Importing car to Switzerland.

Do you know if there is a big fee to import a foreign vehicle into Switzerland? Also, what is the procedure like? Does it take a long time?

Hi gentnovo33,

Importing a motorcar into Switzerland is relatively simple. You must declare the vehicle at a Swiss customs office and provide these documents:

• Bill of sale. This is the receipt you received from the car dealer or a personal receipt if you bought the car from a private individual.
• Your passport or ID card.
• The car's identification papers.
• Proof of the vehicle's origin, if available.

You will have to complete a Swiss customs declaration and submit it with the above documents. The import process is relatively quick and straightforward.

If you have owned your car for 6 months or longer and you move to Switzerland from abroad, you can import the car as personal property and are largely feed from taxes. You will need to complete customs declaration form 18.44 and submit it at the customs office.

If you have owned your car for less than 6 months and you move to Switzerland from abroad, you can apply to import the car as personal property at the customs office (request customs declaration form 15.30). In this case, you also are largely freed from import taxes, but the car must remain in your possession for at least 2 years after importing.

The costs of importing a vehicle are:

• Customs duties. The customs duty ranges between 12 and 15 Swiss francs (depending on the type of vehicle) per 100 kilograms of empty vehicle weight.
• Value added tax. The VAT is 7.7% of the price you paid for the car as per the bill of sale. In some cases, the car's actual cash value may be used instead (if the car was gifted to you, for example). Note: If you bought the car from a dealer in a foreign country, you should be able to reclaim the VAT levied by that country.
• Automobile tax. For light motor vehicles, this is equal to 4% of the car's value.
• CO2 tax. This penalty tax applies if your car's CO2 emissions and/or empty weight exceed certain thresholds (standard: 95 grams per kilometer in 2020). For cars with relatively high CO2 emissions, this is by far the highest cost associated with importing a car into Switzerland, and can make an import unviable.

Example: You buy a car abroad for the equivalent of 10,000 Swiss francs. The car has an empty weight of 1549 kg and a CO2 emission rating of 158 grams per kilometer. You would pay a total of CHF 7349.45 in combined Swiss taxes upon import (CHF 770 VAT, CHF 400 automobile tax, min. CHF 185 customs duties, approximately CHF 5994.45 CO2 tax). In this case, the cost of taxes makes importing financially unviable.

If your car had a lower CO2 emission rating of 100 grams per kilometer, you would pay a more realistic CHF 620.75 in CO2 tax. If your car's CO2 emission rating was 93 grams per kilometer or less, you would not pay CO2 tax at all.

Tip: Largescale importers can compensate for high-CO2-emission vehicle imports with imports of low-CO2-emission vehicles. Because of this, hiring a car importer to import your vehicle for you can work out much cheaper than importing it yourself if your car does not have a very low CO2 emission rating. There are many Swiss car dealers which specialize in importing foreign cars for a fee.