Can you buy at all?
The federal law on the acquisition of immovable property by persons abroad — known as Lex Koller (LFAIE in French) — decides whether you need permission. "Persons abroad" include foreigners domiciled outside Switzerland; nationals of EU and EFTA states who are legally and actually domiciled in Switzerland fall outside it (Federal Office of Justice, LFAIE memorandum).
For a holiday home, the memorandum sets the conditions: the property must be in a place the canton has designated as a tourist resort; the permit counts against the canton's annual quota; only natural persons may buy — never a company; living space must not exceed 200 m² and land 1,000 m² (up to 250 m² and 1,500 m² where a greater need is proven); the home may be let only temporarily, not all year; and if your family already owns a Swiss holiday home, that one must be sold first. The cantons listed as allowing such purchases include Bern, Graubünden and Valais — the cantons of Gstaad, St. Moritz, Verbier and Zermatt. The memorandum dates from 2009; the Federal Office of Justice's current questions-and-answers page confirms that permits remain subject to annual quotas fixed by the Federal Council (Federal Office of Justice, Q&A). In Valais, holiday homes are one of the grounds for authorisation handled by the cantonal land-register service (Canton of Valais).
The second-home cap
Separately, since the second-homes law entered into force on 1 January 2016, communes where second homes exceed 20% of housing are in principle barred from authorising new ones (Federal Office for Spatial Development). Many famous resorts sit above that line. Before you fall for a plot or a new-build project, ask the commune in writing whether the home may legally be used as a second home at all.
What it costs to buy and hold
Notary fees, land-register fees and any transfer tax are set by each canton, and we have not found a single official table covering the resort cantons — ask the notary for a written estimate for the specific commune. Every canton levies an annual wealth tax on individuals (the Confederation has not taxed individual wealth since 1959), and property gains are taxed by all cantons under a separate cantonal property-gains tax, typically heavier on short holding periods and lighter on long ones (Federal Tax Administration, wealth tax; property gains tax).
Residency and lump-sum taxation
Buying a chalet does not grant residence. Switzerland does offer lump-sum taxation (taxation based on expenditure) to foreigners who take up residence for the first time, or after ten years away, and who do not work in Switzerland — but it has been abolished in Zurich, Schaffhausen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt (Federal Department of Finance). It is a residence and tax arrangement negotiated with a canton, not a property programme.
