Getting your Swiss tax return done: costs in 2026

Having your Swiss tax return done costs between CHF 35 and over CHF 1'500 in 2026, depending on the route. The cheapest fixed prices at the filing services go to apprentices and students: CHF 35 at steuermacher.ch, CHF 90 at SimpleTax. A standard situation lands at roughly CHF 99 to CHF 299 (steuermacher.ch from CHF 99, SimpleTax CHF 140 to 170, taxea.ch from CHF 99 excl. VAT, packages up to CHF 499 excl. VAT). A fiduciary (Treuhänder) or tax advisor typically charges around CHF 150 to 800 for private individuals and couples, and once home ownership, securities or self-employment enter the picture the quoted figures run CHF 800 to 1'500 and more. Doing it yourself in the official online portal of your canton stays free. TaxWize sits in the middle of that band at CHF 39 for one declaration in one tax year: it reads your uploaded documents and shows which deductions are worth checking, and the filing still happens in the cantonal portal.

Why the same tax return costs CHF 35 in one place and over CHF 1'500 in another

Two things set a moving quote: how much you own, and how well it's packed. A studio with the boxes already taped shut is moved in an afternoon, while a full house with nothing packed costs a multiple of that. Tax returns price the same way. One salary certificate with standard deductions is the studio. Home ownership, a securities portfolio, an inheritance or self-employment is the full house, and a bundle of unsorted receipts is the unpacked furniture the professional bills by the hour to sort. So there's no single price, just a spread: fixed-price services for the simple cases, hourly rates at the fiduciary for anything that needs clarification.

The 2026 price overview

Where these figures come from: the service and software prices are taken from the linked provider pages as of 12.07.2026, and the headline prices were re-checked on 26.07.2026. The fiduciary ranges come from independent overviews (gryps.ch, retrieved 13.07.2026; Beobachter, as of 09.03.2026) and one provider's own guide (ClaroTax, as of 16.02.2026). Prices move constantly, so the provider's current page is the number that counts.

What a filing service charges

Filing services quote a fixed price per situation and add surcharges on top. The providers that come up most often, as of 12.07.2026:

• steuermacher.ch (remote, all 26 cantons): apprentices and students CHF 35, employees CHF 99, married couples CHF 149; plus CHF 65 per property, 72-hour express CHF 100. Finished return within 10 to 14 days, submission included.
• SimpleTax (around 10 branches in the Zurich, Aargau and St. Gallen regions, online nationwide): singles CHF 140, couples CHF 170, apprentices CHF 90; plus CHF 30 per residential unit, express (7 working days) CHF 50, additional work CHF 180 per hour.
• taxea.ch (digital): Basic from CHF 99 excl. VAT, Bestseller CHF 299 excl. VAT (within 5 weeks, incl. review of the assessment and representation), Prime CHF 499 excl. VAT (within 10 working days, incl. personal consultation).

There's also a cheaper middle form where you keep the last step for yourself. Steuern59 charges CHF 59.90 to have the return prepared and reviewed, sends it back ready to go, and leaves the submission to you (as of 26.07.2026).

Surcharges push the real total well past the entry price. A married couple with their own home pays CHF 214 at steuermacher.ch (CHF 149 plus CHF 65 for the property) and CHF 200 at SimpleTax (CHF 170 plus CHF 30 for the residential unit).

The full 2026 comparison of software and services goes through how the services differ in detail and how they stack up against buying software or using the cantonal portal.

What a fiduciary charges for the tax return

List prices are the exception at a fiduciary or a tax advisory firm, and the bill usually follows the effort. The available guide figures, two independent overviews and one provider's own guide:

• The quote platform gryps.ch cites CHF 150 to 800 for the tax return of a private individual or a married couple, with hourly rates from CHF 80 for simple cases to over CHF 250 for specialist expertise (retrieved 13.07.2026).
• The consumer magazine Beobachter cites usual hourly rates between CHF 80 and CHF 420, depending on the complexity of the case, and recommends getting a written quote up front (as of 09.03.2026).
• The guide published by the advisory firm ClaroTax tiers, by its own account, as follows: simple return (employees, no property) CHF 300 to 800, medium complexity (home ownership, securities, child deductions) CHF 800 to 1'500, complex cases (self-employment, several income sources) from CHF 1'500 (as of 16.02.2026).

As a rule of thumb for tax year 2025/2026, an ordinary private return at a fiduciary runs to a few hundred francs, and four-figure amounts become realistic once properties, larger portfolios or self-employment are involved.

All three sources give ranges rather than quotes. Where your own case lands inside those ranges depends on how complicated it is and on which provider you ask.

What drives the price at a tax advisor?

The same drivers show up across the sources:

1. Complexity of the situation: properties, securities, inheritances, assets abroad or self-employment increase the effort and with it the price (gryps.ch, ClaroTax).
2. State of your paperwork: a folder sorted by topic saves billable hours; the proverbial shoebox full of receipts costs extra, because the professional has to sort first (Beobachter).
3. Follow-up questions and clarifications: missing documents and open questions stretch the work, and the clock runs at the hourly rate (Beobachter).
4. Type of provider and region: hourly rates differ widely between the small fiduciary office and the specialised advisory firm, and the region plays a role too (Beobachter cites CHF 80 to 420 per hour).

You control the first two. Documents that arrive complete and sorted by topic lower the bill at every provider.

What the four routes cost Sandra

Sandra is single, employed and renting in Baden in the canton of Aargau: one salary certificate, pillar 3a, health-insurance premiums, no property. Her options for tax year 2025 (guide figures, as of July 2026):

The fee is only half the calculation, though. The other half is the deductions, and they move real money. Say Sandra forgets her continuing-education costs of CHF 1'200. At a marginal tax rate around 25 % that mistake costs her roughly CHF 300 in tax she didn't owe, which is more than any of the cheaper options in her table charge in the first place. Paying someone to prepare the return, or running it through a preparation layer, buys saved time and, alongside it, more confidence that nothing deductible was left behind. The amounts here are guide figures for tax year 2025, so check the current limits and tariffs with your canton.

A married couple with their own home and a securities portfolio moves up the table: filing services with surcharges CHF 200 to about CHF 300 (taxea Bestseller CHF 299 excl. VAT), and a fiduciary CHF 800 to 1'500 depending on complexity, per the guide figures above.

Where you live moves the tax bill itself just as much. The municipality page for Baden shows what the municipal multiplier does to it, and the free tax comparison covers every municipality in the seven cantons currently supported.

Can you deduct the cost of having the return prepared?

It depends on the canton, and practice varies: some cantons allow the cost of preparing the return under certain conditions and sometimes only up to a limit, while others treat it as non-deductible living costs. Your canton's guidance (Wegleitung) has the answer, and a quick question to the tax office gets there faster. Either one is worth doing before you enter the amount.

When is which route worth it?

• Very simple situation, small budget: the official online portal of your canton, free of charge. Apprentices and students who would rather hand it over get the entry rates at the services (CHF 35 to 90).
• Standard situation, a stack of documents, and a canton that is covered: TaxWize as the preparation layer at CHF 39, which reads the documents and checks the deductions, and leaves the filing to you in the official portal.
• You want to do as little as possible yourself: a filing service from CHF 99. The 2026 comparison ranks the providers and sets out their differences.
• Genuinely complex circumstances (self-employment, several properties, international elements): professional tax advice, where the hourly rate buys experience with exactly those cases. A written quote up front is part of the deal.

What CHF 39 buys at TaxWize

TaxWize sits between filling the return in yourself for free and handing it off from CHF 99. You upload your documents, Swiss-hosted AI reads them, every value can be checked and corrected, and the tax calculation runs on a deterministic rule set built from the actual cantonal tariffs.

What comes out at the end is your expected tax burden and the deductions worth checking in your case. Full preparation covers seven cantons today, and the filing itself still happens in your canton's official portal. If that matches your situation, taxwize.ch is where to start.