How much should you set aside for tax and AVS?
Enter your year and your canton. You get the two pots a Swiss self-employed person actually has to park money for — AVS/AHV and income tax — per month and for the year, on the 2026 rates.
Calculating…
AVS/AHV contributions follow the sliding scale for the self-employed in Merkblatt 2.02, valid from 1 January 2026; income tax uses the 2026 federal scale with your canton’s multiplier. Figures verified on 31 July 2026.
Questions people actually ask
How much should a self-employed person in Switzerland set aside?
There is no single percentage. AVS/AHV alone takes between 5.371% and 10% of your net profit on the sliding scale for the self-employed, and income tax comes on top — it depends on your canton, your commune and the deductions you can claim. That is why this page asks for your figures instead of quoting a rule of thumb: the calculator above gives a monthly amount for your own revenue, expenses and canton.
How do AVS instalments and the definitive settlement work?
Your compensation fund bills provisional instalments on an income it assumed in advance — usually an earlier year, or the figure you declared when you registered. Once your tax assessment reaches the fund it settles the year definitively, which typically takes about two years. If the instalments were more than 25% below the definitive amount, the fund adds 5% retroactive interest per year on the difference. Telling the fund when your income climbs is enough to avoid it.
Does the canton change what I set aside?
Yes, and by more than most people expect. AVS and federal income tax are identical everywhere, but the cantonal and communal share is a multiple of the federal tax that differs substantially between cantons. On the same revenue and expenses, the total to park can vary by thousands of francs a year. Switch cantons above to see it on your own numbers.
What does SoloLedger do differently?
This page is a snapshot, built from figures you typed in once. SoloLedger is a simple accounting app for Swiss solopreneurs and small companies that keeps the same number live: it reads your real paid invoices and deductible expenses, moves the AVS and tax pots as the year goes, and shows what is genuinely yours to spend — with the same AVS reality check, so a back-payment is never a surprise.
Set-aside by canton
The same calculation with each canton's multiplier applied.
Stop recalculating this by hand
SoloLedger is the simple accounting app for Swiss solopreneurs and small companies. Your paid invoices and expenses feed the same AVS and tax pots you just calculated, and the app tells you what is safe to spend.
7-day free trial, no credit card. Your books stay in your own Google account.
An indicative estimate, not tax advice. Cantonal and communal multipliers are approximate and vary by municipality and marital status — confirm the figures with your trustee or cantonal tax office.