Tax deduction for health insurance premiums

What is the tax deduction for health insurance premiums?

The tax deduction for health insurance premiums is a general deduction in your tax return. You deduct the premiums you have paid from your income, which lowers your taxable income and therefore your tax. In the forms it is usually called the “insurance deduction” or “insurance premiums and interest on savings capital”.

The deduction has two special features. First, it is limited: you cannot deduct the whole premium, only up to a maximum amount. Second, it is a combined deduction: the same pot includes premiums for basic and supplementary health insurance, for life and private accident insurance, and interest on savings accounts. For most households, basic health insurance alone is enough to use up the maximum amount.

Separately, there is the deduction for medical and accident costs. It does not concern premiums but costs you pay yourself: the deductible, retention fee, dentist’s bills, glasses or medicines not covered by any insurance. More on this under medical costs.

In Switzerland you pay two income taxes: direct federal tax and the cantonal and municipal tax of your canton. Each has its own maximum amounts. The Confederation sets its amounts in the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation (DBG), the cantons theirs in the cantonal tax acts.

How it works

Direct federal tax: premiums for life, health and accident insurance and interest on savings of the taxpayer and of the persons they support are deductible (Art. 33 para. 1 let. g DBG). The maximum amounts:

Without contributions to occupational pension provision and pillar 3a, the deduction therefore rises to CHF 2,700 for single people and CHF 5,550 for married couples. This mainly affects people without earned income or self-employed people without pension provision.

Cantonal tax: the Tax Harmonisation Act requires the cantons to allow the deduction but leaves the amount up to them (Art. 9 para. 2 let. g StHG). According to its guide, the canton of Zurich allowed CHF 2,900 for single people and CHF 5,800 for married couples for the 2025 tax period, increased by half without pension contributions. Other cantons have other amounts; your canton’s guide lists them.

Premium subsidy: only what you have actually paid is deductible. If you receive a premium subsidy, you must subtract it from the premiums. Usually the insurer offsets it directly, in which case the certificate already shows the reduced amount.

Medical costs: medical and accident costs you bear yourself are deductible for federal tax insofar as they exceed 5% of your net income (Art. 33 para. 1 let. h DBG). The cantons set their own threshold (Art. 9 para. 2 let. h StHG).

Legal basis

For direct federal tax, Art. 33 of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation (DBG) governs the general deductions. Para. 1 let. g allows the deduction of deposits, premiums and contributions for life, health and accident insurance and of interest on savings, up to CHF 3,700 for married couples and CHF 1,800 for other taxpayers. Para. 1bis increases these amounts by half for taxpayers who do not pay contributions to occupational pension provision or pillar 3a, and by CHF 700 for each child and each person in need of support. The amounts are adjusted periodically for inflation (compensation for bracket creep); what counts is the amount applicable to your tax year.

Para. 1 let. h allows the deduction of medical and accident costs insofar as you bear them yourself and they exceed 5% of taxable income after deduction of expenses. For the cantons, Art. 9 para. 2 let. g and h of the Federal Act on the Harmonisation of Direct Taxes of the Cantons and Communes (StHG) applies: the deduction for insurance premiums exists everywhere, while the amount and the threshold for medical costs are determined by cantonal law.

Example: premium and deduction compared

Sara is 34 (born in 1992), single, employed with a pension fund and lives in the city of Zurich. She has a CHF 2,500 deductible and pays a premium equal to the median of all offers in her municipality: CHF 453.90 per month (2026 premiums, municipality of Zurich, region 1, with accident cover; source FOPH).

The example shows: the insurance deduction is already used up by basic health insurance. More expensive supplementary insurance brings Sara no further tax benefit. A cheaper premium, on the other hand, saves every franc directly, because the deduction stays the same.

What this means for you

• Always enter your premiums. Even if the maximum amount is quickly reached, you must claim the deduction in your tax return. Your insurer’s certificate provides the figures.
• Keep receipts for medical costs. If you have a year with high costs, submit your insurer’s statement and receipts for the dentist or glasses.
• Account for the premium subsidy correctly. Subtract any subsidies you have received, otherwise the tax office will correct it. The premium subsidy page shows whether you are entitled.
• Save on the premium, not through the deduction. Because the deduction is limited, comparing pays off. The premium calculator shows you all the premiums in your municipality, and the health insurers overview shows the providers.

Common mistakes

• Deducting the whole premium. The Confederation and the cantons limit the deduction. Anything above it is lost for tax purposes.
• Forgetting the premium subsidy. Only what you have paid yourself is deductible.
• Entering premiums under medical costs. Premiums belong in the insurance deduction, not in medical costs. Deducting them twice is not allowed.
• Mixing up cantonal and federal amounts. The amounts differ. Your canton’s tax software calculates the two separately.

We explain how we analyse premiums under How we calculate.