Swiss federal budget 2027: back in balance, with corporate tax doing the work

Country reference

• Country: Switzerland (Wave 1 expansion country)
• Authorities: Federal Council; Federal Department of Finance (FDF); Federal Finance Administration (FFA)
• Topic: Federal budget 2027 with integrated task and financial plan 2028 to 2030
• Key date: Key figures 24 June 2026; budget dispatch adopted 19 August 2026
• Law: Federal Constitution (debt brake); Financial Budget Act

The numbers

• Receipts: CHF 93.7 billion, up 3.7% on the 2026 budget.
• Expenditure: CHF 93.8 billion, up 3.0%.
• Structural balance: a surplus of about CHF 180 million, which meets the debt brake.
• For the first time in seven years the budget contains no extraordinary expenditure.

How it got there

• On 15 April 2026 the Federal Council faced a structural deficit of about CHF 600 million even after Parliament’s decisions on relief package 27, and ordered further cuts, including a 1% reduction in loosely bound spending.
• By 24 June, receipt estimates had risen by CHF 1.8 billion compared with February, mainly from higher corporate income tax forecasts. Preventive measures of CHF 540 million were dropped.
• The relief package and earlier savings together slow spending growth by CHF 4 billion. Without them the budget would show a structural deficit of about CHF 1.3 billion.
• The relief package was proposed in September 2025 at CHF 2.4 billion for 2027 and CHF 3 billion a year for 2028 and 2029.

Pressure ahead

• Spending is planned to exceed CHF 104 billion by 2030.
• Defence spending is about CHF 7 billion in 2027 and is planned to pass CHF 10 billion by 2032.
• Old-age pension costs rise with demographics, and payments to cantons under fiscal equalisation grow by about CHF 300 million a year.
• The Federal Council notes that funding for the growth in security and defence spending is not yet secured.

Two risks the government names

• Corporate income tax is concentrated: 0.5% of companies paid three quarters of it, on 2022 data.
• Receipts from the OECD minimum tax cannot yet be estimated reliably, because 2026 is the first year of collection.

What it means for businesses

• The open fiscal questions for business are the VAT vote on 29 November 2026 and how defence spending will be funded after 2027.
• Companies that receive federal subsidies or research funding should check the relief package measures.
• Parliament debates the budget in its winter session.

Our take

Switzerland balances its budget by rule, and this year the rule was met by a revenue surprise from a small number of large taxpayers. That dependence is the point to watch: it shapes how the country treats multinational groups, and it explains the care taken over the minimum tax.