The Unione Frontalieri Italiani in Svizzera (UFIS), a lobby representing more than 80,000 Italian residents who commute daily to jobs in Switzerland, lodged a formal complaint on 29 October 2025 with Italy’s Court of Auditors and multiple ministries. The filing challenges what UFIS calls an opaque “health-tax” mechanism applied to refund payments (ristorni fiscali) that Switzerland transfers to Italian border regions, and the patchy implementation of Italian unemployment benefit (NASpI) for frontier workers.
UFIS argues that deductions imposed by regional health authorities in Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta violate bilateral accords of 1974 and 2020, effectively double-charging workers who already contribute to Swiss insurance. The group also claims that promised NASpI coverage remains inconsistently applied, leaving laid-off commuters without a safety net despite EU coordination rules.
The complaint calls for a multi-agency task force to audit how the hundreds of millions of euros in Swiss tax-return funds are allocated and to standardise social-security rules across Italy’s border provinces.
For Swiss employers—particularly in Ticino—the move could reignite political debate over the cost advantage of hiring Italian residents versus domestic staff, potentially fuelling calls in Bern for stricter labour-market tests. Mobility teams should monitor for any retaliatory measures or new reporting obligations on payroll deductions.
The episode underscores the fragile equilibrium of cross-border labour: Switzerland relies on foreign commuters to fill 29 percent of Ticino’s workforce, yet fiscal frictions continue to spark legal and political battles on the Italian side.
UFIS argues that deductions imposed by regional health authorities in Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta violate bilateral accords of 1974 and 2020, effectively double-charging workers who already contribute to Swiss insurance. The group also claims that promised NASpI coverage remains inconsistently applied, leaving laid-off commuters without a safety net despite EU coordination rules.
The complaint calls for a multi-agency task force to audit how the hundreds of millions of euros in Swiss tax-return funds are allocated and to standardise social-security rules across Italy’s border provinces.
For Swiss employers—particularly in Ticino—the move could reignite political debate over the cost advantage of hiring Italian residents versus domestic staff, potentially fuelling calls in Bern for stricter labour-market tests. Mobility teams should monitor for any retaliatory measures or new reporting obligations on payroll deductions.
The episode underscores the fragile equilibrium of cross-border labour: Switzerland relies on foreign commuters to fill 29 percent of Ticino’s workforce, yet fiscal frictions continue to spark legal and political battles on the Italian side.
