Who qualifies
The test is practicality: distance and break length make going home unrealistic. Shift workers and commuters typically qualify; home-office days don't count.
Canteen and Lunch-Checks
Employer-subsidised meals halve the deduction. Check your salary certificate: field G indicates canteen/Lunch-Check arrangements – your tax software applies the reduced rate.
Collect the days, not the receipts
The deduction is a flat rate per day – you count workdays, not lunch receipts. Track your work pattern and the number falls out automatically.
Track these costs in your own budget: create your free Swiss budget in BudgetHub – in English, with Swiss categories built in.
What the deduction is and who can claim it
Where you cannot reasonably eat at home because of your workplace and working hours, the cost of meals away from home is a professional expense and reduces taxable income. A flat daily amount applies, with a defined annual maximum.
The amount is halved where the employer subsidises meals – typically through a canteen or meal vouchers. This is shown on the salary statement, and claiming the full amount when a subsidy exists is a common and easily detected error.
The deduction is separate from commuting costs, which have their own rules and caps. Both belong in the professional expenses section, and both are frequently left blank by employees who assume the standard deduction already covers them.
How it interacts with home office
Days worked at home do not qualify: the justification is being unable to eat at home. With hybrid arrangements the correct approach is to claim proportionally rather than for the full year.
Some cantons allow a home-office deduction instead, subject to conditions about whether the employer provides a workplace. The rules differ cantonally and change, so the cantonal guide for the relevant year is the reference rather than last year's practice.
Keeping a simple record of office days through the year turns this from an estimate into a defensible figure – and takes about a minute a month.
The other professional expenses worth checking
Commuting costs, with a federal cap and cantonal variations; professional association fees; work clothing where genuinely required; and further education related to your occupation up to an annual ceiling.
Each individually looks small and collectively they move the taxable income noticeably – particularly for middle incomes where the marginal rate is already meaningful.
The practical habit: a folder, physical or digital, for the year's receipts and confirmations. The deduction is not lost because it does not exist; it is lost because the evidence was never collected.