La facture fiscale RSU.
En Suisse, le vesting des RSU et l'exercice des stock-options sont imposés comme revenu ordinaire au taux marginal complet. Une fois les actions à vous, la vente ultérieure est généralement exonérée (règle du gain en capital). Calculez l'impact sur l'année de vesting ci-dessous.
Comment ça marche
RSU at vest. Full fair market value × number of vesting shares is added to your ordinary income in the year of vesting. Taxed at your marginal rate (federal + cantonal + commune). Per federal tax circular № 37.
Options at exercise. The bargain element ((FMV − strike) × shares) is the same ordinary-income event. The act of vesting isn't taxable; only exercise is.
Capital gains on later sale: TAX-FREE. Switzerland treats capital gains on private movable assets as tax-exempt (Art. 16 Abs. 3 DBG). So once the shares are yours, the upside from there to sale isn't taxed — provided you don't qualify as a "quasi-professional securities trader" (high turnover, leverage, very short holding periods).
Illiquidity discount. Some cantons apply a discount on restricted (locked-up) shares: typically 6 % per year of remaining lock-up, capped at 10 years (~44 % total discount). This reduces the taxable FMV. ZH and ZG are the most generous on this; SO and JU often apply less.
What's NOT modelled above: social-insurance contributions on the bargain element (AHV/IV/EO/ALV on the employer/employee shares), withholding tax for non-residents, and the special "Bezugsrecht" rules for private companies. For startup equity at a Swiss employer, talk to a fiduciary — these edge cases matter.
Réduire l'impôt de l'année de vesting
- Max your Pillar 3a in the vest year — CHF 7 258 off the top of your highest marginal-rate bracket.
- Buy into your LPP — if you have buy-in capacity, this is the single biggest lever to offset a big vest-year income spike.
- Time the exercise of options — for ISOs (employee options), you control the exercise year. Spread across years to stay in lower marginal-rate bands.
- Consider relocating before a big vest. See cheaper communes — for a CHF 500 k vest, the difference between ZH city and a Zug low-tax commune is CHF 30–80 k.