Valais Wealth Tax Cases

Valais Wealth Tax: Cases & Worked Examples

Illustrative computations showing how Valais’ progressive 1–3‰ wealth tax and municipal multipliers work in practice, from Sion to alpine communes like Verbier and Zermatt.

The canton of Valais levies a progressive wealth tax on taxable net wealth. The cantonal base tariff runs from roughly 1‰ to 3‰ of taxable wealth. The base wealth tax is then multiplied by:

a cantonal indexation factor, and
each commune’s municipal multiplier (typically 100–150% of the cantonal tax).

Effective combined cantonal + municipal wealth tax rates in Sion are around 0.53% at CHF 1,000,000 and 0.63% at CHF 5,000,000 of net wealth (married couple, excluding church tax), placing Valais in the mid-to-high range among Swiss cantons.

Standard exemptions (rounded) are: CHF 30,000 for single taxpayers and CHF 60,000 for married couples. Municipalities may apply their own multipliers, so the exact burden varies between attractive resorts (e.g. Verbier) and high-tax mountain villages (e.g. Kippel).

All numbers below are indicative 2025-style values for planning illustration only. Brackets, municipal multipliers and allowances are simplified; church tax is ignored. For precise results, use the Valais tax tables and the Swiss Wealth Tax Calculator.

Case A — Single Professional in Sion

Commune: Sion (cantonal capital; reference commune in TaxRep overview)
Assets: CHF 1,000,000 (listed securities & cash)
Liabilities: none
Allowance: CHF 30,000 (single exemption)

Net wealth	CHF 1,000,000
Less allowance	− CHF 30,000
Taxable net wealth	CHF 970,000
Cantonal base wealth tax	Progressive 1–3‰; average ≈ 2.3‰ on CHF 970,000 → ≈ CHF 2,231
Indicative Sion factor (canton + commune)	≈ ×2.30
Wealth tax due	≈ CHF 5,130
Effective rate	≈ 0.51% of net wealth

Observation: At CHF 1m in Sion, the overall effective rate is slightly above 0.5%, broadly in line with the Valais benchmark figures and clearly higher than low-tax cantons such as Nidwalden or Schwyz.

Case B — Married Couple with Two Children in Verbier

Commune: Verbier (tourist resort; relatively attractive tax burden within Valais)
Assets: CHF 2,500,000 (chalet + portfolios)
Liabilities: CHF 1,000,000 mortgage on the chalet
Filing status: Married, two children
Allowances: CHF 60,000 (married) + 2 × CHF 30,000 (children) = CHF 120,000

Gross assets	CHF 2,500,000
Less liabilities	− CHF 1,000,000
Net wealth	CHF 1,500,000
Less allowances	− CHF 120,000
Taxable wealth	CHF 1,380,000
Cantonal base wealth tax	Progressive 1–3‰ up to ≈ CHF 1.9m; average ≈ 2.3‰ on CHF 1,380,000 → ≈ CHF 3,174
Verbier factor (canton + commune; attractive)	≈ ×2.25
Estimated wealth tax	≈ CHF 7,140
Effective rate	≈ 0.48% of net wealth

Planning angle: Public examples for Verbier show effective rates around 0.44% at CHF 500,000 and 0.60% at CHF 2,000,000 of taxable wealth. The case above sits in the same corridor, illustrating how debt and family deductions soften the impact of Valais’ progressive scale even in a resort commune.

Case C — Entrepreneur with Private Company Shares in Martigny

Commune: Martigny (mid-range Valais commune)
Unlisted shares: CHF 3,500,000 (local operating company, practitioner-method value)
Other assets: CHF 700,000 (cash & diversified portfolio)
Liabilities: CHF 1,700,000 (business loans & mortgage)
Filing status: Married, no children
Allowance: CHF 60,000 (married)

Gross assets	CHF 4,200,000
Less liabilities	− CHF 1,700,000
Net wealth	CHF 2,500,000
Less allowance	− CHF 60,000
Taxable wealth	CHF 2,440,000
Cantonal base wealth tax	CHF 1,900,000 within 1–3‰ progressive bands, plus CHF 540,000 near the top of the scale; average ≈ 2.5‰ → ≈ CHF 6,100
Martigny factor (canton + commune; indicative)	≈ ×2.40
Total wealth tax	≈ CHF 14,640
Effective rate	≈ 0.59% of net wealth

In practice, qualifying participations may be valued conservatively or benefit from specific reliefs, which can reduce the taxable base and the resulting wealth tax compared with this simplified example.

Planning angle: Once the upper wealth brackets are reached, the marginal burden in Valais becomes fairly stable. For entrepreneurs, the key levers are valuation of private company shares, commune selection and the amount of deductible debt.

Case D — Nonresident Owning a Chalet in Zermatt

Tax nexus: Nonresident with Valais property only
Property value: CHF 2,000,000 (wealth tax value; simplified)
Mortgage: CHF 1,400,000 (loan economically tied to the chalet)
Commune: Zermatt (premium resort; relatively high municipal multiplier)
Other Swiss assets: none
Allowance: Single allowance of CHF 30,000 allocated to Valais (simplified)

Swiss-situs net wealth (Valais)	CHF 600,000
Less allowance	− CHF 30,000
Taxable Swiss-situs wealth	CHF 570,000
Cantonal base wealth tax	Within upper part of 1–3‰ scale; average ≈ 2.4‰ on CHF 570,000 → ≈ CHF 1,370
Zermatt factor (canton + commune; higher end)	≈ ×2.60
Estimated wealth tax	≈ CHF 3,560
Effective rate on Swiss-situs wealth	≈ 0.59%

Tip: For nonresidents, Valais taxes only Valais-situs wealth (typically real estate). Debt is deductible only insofar as it is economically linked to the Valais property. The resulting wealth tax is meaningful but usually small compared with the cost of owning and maintaining a Zermatt chalet.

Case E — Comparison: Verbier vs. Sion vs. Kippel

Married taxpayer with CHF 2,000,000 taxable net wealth (after allowances and debts)

	Verbier (attractive resort)	Sion (cantonal capital)	Kippel (higher-tax village)
Indicative effective rate	≈ 0.60%	≈ 0.63%	≈ 0.72%
Total wealth tax @ CHF 2,000,000	≈ CHF 12,000	≈ CHF 12,600	≈ CHF 14,400
Annual difference	At identical taxable wealth, moving from a higher-tax commune like Kippel to a more attractive Verbier-level commune can reduce annual wealth tax by roughly CHF 2,000–2,500.

Note: Within Valais, the cantonal tariff is common to all taxpayers. The communal multiplier largely explains the spread in effective rates — especially visible once wealth reaches the upper brackets.

Key Takeaways

Valais applies a progressive wealth tax of roughly 1–3‰ on taxable net wealth, with combined canton + commune rates that often reach 0.5–0.7% at typical planning levels.
Effective rates in Sion are around 0.53% at CHF 1m and 0.63% at CHF 5m, higher in some small mountain communes and similar or lower in attractive resorts like Verbier.
Tax-free allowances of approximately CHF 30,000 (single) and CHF 60,000 (married), plus standard deductions, shield modest wealth.
Mortgages and other deductible liabilities reduce taxable net wealth one-to-one and are particularly important for property-heavy profiles (chalet owners, entrepreneurs).
For entrepreneurs, valuation of private company participations and commune choice are central to managing the wealth tax burden once upper brackets are reached.
Nonresidents are taxed only on Valais-situs wealth; the allocation of debt to Valais property and the chosen commune together determine the Swiss wealth tax outcome.
In long-term planning, the difference between a higher- and lower-tax commune in Valais can amount to several thousand francs per year at multi-million wealth levels.