2025 salary certificate: mistakes employers and employees should avoid

A salary certificate does more than summarize twelve payslips. It certifies all benefits provided by the employer: salary, bonuses, allowances, benefits in kind, contributions, payroll withholding tax and expense reimbursements. One incorrectly ticked box can affect the employee’s tax return; an omitted benefit can expose the employer to an adjustment.

For 2025, the right approach is to reconcile the certificate with payroll accounting, monthly statements and decisions made during the year. Employees should check it before transferring the amounts to their tax return.

Who must issue the certificate, and by when?

Every employer must issue a salary certificate to each employee, including for secondary employment, a directorship or domestic staff. There is no general minimum amount. The main exception concerns the simplified settlement procedure, under which the compensation office issues its own certificate.

The certificate covers the calendar year and must be prepared immediately when an employee leaves or dies. In principle, one certificate is issued per employer per year. If several are exceptionally required, each must state the total number under item 15, for example “one of two salary certificates.”

In the canton of Vaud, the federal form with a 2D barcode is required. Submission to the authority may be through Swissdec-certified software or on paper using the official form; sending an ordinary PDF by email is not accepted. The deadline for 2025 is February 28, 2026. Direct submission rules and deadlines must be checked separately in other cantons.

The ten most common mistakes

1. Copying base salary without reconciling the entire year

Item 1 is not limited to contractual salary. It includes family allowances, commissions, regular premiums, role, on-call, night or Sunday allowances, and daily benefits paid by the employer. The total must be reconciled with payroll accounts and the twelve monthly statements, including thirteenth-month salary and retrospective corrections.

2. Forgetting a benefit in kind

Housing, a general public transport pass without a business need, private insurance paid by the company or a benefit granted to a related person may constitute a fringe benefit. For a company vehicle available for private use, the ordinary flat rate is 0.9% per month of the purchase price excluding VAT, including equipment, with a minimum of CHF 150 per month.

3. Ticking, or forgetting, boxes F and G

Box F indicates that the employee does not bear commuting costs, notably where a company vehicle is provided without a sufficient employee contribution. Box G concerns, among other things, canteens, meal vouchers and certain meal allowances. These boxes do not automatically add income, but affect the deductions an employee may claim. Ticking them “out of habit” is therefore a false economy.

4. Classifying a bonus in the wrong place

Bonuses, signing bonuses, severance payments and loyalty awards are non-periodic benefits to be declared under item 3. Contractual thirteenth-month salary belongs under item 1. This allocation is particularly important where employment did not last the entire year, because it may affect the tax calculation.

5. Deducting too much, or too little, for social insurance

Item 9 includes the employee’s AVS/AI/APG/unemployment and non-occupational accident contributions actually withheld. Employer contributions do not appear there. Supplementary accident insurance premiums and daily sickness benefit contributions borne by the employee are not deductible when calculating net salary on the certificate, but may be shown under item 15. In Vaud, the sickness loss-of-earnings contribution may subsequently be claimed in the tax return under cantonal rules.

6. Mixing ordinary pension contributions and buy-ins

Ordinary second-pillar contributions withheld from salary appear under item 10.1; buy-ins withheld from salary under item 10.2. A buy-in paid directly by the employee to the pension institution is not entered by the employer: the pension fund certifies it separately.

7. Treating an expense reimbursement as a salary allowance

Reimbursed business expenses must not be confused with allowances covering private expenditure or commuting. Where the Guide’s conditions are met — supporting documents, allowable limits and a genuine business journey — ticking item 13.1.1 without stating the total is often sufficient. Otherwise, reimbursed amounts must be declared. Monthly or annual allowances must always be stated and remain close to actual expenditure.

8. Forgetting reimbursed remote working or coworking space

Actual reimbursement against evidence for an external workplace, such as a home office, coworking or infrastructure, must be shown under item 13.1.2 with the amount and the wording “Expenses for an external workplace.” A corresponding flat-rate allowance falls under item 13.2.3. Treatment may differ if approved expense regulations specifically cover the situation.

9. Underestimating item 15, “Remarks”

This field documents, among other things, approved expense regulations, several certificates for the same year, part-time employment, certain employee equity interests or daily benefits not paid by the employer. A useful remark prevents the authority or employee from interpreting a difference as an omission.

10. Amending the old certificate instead of issuing a correction

A correction must take the form of a new, complete certificate. In Vaud, item 15 must state that it “cancels and replaces the salary certificate issued on …”. If the original was submitted through Swissdec, the substitution code must be activated. Manually amending the PDF already given to the employee creates two competing versions — precisely what should be avoided.

Checks for the employee

Employees do not always have access to their employer’s accounting, but can perform an effective consistency check:

• verify identity, address, employment period and number of certificates received;
• reconcile gross salary with payslips, thirteenth-month salary, bonuses and allowances;
• check the company vehicle and boxes F and G;
• compare social insurance and pension contributions with annual totals;
• check payroll withholding tax and expense reimbursements;
• read item 15, too often overlooked even though it explains special circumstances.

A difference is not necessarily an error: some reimbursements appear only as a ticked box, while other amounts are shown separately. Ask the employer for calculation details before concluding that the payroll software has taken an artistic initiative.

What should you do when an error is found?

1. Identify the disputed field precisely and gather the relevant payslips, bonus decisions, expense statements or certificates.
2. Ask the employer in writing for the calculation and, where necessary, a corrected certificate.
3. Do not amend the certificate yourself or knowingly enter an obviously incorrect amount.
4. If the tax return has not yet been filed, wait for the correction or request an extension.
5. If the return has already been submitted, promptly send the new certificate to the tax authority. If an assessment has already been notified, review deadlines and legal remedies without delay.

What are the risks for employer and employee?

For employees, an incorrect certificate may result in inaccurate taxable income, a refused deduction, recalculated payroll withholding tax or a request for documents. For employers, failure to issue a certificate or false information may lead to penalties under federal direct tax law, tax harmonization law and, in serious cases, the Criminal Code. A person who intentionally facilitated tax evasion may also incur liability.

The situations must nevertheless be distinguished. An isolated data-entry error that is documented and spontaneously corrected is not equivalent to deliberate falsification. Conversely, systematically calling salary components “expenses” without evidence or defensible regulations will be difficult to justify to the tax authority. Economic substance prevails over the payroll label.

How Delta Conseil SA can support you

Delta Conseil SA can check consistency between payroll, accounting, social insurance and salary certificates, address benefits in kind and expense reimbursements, and prepare necessary corrections. For employees, we can review the certificate before preparing the tax return and identify documents to request from the employer.

Speak to an adviser

Frequently asked questions

Is a certificate required for a very small salary?

Yes, generally regardless of the amount. Under the simplified settlement procedure, however, the compensation office issues the certificate to the taxpayer.

When must the 2025 certificate be provided?

It must be provided early enough for the employee to complete their return. In Vaud, the copy intended for the ACI must arrive by February 28, 2026. Where an employee leaves during the year, the certificate is prepared immediately.

Can employees correct the amount themselves?

No. They must request a complete corrected certificate from the employer. If the return has already been filed, they then send the correction to the tax authority with a brief explanation.

Must all expense reimbursements appear as franc amounts?

No. Where the official conditions for actual expenses are met, a box under item 13.1.1 may suffice. Periodic allowances, certain external workplace expenses and amounts outside the conditions must, however, be stated.

Must an automated certificate be signed?

Certificates produced entirely automatically may be issued without a signature. Otherwise, the document must be signed and identify the person responsible for preparing it.

Official sources

• FTA — Salary certificate and pension statement
• FTA/Swiss Tax Conference — Preparation guide valid from January 1, 2025
• Canton of Vaud — Salary certificate and pension statement
• Canton of Vaud — Frequently asked questions and corrections
• Fedlex — Federal Act on Direct Federal Tax

Last legal review: January 23, 2026.