I would be putting my baby in private daycare costing around 2500-2800 CHF per month. Currently my husband is working and I would also be joining full time job.
a) I want to know should I apply for city help now (in this case total parent income is only of my husband ) or after I join the job (in this case income of both of us would be considered) ?
b) I somewhere read the total income of parent should not be more than 120000 CHF annually else you dont get city help ?
c) How much time the city counsil takes to decide for minimum/maximum contribution.
I had visited various posts, threads and websites but still unclear on the above. Because depending on, I could decide if its worth doing a job as otherwise I would end up in paying the salary into the day care.
In Zurich, there are only specific childcarer that have subsidized places, And I am sure the waiting list is long.
I am pretty sure you can only get the subsidy if you are both working, or a single working parent, and obviously there is an income threshold.
I think your questions can be answered by speaking directly to the childcare centre that has subsidized places. You can probably find this information via your local town hall or community centre, or online...
The system is very much biased towards having one primary income earner and the second parent staying home to care for the kids when they are young.
Cheaper childcare options would be to use a 'tagesmutter' (home based childcare), where the carer looks after several children...
And yes, it does not make a lot of financial sense except on other levels like keeping your career, or if you have a very high salary...but remember it is a 'household' responsibility, the overall family income is still high, and once the child is about 4.5 they can go to free government kindergarten, and you pay for before/lunch/after school care if you need it...
Zurich city has some good subsidies, mostly based on the previous year's tax return, if you file, or the previous year's quellensteuer, if not. In order to qualify, you must live in the city (zone 10), and as Swisspea noted, there are limited subsidized spots, so not every Krippe has subsidies, and some have only some subsidized spots. Lists are long, but it is not impossible.
As others have said, subsidies are based on your tax returns, so you might get away with both of you working this year, but obviously not next year.
Incredibly, subsidies are not limited to single parent or dual income families. They are however capped to 120,000 p.a. including assets.
You'll be able to find some private day care centers which have a limited number of subsidized spots, though the wait lists are very long. The day cares run by the city are all eligible for subsidies, but here again, the wait lists are super long.
Just to clarify, the 120,000 is taxable income minus the allowances per person and for the household, such that the actual taxable income for a family of four musr be 155,000 to be ineligible for subsidies. Also, contributions to retirement funds are not included in taxable income (this is apparently a ZH city-specific thing).
Also, some Krippes will refuse to give subsidized spots to couples with a stay-at-home parent. They may also structure their wait lists such that this is the outcome, without actually saying it outright.
We also have some questions regarding the daycare subsidy: my family and I are just about to move to Zurich. We have three children at the ages of 5, 3.5 and 1 yrs old and I am looking for daycare for them.
Three unsolved issues that I hope some of you will know the answers:
1. I am going to get a Swiss salary but my husband will continue his work (Israeli work) remotely. How can I know if we fit the financial criteria of getting a subsidy? How to calculate his salary (what do they mean by "taxable income"?)
2. The reported "taxable income" include the taxes / any other payments reduced from the salary? Or is it only the net salary that needs to be reported?
3. What a bout academic prices / grants / fellowships? Do we need to report them as well? Does it include in the 120 K CHF?
So you’re more likely to need a part time nanny than daycare for them.
Whether you would be able to get a subsidised place given that your husband will be working from home I don’t know. They may say that as he’s there he should be able to look after the children.