French-Swiss cross-border workers

Personal finance for France–Switzerland cross-border workers

You live in France and work in Switzerland. Two answers change the tax on your investments and your pillars: the canton you work in and the health insurance you chose. IgniFI asks for them once, in Settings or the opening questionnaire, then computes at your rates wherever it counts.

Rules read on 16 October 2026 from the sources listed at the foot of the page; 2026 rates and caps.

Where your salary is taxed

It all depends on the canton you work in. In the eight cantons of the agreement of 11 April 1983 (Bern, Solothurn, Basel-City, Basel-Country, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel and Jura), the salary is taxed in France, for someone who goes home to France every day (at most 45 nights a year in Switzerland, full time): no Swiss tax is withheld. In Geneva and the 17 other cantons, it is taxed at source in Switzerland, then declared in France, which counts it to set the rate of tax on the household's other income and cancels it with a tax credit.

What IgniFI does

The canton is chosen in Settings › Region & currency, or in the opening questionnaire. IgniFI then writes where the salary is taxed and, for a salary taxed at source, the quasi-resident condition: at least 90% of the household's worldwide income taxable in Switzerland, and a subsequent ordinary assessment requested every year before 31 March.

Give my canton in Settings

LAMal or the French scheme: what the health insurance changes

The droit d'option is exercised once, within three months of starting work in Switzerland, and it cannot be undone; without a choice, it is the LAMal. A French resident insured under the LAMal owes no CSG or CRDS on capital income, only the 7.5% solidarity levy: a gain or a dividend on a brokerage account is taxed at 20.3% instead of 31.4%, a PEA (French equity savings plan) over five years old at 7.5% instead of 18.6%, rents at the income-tax bracket plus 7.5% instead of 17.2%. In the French scheme (the "CMU frontalier"), the full social charges apply, and a 8% health contribution is assessed on the household's income of two years before, investments included.

What IgniFI does

IgniFI applies your rate wherever it counts: the withdrawal plan's pockets, the net dividends on the dashboard, the copy-trading simulator, the tax on a PEL's or a CEL's interest. Until the question is answered, it uses the French charges, the rate that cannot flatter a figure. The French scheme's 8% contribution is stated beside the choice, not computed.

LAMal or CMU, in detail

The pillar 3a: a tax saving only where the law gives one

A 3a payment reduces tax only where the salary is taxed in Switzerland. Taxed in France, in the eight cantons of 1983, it saves no tax: France does not know the 3a, and on the way out only the capital's gains are taxed there, at the flat tax. Taxed at source, it is deductible only through the subsequent ordinary assessment, so for a quasi-resident. The 2026 cap is CHF 7,258 for an employee in a pension fund.

What IgniFI does

The withdrawal plan's "Pillar 3a (CH)" pocket shows a tax saving only when there is one, with the quasi-resident condition. For a salary taxed in France, it says a payment reduces no tax and taxes the gains alone, at your flat tax. The pillars and the Swiss brokerage account are offered to a cross-border worker beside the French wrappers.

Open the withdrawal plan

A 2nd-pillar capital, taxed in France

Paid in one go to a French resident who worked in the private sector, a 2nd-pillar capital is taxed in France (a Swiss public employee's stays taxed in Switzerland): on election, a 7.5% levy on 90% of the capital, that is 6.75% of the gross amount, plus 9.1% of CSG, CRDS and Casa for someone covered by the French health insurance, 15.85% in all. A 3a paid from a salary taxed at source follows the same rule. The tax the Swiss fund withholds at source is refunded on request, with a certificate from the French tax office, within three years of the payment.

What IgniFI does

The withdrawal plan opens the "Pillar 2 / LPP (CH)" pocket at that rate, 6.75% at the LAMal or 15.85% in the French scheme, and a sentence under the pocket says where it comes from; a rate typed by hand stays yours. The plan draws on no pillar before the age the law releases it: 60 for the 3a, 58 for the 2nd pillar.

Open the withdrawal plan

Repaying the home loan with a pillar

Swiss law releases a pillar before retirement for the main residence, in Switzerland or abroad: a cross-border worker's house in France counts, never a second home or a let property. The 2nd pillar pays at least CHF 20,000 per withdrawal, until 3 years before the fund's retirement age; after 50, at most the greater of the benefit at 50 and half the benefit at the time. The 3a is withdrawn with no minimum, before 60. One withdrawal every 5 years per pillar (LPP art. 30c, OEPL art. 5, OPP 3 art. 3).

What IgniFI does

On a pillar pocket of the withdrawal plan, "Repay my home loan with this pillar" simulates a partial or full repayment, at the age you choose. IgniFI holds each repayment to these limits and says which one refuses it, never capping it silently; otherwise it shows the estimated tax, the instalment before and after, how much less the pillar will be worth at retirement, and what you trade: the tax, the interest avoided, the growth lost. Under the form is written what it does not compute, including the tax withheld at source by the fund's canton and how France treats it.

The repayment, step by step

Euros and Swiss francs

A salary and a 3a in francs, a PEA and a loan in euros: a cross-border worker counts in two currencies, and a total only means something if everything is converted at the same rate.

What IgniFI does

Each account keeps its currency, and the total is shown in the one you choose, euros or Swiss francs: assets and debts converted at today's rate, in Settings › Region & currency or with the dashboard's picker. The withdrawal plan has its own picker. The budget is kept in euros, each line in francs converted at its historical rate, and a line with no rate is never counted at parity.

Choose my currency in Settings

Frequently asked questions

What flat tax does a cross-border worker insured under the LAMal pay on a gain?

In 2026, a French resident insured under the LAMal pays 20.3% on a gain or a dividend on a brokerage account: 12.8% of income tax and the 7.5% solidarity levy, with no CSG or CRDS. In the French scheme, the same gain is taxed at 31.4%. Source: service-public.gouv.fr, page F2329.

Is a cross-border worker's salary taxed in France or in Switzerland?

A cross-border worker's salary is taxed according to the canton of work. A cross-border worker employed in one of the eight cantons of the agreement of 11 April 1983 (Bern, Solothurn, Basel-City, Basel-Country, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel and Jura) who goes home to France every day is taxed in France. In Geneva and the 17 other cantons, the salary is taxed at source in Switzerland, and France grants a tax credit equal to the corresponding French tax. Source: impots.gouv.fr, "Salariés en Suisse".

Does a pillar 3a payment reduce a cross-border worker's tax?

A 3a payment reduces a cross-border worker's tax only if their salary is taxed at source in Switzerland, and through the subsequent ordinary assessment, open to a quasi-resident with at least 90% of the household's worldwide income taxable in Switzerland, to be requested every year before 31 March. A cross-border worker taxed in France saves no tax with a 3a payment, since France does not know the 3a. The 2026 cap is CHF 7,258 for an employee in a pension fund.

How is a 2nd-pillar capital taxed in France?

A 2nd-pillar capital paid in one go to a French resident who worked in the private sector bears on election a 7.5% levy on 90% of its amount, that is 6.75% of the gross capital, plus 9.1% of CSG, CRDS and Casa for someone covered by the French health insurance, so 15.85%. The tax withheld at source in Switzerland is refunded on request within three years. Sources: CGI art. 163 bis II, the DGFiP notice on 2nd-pillar type retirement capital.

Can a cross-border worker repay a mortgage in France with their 2nd pillar or 3a?

A cross-border worker can repay with their 2nd pillar or their 3a the loan on their main residence, even one in France, never the loan on a second home or a let property. The 2nd pillar pays at least CHF 20,000 per withdrawal, until 3 years before the fund's retirement age; the 3a, with no minimum, before 60; one withdrawal every 5 years per pillar (LPP art. 30c, OEPL art. 5, OPP 3 art. 3). IgniFI's withdrawal plan simulates the repayment and says which limit refuses an amount.

Does IgniFI compute the French scheme's health contribution?

IgniFI does not compute the French scheme's 8% health contribution: it is assessed on the whole household's income of two years before, investments included, above an allowance of €12,015 in 2026. IgniFI states it beside the "French scheme" choice and takes it off no figure, and the withdrawal plan says so beside its pockets.

Does IgniFI fill in a cross-border worker's tax return?

IgniFI fills in and files no tax return. It computes the tax and social charges on your investments from the canton and the health insurance given in Settings, and its figures are not personalised tax advice.

Further reading

Sources

IgniFI computes and explains with the rules above; it fills in and files no tax return. Nothing on this page is personalised tax or financial advice: for a particular situation, a tax adviser who specialises in cross-border workers remains the reference.

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