Zug, Switzerland: low-tax canton and home of Crypto Valley

Why do companies choose Zug?

Companies choose Zug for a combination no other Swiss canton quite matches: one of the lowest effective corporate tax rates in the country, a top personal rate of about 22 per cent, and an administration that treats incorporation as routine work rather than an event. The result, as of 2026, is over 30,000 registered companies against roughly 130,000 residents. Glencore sits in Baar, Siemens Smart Infrastructure and V-ZUG in the town of Zug, Roche Diagnostics in Rotkreuz and Partners Group in Baar, alongside thousands of holding, trading and blockchain entities.

The profit-tax figure combines federal, cantonal and municipal layers. How the three stack, what holding structures still gain, and what changed under Pillar Two is set out in our guide to corporate taxes in Switzerland.

Why is Zug called Crypto Valley?

Zug earned the name Crypto Valley after the Ethereum Foundation was established in the town in 2014 to steward what became the second-largest blockchain network. Developers, brokers, funds and service firms settled around it, and the label now covers a cluster reaching into neighbouring cantons and Liechtenstein. CV VC's report for 2025 counts 1,766 active blockchain companies in the wider Crypto Valley, ten of them valued above USD 1 billion, with the top 50 worth a combined USD 467 billion. Venture funding reached USD 728 million in 2025, up 37 per cent on the prior year, and Zug-domiciled firms took most of the disclosed capital.

The public administration moved early. The city of Zug began accepting bitcoin for selected municipal services in 2016, and since 2021 the canton has accepted bitcoin and ether for tax bills, capped at CHF 1.5 million per payment since 2023, with a private broker converting to francs so the treasury never holds crypto. What the canton supplies is the domicile and the ecosystem; authorisation of crypto businesses remains a federal matter before FINMA, covered in our crypto and blockchain practice.

How do you set up a company in Zug?

Setting up a company in Zug follows the ordinary Swiss process under the Code of Obligations; what Zug adds is speed and routine. A GmbH requires CHF 20,000 in fully paid capital (Art. 773 CO); an AG requires CHF 100,000 with at least CHF 50,000 paid in (Art. 620 ff. CO). At least one person with signing authority must be resident in Switzerland (Art. 718 para. 4 and Art. 814 para. 3 CO); the owners themselves can live anywhere. The register enters complete filings within a few working days, and the full sequence of capital deposit, notarisation and registration normally takes one to three weeks as of June 2026.

Every company needs a registered Zug address. Domiciliation (c/o) addresses are lawful and common, but office space in central Zug is scarce: vacancy is persistently low and prime rents approach Zurich levels, so many companies take premises in Baar, Cham or Rotkreuz within the same cantonal tax environment.

We run the full sequence through our Swiss company formation service, from document drafting to the register entry, and work from our own Zug office at Baarerstrasse 25, 6300 Zug; details are on the contact page. Procedural questions beyond this page, from capital-deposit banks to notaries, are answered across our company formation guides.

What is it like to live in Zug?

Living in Zug pairs low personal taxes with a tight housing market. The top marginal income-tax rate in the town of Zug is about 22.2 per cent as of 2026, against roughly 39.7 per cent in the city of Zurich, and wealth tax is among the lowest in Switzerland. The price is housing: vacancy has run well below 1 per cent for years and rents are among the country's highest, so many employees commute in from Lucerne, Zurich or the rural Zug municipalities. Families are well served: the International School of Zug and Luzern (ISZL) and Institut Montana on the Zugerberg both teach in English. With roughly 30 per cent foreign residents, English carries you through daily life.

Things to do in Zug

Zug's old town, lake and mountain fit comfortably into one day, which is what most visitors give the town. The Altstadt is small and well preserved, with the Zytturm clock tower as its landmark and a handful of museums around it. The lakeside promenade is the place at dusk: Zug's sunsets over the lake towards Rigi and Pilatus are a genuine local institution, not a tourist-board invention. The Zugerberg (1,039 m) rises directly behind the town and is reached by funicular, with walking trails and a wide view over the lake plateau. Cherries are the other signature. Zuger Kirsch cherry brandy holds a protected designation of origin, the Zuger Kirschtorte (a Kirsch-soaked layered cake created in 1915) is sold all over town, and in cherry season the Chriesimärt market sets up in the old town.

When Zug is not the right canton

Zug is the wrong choice when the plan amounts to a letterbox, when hiring matters more than tax, or when the budget cannot absorb its property market. Tax authorities, banks and treaty partners test where management actually sits; a bare c/o address with no people or premises invites account refusals and challenges to the company's tax residence. Since 1 January 2024 Switzerland also levies the OECD Pillar Two top-up tax (QDMTT), so groups with consolidated revenue of EUR 750 million or more pay an effective minimum of 15 per cent wherever in Switzerland they sit. The 11.8 per cent headline does not apply to them. The rate lead has narrowed too: Lucerne's 2026 cut took its effective rate marginally below Zug's, a reminder that picking a canton on a tenth of a percentage point is poor planning.

The honest test runs like this: a company that needs deep specialist hiring usually ends up in Zurich despite the higher rate; an owner-managed firm chasing low personal tax with cheaper housing often does better in Schwyz or Lucerne; Zug wins where the address itself carries weight: the crypto cluster, the company density, the international ecosystem around them.