Selling in the Canton of Lucerne: your gain counts like income.

On a CHF 100,000 gain, it is CHF 17,465.70 if you owned the house for five to nine years (sale in 2026). There is no fixed rate.

Lucerne applies the income tax scale for single people to the gain alone. The result is multiplied by 4.2 (§§ 22 and 23 Property Gains Tax Act). The tax is assessed by the municipality where the house stands (§ 25).

Yes, on a gain up to and including CHF 13,000 you pay no property gains tax (§ 22(2) Property Gains Tax Act). This is an exempt threshold, not an allowance. If the gain is higher, the whole gain is taxed, not just the part above CHF 13,000 (cantonal guidelines on § 22).

Yes, through a replacement purchase (Ersatzbeschaffung): a tax deferral for the house or flat you live in yourself, permanently and exclusively. The new home must be in Switzerland and used in the same way. You buy or build it with the proceeds within two years before or after the sale (§ 4(1) point 7 Property Gains Tax Act). Holiday and second homes are excluded.

Only the amount by which the new home costs more than the old one cost you is deferred. At most, that is the whole gain. Deferred does not mean waived: if you later sell the new home, the deferred gain is taxed as well (§ 4(2)). In justified cases, the deadline after the sale can be extended to at most four years (§ 4(3)).

No, the buyer owes it: 1.5 per cent of the purchase price (§§ 4 and 6 Transfer Tax Act). It reduces your proceeds only if the purchase contract has you take it over or share it. None is due between spouses, registered partners, or parents and children, or on inheritance (§ 3 points 2 and 3).

A Lucerne notary, not a notary from another canton (§ 3(2) Notarisation Act). In the Canton of Lucerne, notaries are lawyers with an office in the canton, and licensed municipal clerks and their deputies (§ 5). The fee is at most 3 per mille (0.3 per cent). On a purchase price of CHF 850,000, that is at most CHF 2,550 (§ 52b Notarisation Act).

As a rule, your parents' purchase price and the years since they bought. Inheriting only defers property gains tax (§ 4(1) point 1 Property Gains Tax Act), and your parents' years of ownership keep counting. No transfer tax is due on an inheritance (§ 3 point 3 Transfer Tax Act).

If the purchase was more than 30 years ago, another value can replace the old purchase price (§ 11). That value is the official property valuation (Katasterschatzung) from 30 years ago, plus 25 per cent. If it is higher, the tax office applies it of its own accord, and your gain shrinks. If the valuation dates from 1989 or later, the 25 per cent addition falls away (§ 11(2)).

If there are several heirs, read how we work when siblings inherit together.

Yes. We have no office in Lucerne: our office is at Bahnhofplatz 1 in Zurich, 41 minutes from Lucerne by direct train. We calculate the tax under Lucerne law, with the factor of 4.2 and the reduction for years of ownership. A Lucerne notary notarises the purchase contract.

At Immosmile, you and your family have a single contact until the notary appointment: Dominik Devaja, managing director. He views the house himself and handles much else with you by phone or from your documents. If you are the daughter or son in Zurich, you need not travel to Lucerne for every step. The valuation is free and without obligation, even if in the end we recommend «keep it».

Transfer tax (Handänderungssteuer) 1.5 %, owed by the buyer (§§ 4, 6 HStG, SRL 645). Land registry and notarisation fees come on top. For a purchase price of CHF 1 million, the buyer pays CHF 17,375 to 19,750, depending on the purchase contract and excluding mortgage notes (as of 30 September 2026).

All eight cantons and a calculator: purchase costs by canton.