Home Office Deduction in Switzerland: What You Can Claim

If you run your business from home, you can deduct a portion of your housing costs as a business expense — provided you meet the conditions.

What you can claim

A proportional share of your rent or mortgage interest, heating, electricity and cleaning — based on the share of your home used exclusively and regularly for work.

The deduction covers the running costs of the space you use for work, applied pro rata to the proportion of your home it represents.

If you rent, the relevant figure is your rent; if you own, it is mortgage interest rather than the principal repayment. The principle is the same.

Utilities like heating and electricity are claimed in the same proportion as the space. Keep the calculation simple and consistent.

• A share of rent or mortgage interest.
• A share of utilities (heating, electricity).
• Based on the room’s share of your home.

The conditions

The space must be used regularly and (mostly) exclusively for work. A corner of the living room used occasionally does not qualify the same way a dedicated office does.

Exclusivity is the key test. A dedicated room used only for work clearly qualifies; a shared space used sometimes for work is harder to defend.

Regularity matters too. The space should be your genuine place of work, not somewhere you occasionally sit with a laptop.

If you also work from a co-working space or client site most of the time, the home office deduction may be reduced accordingly.

Calculate it properly

The usual method is to divide the office area by the total living area to get a percentage, then apply that to the eligible costs.

Keep your calculation worksheet and any measurements with your tax records. If challenged, you can show exactly how you arrived at the figure.

Be realistic. Claiming an implausibly large share invites scrutiny; a modest, defensible claim sails through.

When it is not worth it

For a small or occasional home office, the deduction may be modest. Weigh it against the record-keeping effort it requires.

Some cantons apply flat-rate allowances for home office that simplify the claim. Check whether your canton offers one before doing the full calculation.

If you rent and work from a dedicated room, the deduction is often meaningful. If you own, the eligible costs differ, so check what applies.

facturio keeps your business records organised, making the income side of your return clean while you apply the home office calculation to your housing costs.