Residence tax vs income tax (short clarifier)
To verify This page has 1 item that could not be confirmed on an official page. Check it yourself before relying on it:
This is general information, not tax advice.
Why this note exists
Newcomers often mix up two different payments that both get called “tax”:
- Residence tax (taxe de séjour), a commune charge on people staying in the commune; EPFL states it applies to students.
- Income tax (impôt sur le revenu), cantonal / federal tax on income (ordinary return or withholding).
They are not the same. Scholarship notes, landlord bills, and ACI letters refer to different systems.
The kit already states this on Permit & commune, Residence tax and points from Student tax. This page is a one-screen clarifier.
Side-by-side
| Residence tax (taxe de séjour) | Income tax (impôt sur le revenu) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Communal tax on guests / people staying in the commune (Lausanne: hôtes de passage ou en séjour); local rules | Cantonal ± federal tax on income |
| Who talks about it | Your commune / landlord; EPFL residence-permit page | ACI (Administration cantonale des impôts); Vaud tax pages |
| Typical student trigger | Living in a Vaud commune after registration | Working (withholding) and/or filing a return if Swiss / C permit |
| Kit page | Permit & commune | Student tax |
Residence tax (commune), what EPFL says
EPFL: the residence tax for students is often CHF 37 per month. The exact amount varies by municipality (local regulations).
- Paid to the landlord, who pays the tax collector, contact your commune.
- For housing in Lausanne, EPFL points to Lausanne’s official page: Taxes de séjour, Ville de Lausanne. Lausanne states the logeur (landlord / host) collects the tax and pays it to the city’s Service de l’économie; exemptions are listed on Lausanne’s exonérations page.
- Scholarship holders may request an exemption with their scholarship attestation; granting it is not guaranteed.
Source: EPFL, Residence permit
EPFL’s study-cost table also lists taxe de séjour as CHF 37 / month (CHF 444 / year) as a budget line, still confirm your commune.
Source: EPFL, Financement des études
Other communes near EPFL: Ecublens, Renens, Chavannes-près-Renens and St-Sulpice (with Lausanne, Bussigny, Crissier, Lutry, Pully and Romanel) apply the same intercommunal regulation on the taxe de séjour (status 1 Jan 2025). For a stay of more than one month without interruption in a flat, studio or room (category 7), the tax is CHF 37 per person per month (art. 9). The logeur (landlord / host) collects it and declares guests on the official form (arts. 11 and 12). The exemptions in art. 10 include holders of a Swiss or foreign study grant and people taxed at source; a landlord who exempts you without checking does so at their own risk (art. 15), so expect to show your grant attestation. Sources: Règlement intercommunal sur la taxe de séjour (PDF, Lausanne legal collection); Chavannes also lists CHF 37 / month for long stays on its Impôts et taxes page.
Income tax, one-line reminder
- Swiss nationals / C permit: ordinary assessment. Vaud says you must file a return every year from the year after you turn 18, even with no income (deadline 15 March).
- Foreign workers without C (Vaud names permits B, L, F, N, Ci): withholding (impôt à la source), deducted from salary by the employer.
- B/L student not working: withholding does not reach you. Vaud applies it to foreign workers without a C permit on the income from their employed work in Switzerland (revenu de leur activité lucrative dépendante exercée en Suisse), so with no job there is nothing to withhold. Whether you must file an ordinary return depends on your tax domicile. Federal and Vaud tax law say that a person who keeps their home (domicile) abroad and is in Switzerland only to attend a school or university does not become tax-domiciled or tax-resident here (LIFD art. 3 para. 4; Vaud LI art. 3 para. 4). Both conditions count: your home stays abroad, and studying is the only reason you are here. If your situation is different (for example your family lives in Vaud, you no longer have a home abroad, or you stay on after your studies), you may be tax-domiciled in Vaud, and the ordinary filing duty can then apply. Vaud's "Ma situation personnelle" page states, under Apprentice / Student, that from age 18 every person (students and people with no income included) must file a return each year. If ACI sends you a tax return or a letter, do not ignore it: fill it in, or contact ACI and explain your situation. Vaud's "Les impôts pour les jeunes" page adds that filing does not necessarily mean paying. If you file, a study grant is reported as tax-exempt income (ACI's instructions: not taxable "mais doivent toutefois être annoncés"), so it is not taxed as income if there is no service in return and you are in need; details on Student tax and Money help for students. To verify: no Vaud tax page explains how ACI applies this rule to students on a B or L permit in practice, or whether it sends them a return by default. Confirm your own case with ACI (021 316 00 00, Monday to Friday 08:00 to 17:00). Sources: LIFD art. 3, Vaud LI, Ma situation personnelle, Personnes imposées à la source, Les impôts pour les jeunes, Contact ACI, ACI, Instructions générales 2025 (PDF).
Full detail and Vaud links: Student tax
Source pack: Les impôts pour les jeunes | État de Vaud
Church tax and the religion question at registration: see Church tax and religious communities in Vaud.
Quick check
- Bill or letter from landlord / commune about taxe de séjour → residence tax path.
- Payslip with impôt à la source, or ACI / VaudTax letters → income tax path.
- Scholarship exemption paperwork for taxe de séjour does not settle income-tax questions (and vice versa).