What electric cars pay in motor vehicle tax in Schwyz, how the tax is calculated and what is changing.
Schwyz has no reduction for electric cars. The tax depends mainly on motor power (kW) and only weakly on gross weight, so EVs, being powerful, pay more than combustion cars on average (according to the cantonal government in 2023, about CHF 650 versus just over CHF 400 on average for all cars). A tax cut for EVs was rejected by voters in October 2023.
Power in kW and gross weight (registration document fields 76 and 33). Formula: tax = power^0.9 / gross weight^0.05 × tax index; the tax index is 7.125 points; minimum tax CHF 160 per year (§ 9 of the motor vehicle tax law, SRSZ 782.300, version in force since 1 January 2020).
Electric cars are taxed with the same formula as combustion cars, with no discount or exemption. Because the formula weights power heavily and weight hardly at all, powerful EVs pay comparatively a lot. The cantonal government put the average annual tax for electric vehicles at about CHF 650 at the end of 2022, versus just over CHF 400 on average across all roughly 106,000 cars. A law revision that would have raised the weight exponent for zero-emission vehicles from 0.05 to 0.12, lowering their tax, was passed by the cantonal parliament in 2023 by 58 to 34 votes but rejected in the popular vote of 22 October 2023 with over 61 % voting no.
No special rule; plug-in hybrids are taxed with the same power/weight formula.
VW ID.3 Pro Performance, 150 kW, gross weight 2,270 kg: CHF 440 per year (column 'Jahressteuer bisher', tax index 7.125, in the government report RRB Nr. 97/2023 of 7 Feb 2023; the formula and index are unchanged since, and 150^0.9 / 2270^0.05 × 7.125 = 439.97 confirms it).: CHF 440 per year (source)
Still to be confirmed: whether the tax index of 7.125 and the statutory formula remain unchanged in 2026 (consolidated version: as at 1 February 2020); no amendment is known.
The Auto-Check works out how much you save overall with an electric car, using your own assumptions.
As of: October 2026. All information without guarantee. The tax bill and the cantonal road traffic office are authoritative.
