Vaud Newcomer Admin Kit

Student tax in Vaud: withholding vs ordinary assessment

Last checked: 8 October 2026. Unofficial student guide, not EPFL or government advice: confirm on the linked official pages before you act. Unfamiliar abbreviation? See the Glossary.

To verify This page has 1 item that could not be confirmed on an official page. Check it yourself before relying on it:

Not tax advice. Amounts and deadlines are the ones on the linked official pages.

Two different systems

In Vaud, how you pay tax depends mainly on your permit / nationality, not on whether you are a student (one exception for students whose home stays abroad is explained below).

Ordinary assessment (déclaration d’impôt / “classic” taxation) You file an annual tax return. This applies if you are:

even if you are a student, apprentice, employee, unemployed, or have no income. Filing a return does not automatically mean you will owe tax.

Source: Les impôts pour les jeunes | État de Vaud

Withholding tax (impôt à la source) Your employer deducts tax from each salary payment and remits it to the cantonal tax administration. You often do not receive a blank annual return.

This generally applies to foreign workers who live or stay in Switzerland without a C permit , including people with permits such as B, L, F, N, Ci.

Source: same Vaud page; also Ma situation personnelle | État de Vaud

Cross-border / non-resident workers can also be subject to withholding on Swiss employment income (separate rules). See Vaud’s withholding pages for details.

Not working on a B or L permit?

Vaud’s “jeunes” page explains filing for Swiss nationals and C permits, and withholding for foreign workers without a C permit. It does not spell out a separate rule for a non-working B/L student.

What the official pages do say: withholding applies to foreign workers without a C permit on the income from their employed work in Switzerland, so with no job nothing is withheld (Personnes imposées à la source).

Home abroad, here only to study: 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.

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).

ACI contact details are on the Vaud tax pages above (call centre: +41 21 316 00 00; have your taxpayer number ready when you have one).

Practical notes for students under ordinary assessment

Source: Les impôts pour les jeunes

Advanced: when withholding taxpayers may still need an ordinary assessment

If you are taxed at source and domiciled in Vaud for tax purposes, an ordinary subsequent assessment (taxation ordinaire ultérieure / TOU) can be mandatory in cases set out by the canton (examples discussed officially include high gross withholding income , Vaud cites a CHF 120,000 threshold for the taxpayer or jointly assessed spouse , or taxable wealth / income not covered by withholding). In other cases you may request an ordinary subsequent assessment in writing by 31 March of the year after the tax year.

Withholding continues; amounts already withheld are credited against the tax calculated on the return.

Sources:

Tip for newcomers: check your permit letter and your first payslip (look for “impôt à la source” / withholding). If unsure, contact ACI with your taxpayer number when you have one.