Buying a house: fees

Accomodation, House and Garden
1

A question, looking at buying an apartment, and dealing with Neho…

They have made a statement I haven’t seen before in Switzerland:

Property Taxes are being paid by the seller. The common process is to deduct it from the agreed price and be paid from your bank directly to the tax office.

It’s canton Aargau; but from what I recall the seller pays this directly no?

(also I think they confused the question, as I was asking to clarify in writing that the seller was going to pay the CGT - as this “follows” the real estate if the seller doesn’t pay up, but it sounds more like they are speaking of the land registry fees which are relatively low here).

2

Is the contract in English or German. I think you need to clarify what taxes are being discussed.

3

The contract will be in German - but the notary will translate a copy to English.

That said, I will call them tomorrow as the land registry fees here are 4/1000 so quite reasonable (and no transfer tax).

4

The seller anyway pays the CGT so unless you have a weird contract that puts this on you, by default it should be OK.

5

IIRC what I’ve read somewhere, if the seller won’t pay the CGT the tax office will hunt the buyer, so it’s actually allowed to lock the money out of the total pot to transfer directly to the tax office

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6

That is correct. Wise to ask seller to present proof of payment before you go to notary to sign.

7

Technically it’s the property that they can put a lien on but the effect is indeed that the buyer is liable for the CGT. That’s why it’s recommended that the CGT be subtracted from the purchase price and put in an escrow account until the tax office confirms that its demands have been met.

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8

Yes, this is what I did, part of the purchase price was allocated to the tax authorities and paid directly.

9

Technically the seller is still liable, but the buyer effectively has a pseudo-secondary liability due to the lien on the property.

10

The question is - how do I figure out how much needs to be withheld from the purchase price? Or does the notary calculate that?

11

You get a confirmation from the tax authority or calculate it yourself. For example, you can calculate the worst case of zero basis (whole proceeds are taxable) and withhold that, though the seller might object.

12

I know from experience that in Aargau and Ticino (and I think Glarus also) the percentages are pre-determined and the Notary will put in the sales contract how much has to be paid to him on account, which will then be passed on to the tax authorities.

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