Expense claims for home charging in Switzerland: the CHF 60 lump sum or actual costs in your expense regulations

In Switzerland, an employer can reimburse the electricity an employee uses to charge an electric company car at home in two ways: a lump sum of up to CHF 60.– a month, set out in the model expense regulations of the Swiss Tax Conference (SSK/CSI), or actual costs, meaning the kWh actually charged multiplied by the employee's own tariff. The lump sum is the exception. Reimbursement at actual cost remains the basic rule of every Swiss expense regulation.

This guide is for HR, payroll and finance teams, including those running Swiss entities from abroad. It explains how the Swiss expense regulation system works, how to word the charging clause, which receipts stand up to the cantonal tax administration, what each option costs depending on where the employee lives, and how to get rid of manual expense claims. It is the work Voltaback automates for more than 200 client companies.

Key points in 30 seconds

• Basic rule: all expenses are reimbursed at actual cost against receipts. A lump sum is allowed only where the regulations provide for it.
• SSK/CSI lump sum: up to CHF 60.– a month for charging an electric vehicle at the employee's home, shown under item 13.2.3 of the salary certificate.
• Actual costs: kWh measured × the employee's real tariff, with no fixed ceiling, provided it can be proven.
• The trap: an employee who pays for their own charging does not reduce their 0.9 % private-use charge. Reimbursing it is in both parties' interest.
• Order of magnitude: at 15'000 km a year, home charging costs about CHF 55.– a month in Zug and about CHF 83.– in Basel. One flat amount cannot be right everywhere.

How Swiss expense regulations work

Swiss employers usually set out their expense rules in a written document called expense regulations (Spesenreglement / règlement de remboursement des frais). The Swiss Tax Conference publishes model regulations that cantons use as a reference, and expenses appear on the employee's annual salary certificate (Lohnausweis / certificat de salaire), the form both the employee and the tax office rely on.

The SSK/CSI model, updated on 1 January 2026, states the core principle in section 1.3: expenses are in principle reimbursed at actual cost, per expense event and against the original receipt. Monthly or annual lump sums are paid only where the regulations expressly provide for them.

For charging, this matters. CHF 60.– is not a legal ceiling for the electricity of a company car. It is a ceiling for a lump sum. Neither the SSK/CSI model nor the official guide to the salary certificate (Wegleitung) caps the reimbursement of documented actual electricity costs for a vehicle owned by the employer. Sources: SSK/CSI model expense regulations 2026 and ESTV, salary certificate guide 2026, all three national-language versions are on the ESTV salary certificate page.

Why the employer is expected to pay for the energy

Swiss tax rules add a private-use charge (Privatanteil / part privée) of 0.9 % of the car's purchase price per month to the employee's salary. That charge assumes the employer bears all costs of the car and the employee only pays fuel or energy for longer private trips at weekends or on holiday (guide, margin note 21). Everyday electricity is therefore part of what the employer normally pays.

For the employee's side of the story, read our guide to home charging reimbursement.

Option 1: the CHF 60.– monthly lump sum

What the SSK/CSI model clause says

Under section 2.5 ("company car"), the model provides that where an employee is given an electric vehicle, a monthly lump sum of at most CHF 60 may be paid for charging the vehicle at the employee's place of residence. It covers all private electricity costs linked to the vehicle.

On the salary certificate, the amount goes under item 13.2.3 ("other lump-sum expenses") with the wording "Stromvergütung E-Fahrzeug" (in Romandie "Indemnité d'électricité pour véhicule électrique", in Ticino "Indennità per la ricarica del veicolo elettrico"). Approved lump sums are not subject to withholding tax, which matters for cross-border commuters and B-permit holders in Geneva, Basel or Zurich.

The conditions

• Approval is recommended, not compulsory. An employer who does not reimburse only at actual cost can obtain legal certainty by having its regulations approved by the tax authority of the canton where the company has its seat (guide, margin note 59). Regulations approved in Zug or Geneva are recognised by the other cantons if they follow the SSK/CSI models.
• One legal entity, one approval. Each Swiss company has its regulations approved by its own seat canton. A foreign or Swiss holding cannot do it for its subsidiaries.
• Always declare the amount. Even with approved regulations, lump sums appear as amounts on the salary certificate and must roughly match actual expenses.
• Reduce during absences. Monthly lump sums must be reduced for any uninterrupted absence of more than four weeks (maternity or paternity leave, military service, illness, accident, garden leave; holidays excluded). Otherwise, the excess no longer counts as expenses.

The SSK/CSI publishes the cantonal contacts for expense regulation approvals. Source: ESTV, cantonal contacts for expense regulations.

Where the lump sum falls short

A lump sum is easy, but blind. It pays the same to a sales rep driving 30'000 km a year as to a part-time colleague driving 8'000 km. It also ignores that the kWh price depends on the municipality and the grid operator, from about 22 Rp./kWh (centimes) in Zug to more than 33 Rp./kWh in Basel-Stadt (2026 cantonal medians for a standard household).

The model also refers only to electric vehicles. Plug-in hybrids are not mentioned. Without written confirmation from your seat canton, apply the CHF 60.– to fully electric cars only.

Option 2: actual costs, measured in kWh

The principle

Actual-cost reimbursement pays back what the employee really paid: kWh charged for the vehicle × the tariff of their electricity contract. It is the basic rule of the SSK/CSI model and the only fair method once mileage and tariffs vary across the team.

Social security follows the same logic. Expense reimbursements are not part of the wage subject to AHV/AVS contributions (old-age and survivors' insurance); they are taken into account at their actual amount, and the employer or employee must be able to prove them (margin notes 3001 and 3010). Source: Federal Social Insurance Office, directives on relevant wages.

How to declare it

• Without approved regulations: actual expenses other than travel and meals are declared as an amount under item 13.1.2 ("other actual expenses"), with their nature, for example "company car electricity" (guide, margin note 54).
• With approved regulations that include an actual-cost clause: the approval also covers actual reimbursements, which then no longer need to be declared as amounts (margin note 59). Item 15 carries the approval note with the canton and date.

A model clause for your expense regulations

Here is wording you can discuss with your fiduciary and your seat canton. In practice it will be written in the language of your regulations:

Company car electricity. Where the employee charges the battery-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle provided by the company at home, the electricity is reimbursed at actual cost. The monthly amount equals the kWh charged for the vehicle, measured per charging session, multiplied by the electricity tariff the employee actually pays (energy, grid use, levies and VAT, high or low tariff according to the time of charging).

A monthly statement per employee is produced and kept with the payroll records. Charging at public stations is reimbursed against the operator's receipt. The employee reports any change of electricity contract.

This clause replaces the lump sum; it does not add to it. If you keep both options, state that each employee falls under one or the other.

Too high, too low: what each mistake costs

Above CHF 60.–: salary

A lump sum above CHF 60.– a month falls outside the SSK/CSI model. Swiss fiduciaries treat the excess as salary: income tax and AHV/IV/EO contributions on the extra amount. This view concerns lump sums. A measured, documented actual-cost reimbursement above CHF 60.– remains an expense.

Below cost: the employee pays, and the 0.9 % stays

This is the most common mistake, and the least visible. Employees who pay all or part of their own charging may assume their 0.9 % private-use charge goes down. It does not: the guide states that bearing only fuel costs or the costs of charging electric vehicles is not enough to waive the private-use charge (margin note 23).

So the employee pays twice: the private-use charge on the salary certificate and the electricity on the household bill. For any fleet electrification policy, that is a poor signal. How the private-use charge itself is calculated is covered in our article on the private-use charge for an electric company car.

Worked example: 15'000 km a year in six cantons

Assumptions: 15'000 km a year, 18 kWh/100 km at the battery, about 10 % losses between meter and battery, so about 3'000 kWh a year at the meter, or 250 kWh a month. Prices: ElCom 2026 cantonal medians for a standard H4 household. Source: ElCom electricity prices by municipality.

A concrete case: a Zurich-based company has two field sales staff. One lives near Lausanne and drives 30'000 km: about 6'000 kWh at 30 Rp., or about CHF 1'800.– a year. With the CHF 720.– annual lump sum, he funds about CHF 1'080.– himself. The other lives in Zug, drives 8'000 km and charges mostly at the low night tariff: her real cost is around CHF 25.– to 30.– a month, so the lump sum pays her about CHF 360.– to 420.– a year more than she spends.

The ElCom median is an average for a standard household, metering costs included. The marginal price of a kWh charged at night on the low tariff can be clearly lower, and a high-tariff kWh higher. The components of the price are explained in our article on the price per kWh for charging an electric car.

Receipts that stand up to the tax administration

An actual-cost reimbursement is only solid if every franc is documented. A compliant monthly statement contains, per employee:

1. The vehicle: number plate or VIN, so the electricity is linked to the company car and not to the household.
2. kWh per session: date, start and end time, energy charged. The time decides high or low tariff.
3. The employee's tariff: from the grid operator's or supplier's bill (ewz, EKZ, SIG, Romande Energie, WWZ, IWB...), with energy, grid use, levies, grid surcharge and 8.1 % VAT.
4. Calculation and amount: kWh × tariff, monthly total, payment date.
5. Retention: the statement is archived with payroll records, like any accounting record, for ten years (Art. 958f of the Swiss Code of Obligations).

An electricity bill alone is not enough: it mixes the cooker, the water heater and the car. Only per-session measurement isolates the company car's share.

Special cases your clause should cover: employees in a self-consumption group (ZEV / RCP) or with their own solar panels, who pay an internal tariff that is often lower; condominium flats where the parking space has a separate meter; changes of electricity product during the year.

How to get rid of charging expense claims

Manual expense claims have three weaknesses: employees must read their kWh, payroll must check the tariff, and nobody can prove that the kWh claimed are really the car's. With ten cars, that is half a day a month. With a hundred, it is a job.

Voltaback replaces this process with an automatic monthly statement:

• No hardware: the platform is 100 % software and connects to vehicles from more than 48 brands. No box, no compulsory smart charger.
• How charging is measured: Voltaback relies on the home's MID-certified meter, not on a standalone cable meter. The measurement has been audited by an independent third party, with a relative error of 1.22 %.
• Real tariff: each kWh is valued at the employee's contract tariff, high or low according to the time of charging.
• Payroll-ready statement: one monthly receipt per vehicle, ready for item 13.1.2 or for approved regulations.
• Data protection: the company never receives drivers' geolocation, only kWh, kilometres and amounts. Voltaback has been ISO 27001 certified since 2 December 2025 and complies with the revised Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP / nDSG).

See how home charging reimbursement at real cost works, or compare lump sum, expense claims and automatic measurement for your fleet with the home charging solutions simulator. To roll this out across a whole fleet, our guide to managing and reimbursing home charging sets out the steps.

Replace expense claims with an automatic statement

The CHF 60.– lump sum is convenient, but it overpays some drivers, underpays others and frees nobody from the private-use charge. Actual cost is the Swiss default: you only need to prove it every month, without manual entry.

To set up actual-cost reimbursement that fits your expense regulations, contact the Voltaback team.