Tax comparison

🇨🇭Geneva vs 🇪🇸Spain

At €80,000 gross, the net annual salary is 57,894 CHF in Geneva and €52,865 in Spain, a gap of about €9,575 per year once converted. Once each side is put at its own price level, the order reverses: about €46,000 of purchasing power in Geneva against €70,000 in Spain. EXPATRIATION.IO comparison, 2026 tax scales: adjust the gross salary and the household below.

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Comparing taxes: Geneva and Spain

Geneva (Swiss canton) and Spain (country) have distinct approaches to taxing employment income. On a gross salary of €80,000, the effective total deduction rate is 21.9% in Geneva compared to 33.9% in Spain. That translates to a difference of roughly €9,575 per year in favor of Geneva.

In Geneva, federal tax is 767 CHF while cantonal and municipal taxes add 7,269 CHF, with social contributions (AHV, ALV, BVG) totaling 8,246 CHF. In Spain, income tax is €23,156 and social contributions are €3,979.

The net annual take-home is 57,894 CHF in Geneva and €52,865 in Spain (amounts in respective local currencies, converted from the same EUR gross). These figures assume a single filer with no children or special deductions. Actual results vary based on household composition, deductions, and specific tax credits available in each jurisdiction.

Equivalent gross and tipping point

At €80,000 gross in Geneva, about €97,400 gross is needed in Spain to reach the same net salary.

That figure answers the same net. For the gross that gives back the same purchasing power, restated at each side's price level, the two answers sit side by side.

Across the €30,000 to €250,000 gross range, Geneva leaves the higher net salary at every level tested.

These figures use the default profile. The Expat Package Report runs the same calculation on your own two salaries and household, and quantifies the gap in euros.

Detailed comparison at €80,000 gross

GenevaSpain
Gross annual salary74,176 CHF€80,000
Income tax (national or federal)767 CHF€23,156
Cantonal and municipal tax7,269 CHF€0
Social contributions8,246 CHF€3,979
Total deductions16,282 CHF€27,135
Net annual salary57,894 CHF€52,865
Net annual (EUR equivalent)€62,440€52,865
Net monthly salary4,825 CHF€4,405
Effective deduction rate21.9%33.9%

Amounts are shown in each local currency (CHF and EUR); EUR equivalents are converted at reference exchange rates last updated on 2026-10-16.

Breakdown of social contributions

Geneva

AHV/IV/EO (old-age, disability)3,931 CHF
ALV (unemployment)816 CHF
BVG/LPP (pension fund)2,386 CHF
UVG (accident insurance)1,113 CHF
Total contributions8,246 CHF

Spain

General contributions€2,877
Unemployment€949
Professional training€61
MEI (intergenerational equity)€92
Total contributions€3,979

Examples at several salary levels

Gross (EUR)Rate GenevaNet Geneva (EUR)Rate SpainNet Spain (EUR)
€45,00013.2%€39,07127.6%€32,600
€80,00021.9%€62,44033.9%€52,865
€120,00026.8%€87,87137.6%€74,865
€250,00033.9%€165,13341.5%€146,365

These figures assume a single filer with no children; the tool above lets you adjust the salary and the household configuration (married, 1 to 3 children).

Special tax regimes

The figures on this page apply the ordinary scale. Where one of the two sides opens a tax regime of its own for arrivals from abroad, it is computed alongside here, without changing the comparison above.

Spain · Beckham Law (Ley Beckham)

Flat 24% on employment income up to 600,000 EUR and 47% above. While the regime applies, all employment income is deemed obtained in Spain (Art. 93.2.b LIRPF), and the taxpayer is liable to wealth tax on Spanish assets only. It runs for the tax period of the change of residence and the five following ones. The comparison above applies the ordinary scale and does not assume this regime. Over the salaries tested, the regime only overtakes the ordinary scale from €80,000 gross: below that, the ordinary brackets leave more.

Gross (EUR)Net Spain, ordinary scaleNet under the regimeDifference (signed)
€45,000€32,600€31,275−€1,325
€80,000€52,865€56,821+€3,956
€120,000€74,865€87,221+€12,356
€250,000€146,365€186,021+€39,656
Who this regime is open to

The taxpayer must acquire Spanish tax residence as a result of the move, and three cumulative conditions of Art. 93.1 must hold. First, not having been resident in Spain during the five tax periods preceding the move. Second, the move must follow, in the first year of the regime or the year before, one of four causes: an employment contract, professional athletes under Royal Decree 1006/1985 excepted, which covers starting an ordinary, special or statutory employment relationship with an employer in Spain, a posting ordered by the employer and evidenced by a letter of assignment from that employer, or work performed remotely using exclusively computer, telematic and telecommunication means; becoming a director of an entity, though where that entity is an asset-holding entity under Art. 5.2 of the corporate income tax law the director may not hold a stake that makes them a related party under Art. 18 of Ley 27/2014; carrying on in Spain an economic activity certified as entrepreneurial under Art. 70 of Ley 14/2013; or carrying on in Spain an economic activity as a highly an employment lawyer serving start-ups within the meaning of Art. 3 of Ley 28/2022, or engaged in training, research, development and innovation, where that remuneration is more than 40% of total business, professional and employment income. Third, obtaining no income that would qualify as earned through a permanent establishment in Spain, except under the last two of those causes. A spouse, children under 25 or of any age where disabled, or the parent of those children absent a marriage bond, may opt in on their own conditions, one of which is that the sum of their taxable bases be lower than the principal taxpayer's. Whether a given move qualifies is a question for a tax lawyer, not for this calculator.

Cost of living

Consolidated cost-of-living index (Paris = 100): Geneva 135, Madrid 75. This is a rounded editorial benchmark, built from Numbeo readings and official statistics rather than published by them. On a gross salary of €80,000, the net amounts adjusted to this index correspond to a purchasing power on the order of €46,000 for Geneva and €70,000 for Madrid, at Paris price levels.

To go further: the cost-of-living comparison and the city budget calculator.

Sources: Geneva: estv.admin.ch + cantonal tax administration, tax year 2026 · Spain: agenciatributaria.es, tax year 2026

This tool provides estimates based on public datasets. It is not the opinion of a tax lawyer. Consult a tax lawyer, a chartered accountant or a licensed financial professional before making relocation or employment decisions.

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