Do you qualify as a Geneva quasi-resident?
AdminLanding Editorial
Quasi-resident status lets you deduct real expenses from your Geneva source tax — but only above the 90% Swiss-income threshold. Check your eligibility free, then file the rectification early in the year after the tax year, within the period the Geneva tax administration sets.
Quasi-resident check — free
For a frontalier taxed at source: whether at least 90% of the household's worldwide gross income is taxable in Switzerland (LIFD art. 99a, OIS art. 14).
Choose your canton of work first.
What quasi-resident status changes — and what it costs
Source tax vs ordinary taxation
When you are taxed at source in Switzerland — in Geneva, for example, or in another canton outside the 1983 agreement, or in one of its eight cantons when your employer withholds source tax — the employer applies a scale (barème) that already includes flat allowances. Quasi-resident status lets you request instead an ordinary assessment in which you declare your actual deductions; the source tax withheld is credited against it. The result may be lower or higher than the source tax, and the request cannot be withdrawn once filed. The status is a right, not a refund.
The deductions that make it worthwhile
The levers that typically justify a rectification are pillar 3a contributions, 2nd-pillar buy-backs (rachats LPP), childcare costs, alimony paid, disability or health costs, and genuine professional expenses beyond the flat rate. A single large pillar-3a or LPP buy-back can by itself turn the year positive. Households with none of these rarely benefit — which is exactly why you check before filing.
31 March is a hard deadline
The request must reach the tax administration of your canton of work (in Geneva, for example, the AFC) by 31 March of the following year (LIFD art. 99a, OIS art. 14). Unlike many French deadlines, there is no tolerance and no rattrapage: past that date the source tax for the year stays as withheld. Because the 90% test depends on your final income mix (including any French rental or investment income), it is worth re-running it every year rather than assuming last year's answer still holds.
Quick answer
A frontalier taxed at source in Switzerland — in Geneva or another canton outside the 1983 agreement, or in one of its eight cantons when the employer withholds source tax — is a quasi-resident when at least 90% of the household's worldwide gross income (you and your spouse) is taxable in Switzerland (LIFD art. 99a, OIS art. 14). They may then request an ordinary taxation (TOU), which takes the actual deductions into account — pillar 3a, LPP buy-backs, childcare, alimony, actual professional costs — instead of the flat allowances of the source-tax scale; the source tax withheld is credited against it, and the result may be higher or lower than the source tax. The request reaches the tax office of the canton of work by 31 March of the following year, every year, and cannot be withdrawn once filed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Status, the 90% test, when it pays off, the 31 March deadline, other cantons.
What is quasi-resident status in Geneva?
How is the 90% threshold calculated?
Is it always worth applying for quasi-resident status?
What is the deadline to file the Geneva rectification?
Does quasi-resident status apply to cantons other than Geneva?
Important: AdminLanding is a technology platform, not a fiduciaire, tax adviser or regulated professional. This tool applies the federal quasi-residence threshold (LIFD art. 99a, OIS art. 14) to the figures you enter, for the cantons that tax at source — Geneva and the others outside the 1983 agreement, and its eight cantons when the employer withholds source tax. It is a computation you check, not tax advice; it does not compute your actual tax and does not decide your status: the tax administration of your canton of work decides, when it assesses. A request, once filed, cannot be withdrawn.
Secure Vault — included with every pack
Store your generated documents in an encrypted vault. Administrative Intelligence reports, fiscal analyses, CERFA forms, rent receipts, letters — all your generated documents in one secure place, encrypted on your device before upload.
The check is free. The TOU file sets out the test, the deadline and the scope of the request.
Generate the quasi-residence (TOU) file and the other cross-border documents; the calculators stay free. €6 a month, renewed automatically every month; cancel any time from your account, effective at the end of the current monthly period.
Cross-border tools — in the membershipEU-hosted • Federal 90% threshold (LIFD 99a / OIS 14) • 31 March deadline
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