What benefits are you entitled to in Switzerland if you have children?

It is said that Switzerland is not as generous in terms of child benefits as most other European countries.

It is especially the case of limited parental leave and childcare options because Switzerland has a strong history and culture of individual responsibility, which promotes the idea that the state (or the employer) should not pay for people choosing to have children.

Regardless of whether this is a right or wrong approach, the fact remains that in terms of government help for children and families, Switzerland trails behind its neighbours.

However, this doesn’t mean that you and your children are not entitled to any benefits at all.

These are the main ones:

Child / family allowance

You are entitled to this allowance if you are employed or self-employed, or if you do not work and your taxable income is low (the threshold figure varies from canton to canton).

Swiss MPs have recently approved the move to raise the amount of financial assistance paid for children and those under of25 who are pursuing training or higher education.

The Social Security and Public Health Commission of the Council of States decided that in future, child allowances must amount to at least 250 francs and training allowances to at least 300 francs a month — 50 francs over the current federal guideline. 

Currently, 17 cantons pay more than the federal minimum — in Geneva, for instance family allowance is 311 francs per child, and educational allowance amounts to 415 francs.

In Vaud, these payments are 340 and 440; in Zug 300 for each; and in Basel-City 275 for child allowance and 325 for education.

The cantons where these benefits exceed the federal minimum will not need to increase their allowance, while all the others will have to meet the new treshold.

It is not yet clear when the new rules will be implemented, as the National Council's Committee on Social Security and Public Health still has to draw up a draft revision of the law.

Unemployment benefit

The above allowances are for families where the main breadwinner is employed.

You are not entitled to this help if you are registered as unemployed. However, in this case you can receive an unemployment benefit supplement.

Generally, your unemployment pay is equivalent to 70 percent of your average salary during the previous six months.

But you will qualify for an additional 10 percent — that is, 80 percent of your income — if you have dependent children younger than 25 years old.

Tax deductions

If you have children under 18, you can deduct 6,600 francs per year for each minor child from your taxable income. 

But a tax break is also available for children over 18 who are undergoing training: the costs of education above the secondary level are tax deductible — up to 12,700 francs per year.

And if both parents are employed and their children under the age of 14 are in some kind of daycare, their deductible annual childcare costs for federal tax purposes are 25,000 francs per child — though  cantonal rules may vary.

Keep in mind that these benefits are available to all families.

Parents on low income are also eligible to receive additional help, in the form of health insurance and housing subsidies:

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