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

Tax

Income and wealth tax in Vaud

Total federal, cantonal and communal tax per year for each tracked commune in Vaud, 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 Vaud

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 Vaud

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 Vaud

Inheritance tax for children

Vaud taxes children's inheritance on a direct-line scale, with a CHF 1,000,000 exemption per descendant branch for estates opened from 2025, reducing by 1/100 per CHF 1,000 above that.
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Inheritance tax for spouses

Vaud exempts the surviving spouse and registered partner from inheritance and gift tax.
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Gift tax

Vaud exempts gifts to a spouse, and gifts up to CHF 300,000 per child per year from 1 January 2025 (previously CHF 50,000).
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Lump-sum taxation

Vaud applies expenditure-based taxation in place of income and wealth tax.
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Lump-sum minimum tax base

The Vaud minimum expenditure base is the highest of CHF 415,000 (including a 15 percent wealth-tax uplift), seven times rent or rental value plus 10 percent, or three times board price plus 10 percent.
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Wealth tax

Vaud's top cantonal wealth tax rate is 3.39 per mille on the surplus above CHF 600,000 (CHF 711,000 indexed for 2026).
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Bilingual public schooling

Vaud's gymnases offer a French-German bilingual maturity through a short model (modalité C) and a long model (modalité L).
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International schools

The International School of Lausanne is an IB school on the SGIS list.
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Family allowance per child

Vaud child allowance is CHF 322 per month for the first two children and CHF 365 from the third, with training allowance CHF 425 and CHF 468.
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Childcare fees in Nyon

Nyon network preschool care runs from CHF 16 to CHF 130 per day; at full-time attendance the monthly fee is CHF 320 at gross income CHF 3,100 and CHF 2,600 at CHF 16,000.
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Naturalisation

Becoming Swiss in Vaud

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

An applicant must have lived two full years in Vaud, including the year before filing.
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Residence in the commune

The applicant must live in the Vaud commune whose citizenship is sought; a commune may by regulation impose one year of residence there, within the previous year or not.
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Spoken language

French at B1 oral is required to file.
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Written language

French at A2 written is required to file.
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Knowledge test

The commune tests basic knowledge of Switzerland and Vaud with a multiple-choice test drawn from the official question list; 70% correct is needed and up to three attempts are allowed.
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Who decides

In Vaud the municipality gives a positive preavis or refuses, the Conseil d'Etat gives the cantonal preavis, then after federal authorisation takes the final naturalisation decision following the oath.
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Cantonal and communal fees

The Vaud cantonal fee is CHF 450 for an individual and CHF 550 for a family; communal fees are CHF 100 to 400 (individual) or CHF 200 to 500 (family).
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Social assistance

Vaud applicants must not have received the revenu d'insertion in the three years before filing or during the procedure, unless it was fully repaid.
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All 26 cantonal requirements compared

Move comparisons

Moves to and from Vaud

Back to all 26 cantons · Methodology and sources

Questions

Living in Vaud: common questions