Hello, I am employed on a B-permit (non-EU citizen) and my spouse (also non-EU citizen) has a family unification B-permit that allows employment: "Familiennachzug Berechtigt zur Erwerbstätigkeit".
We have been living in Switzerland for about 2 years with one income. We have a child that goes to public school. My spouse just received a job offer, and we would like to understand any obligations that we should fulfill before/after the beginning of employment.
A couple of things that come to mind:
1. Should we contact the Migrationsamt to "upgrade" the spouse's B-permit to be independent of mine? Or is that simply not necessary and will automatically happen during our annual permit renewal?
2. I understand that my Zürich tax tariff will change categories and a higher amount will be withheld at source. Will this happen automatically, or should we inform the tax authorities and/or my employer about the upcoming dual employment?
If there are other things that we should pay attention to, I'd greatly appreciate being made aware of them. If there's already a checklist for this kind of thing, I'd love to check it out as well.
1. Careful, try the shoes of your spouse's employer for 5 min. They can hire right away without doing anything since she has B permit. They don't care how she got it. If you opt for an independent permit, spouse's employer needs to do the same paperwork they did for you. If you change the conditions, don't be surprised if the other side change their decision.
Anyway, I'm not sure if the migration office even accepts the request. They'll just ask WHY? I can only see one reason to do the whole paperwork once again: if you stop working and she becomes the only income source.
2. Somewhere in your contract you signed that you acknowledge that you're liable to inform your employer about your tax condition status So, talk to your employer HR, they'll send a form, you fill it out, sign and send it back to them. No need to contact tax office.
When your spouse's permit renews, there is a place on the back of the form where she can declare her current employer - the employer can stamp it - but that is not necessary to do it right now.
The employer can due 'due diligence' by calling the work authority (AWA) to verify her permit status, but that is secondary to the actual permit card, which clearly shows permission is allowed.
The only thing you need to do is inform the health insurance. If not working, there is a small extra fee (20-30chf/month I think) for accident insurance that is self-paid. Once she is working, that will be paid by the employer, and there is no need to be double-insured.
Other thing is to make sure that your employer is informed.... and don't be surprised that her income is taxed more highly than yours - the 'kinderzulagen' is applied to your income, and the family is taxed as a household, so her tax schedule will be higher (assuming you are paying tax-at-source/quellensteuer).
As long as you are both paying tax-at-source and neither individual is paid a salary + benefits package over 120K, you are not usually required to do a tax return as well, but if you have a bonus package, relocation expenses, school fees paid by the employer, or foreign investments, you may need to. In that case I would suggest getting a tax agent. Shop around for one that is not expensive (generally one that offers a remote service outside of Zurich will be cheaper than one in the city with a fancy office).
With regards to Kinderzulagen. That oayment is only paid out once per couple if both are working. If the two of you work in two different cantons it might be worth to check the amount because it varies by canton. If it does vary make sure you get the higher payment
> I can only see one reason to do the whole paperwork once again: if you stop working and she becomes the only income source.
I don't plan to stop working, so we'll leave my spouse's B-permit alone for now.
> Somewhere in your contract you signed that you acknowledge that you're liable to inform your employer about your tax condition status
Cool, I'll reach out to my employer and give them an update about our situation.
> The only thing you need to do is inform the health insurance.
Noted, thanks. We'll cancel the duplicate accident insurance.
> In that case I would suggest getting a tax agent.
Yup, we'll look into this.
> If the two of you work in two different cantons it might be worth to check the amount because it varies by canton. If it does vary make sure you get the higher payment
Ha, good to know. We're both employed in the same Kanton for now, but will keep this in mind for future reference.