Total federal, cantonal and communal tax per year for each tracked commune in Nidwalden, tax year 2026, computed with the official ESTV calculator. No church tax is included.

Standard profiles: gross employment income with the calculator's standard deductions. Single: one adult aged 35. Married: couple aged 40 and 38, one earner, two children aged 10 and 8. The asset profile adds net taxable wealth to the married profile.

Health insurance

Health insurance premiums in Nidwalden

Federal Office of Public Health, premium year 2027: adult aged 26 or over, accident cover included, standard model, CHF 300 deductible, CHF per month.

Housing and safety

Rent and safety in Nidwalden

Rent: Federal Statistical Office structural survey, 2024, net rent excluding service and heating charges. Safety: police crime statistics, 2025; rates in cantons with large city centres reflect visitors and commuters as well as residents.

Cantonal rules

Inheritance, lump-sum taxation, schools and family in Nidwalden

Inheritance tax for children

Nidwalden: children are exempt from inheritance tax.
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Inheritance tax for spouses

Nidwalden: the spouse is exempt from inheritance tax.
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Gift tax

Nidwalden: gift tax: levied; spouse, children, grandchildren, step and foster children exempt.
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Lump-sum taxation

Nidwalden allows expenditure-based taxation for non-Swiss persons arriving for the first time or after at least ten years abroad, with no gainful work in Switzerland.
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Wealth tax

Nidwalden simple wealth tax is 0.25 per mille of taxable wealth (0.2 per mille for qualifying holdings of at least 10 percent).
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Family allowance per child

Nidwalden monthly child allowance per child: CHF 258.
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Naturalisation

Becoming Swiss in Nidwalden

Federal law sets the national minimum. The canton and the commune add their own residence periods, language levels and tests, and they decide on cantonal and communal citizenship.

Residence in the canton

Nidwalden requires uninterrupted residence in the canton and in the commune for the five years immediately before filing, with ten years in Switzerland in total.
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Residence in the commune

The five uninterrupted years must also be in the commune; the double count for ages 8 to 18 does not apply to the commune period.
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Spoken language

Nidwalden requires oral German at B2, above the federal B1.
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Written language

Nidwalden requires written German at B1, above the federal A2 (reading and listening at B2 per the Merkblatt).
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Interview

In Nidwalden the commune of residence examines the substantive requirements in a naturalisation interview before the council decides.
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Who decides

In Nidwalden the municipal council decides on communal citizenship, the Justiz- und Sicherheitsdirektion rules on cantonal citizenship, and the Regierungsrat issues the final cantonal decision for adults and youths.
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Cantonal and communal fees

Nidwalden's fee ordinance lists, for an adult foreigner, a cantonal range of CHF 1,000 to 1,500 and a communal range of CHF 1,400 to 1,600, with higher totals for couples.
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Social assistance

Nidwalden requires no social assistance in the five years before filing, which is stricter than the federal three years.
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All 26 cantonal requirements compared

Back to all 26 cantons · Methodology and sources

Questions

Living in Nidwalden: common questions