Managing home charging for your Swiss EV fleet: lower cost, less admin, fewer disputes

In Switzerland, there are two ways to reimburse home charging for company EVs: the monthly lump sum of up to CHF 60.– set out in the model expense regulations of the Swiss Tax Conference (SSK/CSI), or reimbursement of actual costs, meaning the kWh actually charged multiplied by the employee's real electricity tariff. The lump sum is simple but unfair from one municipality to the next; actual cost is fair, provided it is measured and documented.

This is a practical guide for HR and fleet teams, including international teams new to Swiss rules. It covers what charging costs depending on where it happens, how to roll out reimbursement in five steps, how it appears on the salary certificate (Lohnausweis / certificat de salaire), and how to handle the cases that make life harder: entities in several cantons, cross-border commuters, and employees in a self-consumption community or with rooftop solar.

A note on scope. This guide is about how to run it day to day. The full tax and social security framework (lump sum, actual expenses, the 0.9 % private-use rule) is covered in our article on the CHF 60 lump sum versus actual costs. Voltaback, the home charging reimbursement software used by more than 200 companies, built this plan from what it sees at its customers.

In short (checked on 2 November 2026). A company car driven 20,000 km a year needs around 4,000 kWh at the household meter. At home, at the Swiss median price, that costs in the order of CHF 1'200.– a year; at fast chargers, more than double. The biggest lever on your energy budget is therefore the share of charging done at home, and that share depends directly on how well you reimburse it.

What actually keeps fleet managers busy

Before we discuss method, consider the daily reality of a fleet manager or HR lead. The questions we hear from customers in Zurich, Geneva, Zug or Basel are always the same:

• What does charging really cost us, and where do our employees charge: at home, in the office car park, on the motorway?
• How do we reimburse without creating hidden salary in the eyes of the cantonal tax administration and the AHV/AVS compensation fund?
• How do we avoid manual meter readings, spreadsheets and monthly expense checks?
• How do we treat an employee in Zug and one in Basel fairly when their kWh does not cost the same?
• How do we avoid disputes when a driver feels the lump sum does not cover their costs?

That last point is often underestimated. Employees who pay part of their charging out of their own pocket eventually charge elsewhere, on the company charging card, at a much higher price.

One lump sum for around 600 grid areas

Electricity prices in Switzerland depend on the municipality and its distribution network operator. There are around 600 of them, and 2027 tariffs range from 10.56 to 45.88 Rp./kWh (centimes per kWh) depending on the municipality: a ratio of more than four to one (ElCom data, as analysed in the press).

Cantonal medians differ clearly too. For the standard H4 household profile (4,500 kWh a year), the 2026 median was 21.9 Rp./kWh in Zug, 24.8 in Zurich, 24.9 in Geneva, 30.4 in Vaud and 33.2 in Basel-Stadt, excluding VAT. A single lump sum therefore overpays some and underpays others. Source: ElCom, electricity prices by municipality, Federal Council, electricity prices 2027.

Your biggest saving lever: charging at home

Price differences by charging location are significant. Take a company car driven 20,000 km a year at 18 kWh/100 km: that is about 3,600 kWh into the battery, or roughly 4,000 kWh at the household meter once charging losses (around 10 %) are included.

Median: ElCom 2026 (27.7 Rp./kWh excl. VAT). Fast chargers: according to a TCS comparison, a 50 kWh charge costs between 30 and 40 francs at most fast-charging stations. Source: TCS, fast-charging stations in Switzerland. For a breakdown of the price (energy, grid, levies), see our analysis of the price per kWh for EV charging.

The indicator to watch is the home charging share. Every percentage point moved from fast chargers to home represents about 38 kWh per vehicle per year, or roughly CHF 15.– saved at the median price. Moving from 50 % to 70 % home charging saves in the order of CHF 300.– per vehicle per year, around CHF 15'000.– for a fleet of 50 vehicles (Voltaback calculation, assumptions above).

What pushes the home share down? Poorly reimbursed employees. To model your own case, use the fleet charging cost simulator: number of vehicles, mileage, home share, and you get the cost of each scenario.

The 5-step plan to launch reimbursement

Here is the rollout framework. None of the steps requires hardware at employees' homes.

1. Write your charging policy

A good policy fits on one page. It states who is eligible (electric company cars, possibly plug-in hybrids), which method applies (lump sum or actual cost), what evidence is required, and what happens when someone moves house or leaves.

Also set a target home charging share per profile. Field sales staff with high annual mileage come first: they account for most of your public charging bill.

2. Add charging to your expense regulations (Spesenreglement)

The SSK/CSI model states that where employees are given an electric vehicle, a monthly lump sum of up to CHF 60.– may be paid for charging at their place of residence. It covers all private electricity consumption related to the vehicle. Source: SSK/CSI via ESTV, model expense regulations 2026, section 2.5 (German).

The same model sets out a broader principle: expenses are in principle reimbursed at actual cost, against receipts; lump sums are the exception. Neither the model nor the salary certificate guide (Wegleitung) caps documented actual expenses at CHF 60.–. If you choose actual cost, add a clause such as: "Home charging of company vehicle: reimbursement of actual costs based on measurement (kWh × employee's tariff)".

Approval of the regulations by the tax administration of the company's seat canton (Sitzkanton) is optional but gives legal certainty (Wegleitung margin no. 59). To our knowledge, no canton has yet published a written position specifically on measured home charging at actual cost, so asking the relevant cantonal contact for confirmation is the prudent route. The SSK publishes the list of contacts. Source: ESTV, salary certificate guide 2026 (German), SSK, cantonal contacts for expense regulations.

3. Measure kWh, vehicle by vehicle

Actual-cost reimbursement rests on two data points: the kWh charged at home for each vehicle and the employee's real tariff (high and low tariff, energy, grid, levies). A self-declaration is not enough; you need a measurement tied to the vehicle.

A connected wallbox at every employee's home is one way to measure, but it is expensive and needs the landlord's or the condominium owners' consent. Before equipping everyone, read our comparison of connected chargers for fleets. A software solution measures without extra hardware, whether the car uses a standard socket or an existing wallbox.

4. Feed the amount into payroll

Each month, the amount per employee flows into payroll. On the salary certificate there are two cases:

• lump sum: the amount is always shown under item 13.2.3 with the wording "Stromvergütung E-Fahrzeug" (or its equivalent in the certificate's language);
• actual costs: without approved regulations, they go under item 13.1.2 "Other actual expenses" with their nature stated (margin no. 54); with approved regulations that provide for them, they generally do not need to be shown as an amount.

In both cases, this is not salary: expenses reimbursed against receipts are neither taxable income nor part of the wage subject to AHV/AVS contributions. A lump sum, however, must be reduced during any uninterrupted absence of more than four weeks (maternity leave, military service, illness), otherwise the excess becomes salary. Actual cost avoids this entirely: no charging, no reimbursement.

5. Monitor and scale

Once running, the scheme needs only a few monthly indicators: kWh charged at home per vehicle, home share, amount reimbursed, and anomalies (a vehicle that stops charging at home, unusual consumption, an unreported tariff change). This monitoring is also what makes your documentation robust if the tax administration asks questions.

Scaling fails when every new driver means an installer visit or an IT project. With a fully software-based approach, you roll out at the pace of vehicle deliveries.

Multi-entity groups: one regulation per legal entity

Many groups have an AG in Zurich, a GmbH in Zug and perhaps a subsidiary in Geneva. Note that each legal entity needs its own expense regulations, approved by its own seat canton. A holding company cannot have its subsidiaries' regulations approved (SSK FAQ on the salary certificate, question "Spe 2").

Conversely, cantons recognise regulations approved by the seat canton if they follow the SSK models. In practice: one group policy, implemented in as many regulations as there are entities, each with the same charging clause. Source: SSK, salary certificate FAQ 2026 (German).

Cross-border commuters: charging happens abroad

In Geneva, Basel or Ticino, a significant share of drivers live across the border and charge at home on a foreign electricity contract, usually in euros. This has two practical consequences.

First, withholding tax (Quellensteuer / impôt à la source). The SSK model states that approved lump-sum expenses are not subject to withholding tax. Actual expenses reimbursed against receipts are not salary either. Still, check each cross-border employee's situation with your fiduciary, as taxation depends on the agreement with the country of residence, for example Germany for Basel or Italy for Ticino.

Second, price. The ElCom tariff of a Swiss municipality says nothing about what a cross-border commuter pays. Only reimbursement at the real tariff of their contract, converted into francs, is fair. This is where a single lump sum shows its limits most clearly.

ZEV, solar, dynamic tariffs: the real tariff counts

Since 2026 the landscape has become more varied. Self-consumption communities (ZEV / RCP) and local electricity communities (LEG / CEL) allow many households to buy power at an internal tariff, often below the grid tariff. Some network operators also offer dynamic tariffs to customers with a smart meter.

For the employer, the rule is simple: reimburse the tariff the employee actually pays. An employee in a ZEV in the canton of Vaud with a favourable internal tariff should not receive the same as a tenant in central Zurich on the standard tariff. A lump sum cannot make that distinction; measurement at the real tariff can.

Tenants and condominiums

Charging at home requires a suitable installation. Today, a tenant needs the landlord's written consent (Art. 260a of the Code of Obligations). From 19 June to 12 October 2026, the Federal Council ran a consultation on an amendment to the Energy Act implementing motion 23.3936: tenants and condominium owners could require a basic charging installation. It is not yet in force. Source: Federal Council, opening of the consultation.

For the driver's side, our guide to charging a company car at home explains each step.

What Voltaback automates

Voltaback records every home charging session, links it to the right vehicle and applies the employee's real contract tariff, including high and low tariff, ZEV or solar, with charging losses included. It works with more than 48 car brands and every installation: standard socket, existing wallbox, shared underground car park.

How is charging measured? Voltaback relies on the home's MID-certified meter, not on a standalone cable meter. Measurement accuracy has been audited by an independent third party: 1.22 % relative error.

Each month, every employee receives a statement and payroll receives an export ready to import, with the right salary certificate item. On the road, the Electra charging card completes the set-up at fast chargers.

On data protection, the platform has been ISO 27001 certified since 2 December 2025 and is designed in line with the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (nDSG / nLPD): the company never receives drivers' location data, only the kWh and the data needed for reimbursement. If you still run charging through expense claims, our article on charging expense claims shows what you can drop.

Find out more on our home charging reimbursement page.

Take the next step

See what it looks like for your vehicles and cantons: book a demo, 30 minutes to see charging sessions, amounts and the payroll export. Or start by estimating your fleet's charging costs.