Tom
No, you pay tax like a Swiss does, even with a B. I did, both in Zurich and Ticino (but it may have been less than 120k back then)
Depends on the canton.
When I lived in Zurich, yes.
When I moved to Ticino, no (until they discovered I made more than the threshold, they they gave me all the quellensteuer back and had me fill out forms)
Tom
Ok ok ok ...
So I know that this has been done to death and everyone will growl at me for this....but I'm getting different answers from the various tax calculators for a pretty simple case. What's worrying is that the "official" calculator comes out the lowest and it is this one I would otherwise believe.
I am a finance professional by the way so IMHO I have done my research, both on the forums and on Sir google.
So my dummy parameters are 100,000k income, in Kanton & Gemeide Zurich, married, no kids, single income,no church tax. For the purposes of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration calculator, I've also input 0 for everything else (pension fund contributions (pillar 2), interest on debt etc) just to keep things simple.
The results
Swiss Federal Tax Administration Calculator
Federal Tax 1,376
Canton Tax 3,969
Communal Tax 4,723
Church tax 0
Total 10,068
Comparis
Federal Tax 2,171
Canton Tax 5,129
Communal Tax 6,104
Church tax 48
Total 13,452
Homesgate
Federal Tax 2,231
Canton Tax 5,177
Communal Tax 6,104
Church tax 0
Total 13,512
Ok so Homesgate are Comparis seem to be singing from the same songsheet, and all 3 seem to realise that Zurich is 119% of Canton tax, but the taxable income seems very different from Comparis/Homesgate and the FTA.
If someone could confirm whether Comparis/Homesgate are on the money and FTA isnt (or more likely vice versa) I can get on with actual calculations on the right basis!
Cheers
This has all the information I would have liked when I first arrived here - especially the explanations regarding the various components of tax and insurance. Thank you for initiating it and to all those who have added to it.
Same here. I added two kids, otherwise same setup:
Swiss Federal Tax Administration FTA: 7058
Homegate & Comparis ~13600.
Quite a difference, eh?
Could someone brainy clear this up for us please?
Hello, I’d like to ask a few thinks.
First of all, I’m thinking of moving to Switzerland in order to find a better job. The thought of moving to this country, is because quality of life there, is still in high level!
So I would like to know about life in Switzerland!
I’ve found a web site where I found out prices for renting an apartment.
I’d like to know about the general cost of life living in Switzerland, electricity, television, food and how about car insurance, parking, gas ect.
thanks
When I tried this and came up with different amounts, it seemed to me that the official tax site was showing deductions for my two children and a personal exemption for the filer that were not being shown on comparis (and the difference was on the level seen above). Perhaps after the holidays someone can help us out?
i know that there are monthly expenses for a lot of things!
As an example the parking place inside the blue lines!! its about 250 CHF per year...
I am not an expert but I have lived here for 21 years and have filed tax returns in 4 different cantons. I will try and explain & write simply so please be patient.
There are Federal taxes, Cantonal taxes, City taxes (Gemeinde /Commune /City /Village (plus MWSt /VAT or /sales tax) In any Canton there are many villages and towns, each setting their own taxation. Technically the cantons set the basic taxation rates and the villages decide what percentage of that they will charge. Generally the federal Bundestax is about 10% of the total tax bill. The cantonal tax is about 40% and the Gemeinde /Commune /City/ Village tax bill is also about 40% (Total 90%, yes agreed not 100%, it is about this level).
There is a big document with the 2009 taxation levels of every village in Switzerland, you need to download this PDF document: (These taxation per centages have not changed very much since 2009)
http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/d...ent.130359.pdf
On page 7 of the document is an example for a single employee earning CHF 50,000 per year in Zurich in Canton Zurich, showing his allowable deductions and a taxation calculation collecting a final percentage of 6.95%
At the top of page 6 of the document is Canton Zurich and City Zurich with columns for each salary bracket, and the relevant percentages. As you scroll down the document you can see there are many Gemeinde /Communes /Villages in canton Zurich: (Did I count correctly 106 ?) and going to the top line page 6 you can see that for a single employee earning 50,000 Francs, after his allowable deductions, he will pay 6.95 % tax as already explained.
On page 9 there is the city of Berne in Canton Bern and here the same salary taxation is higher at 9.66% (page 12; Basel in Basel is 10.48%) (page 11; Zug in Zug is 4.64%) (page 17; Geneva in Geneva is 9.44%) so you can see a wide variation with Zug & Zurich being a fairly low tax rate, but mostly higher properties and rents.
You are taxed at the rates where you live . In the beginning here you will pay tax at source (Quellensteuer) which is fixed at the average cantonal tax rate. If you live in a village with a below average taxation, then in February you can file a tax return and claim back some over paid tax money. If you live in a more expensive area then keep quiet!
__________________________________________________ __________________________
On page 17 at the bottom, is the example for the Federal Bundessteuer tax at 0.5%
__________________________________________________ __________________________
There follow similar tables for employees, married with no children pages 19 to 29
__________________________________________________ __________________________
Taxation tables for an employed person married with 2 children pages 31 to 41
__________________________________________________ __________________________
Pages 43 to 53 are for pensioners . Pages 55 to 65 for the self employed .
__________________________________________________ __________________________
Please use these tables to calculate your taxation bill for each individual situation . If you both work , then you both pay taxes as above , (but on one account). Note that in the examples for the tax calculations the amount for the health insurance premiums are a bit low. They need to be brought up to date for your personal age and canton. (5 health insurance models plus male/female: child, youth, normal, over 55, hanging on by a thread... )
You can use Homegate and Comparis for comparing the taxation levels between two villages in different cantons. As you can see the calculators for Homegate and Comparis do not ask for your age, nor your sex, so the health insurance premiums are not accounted for and the stated tax levels cannot be individually accurate.
There is another wealth tax in all of Switzerland, about 1 % p.a. You are allowed about CHF 10,000 tax free. For this you need to go to an accountant, there are so many possibilities for reducing taxes.
Church tax: (Kirchensteuer) varies enormously from village to village, religion to religion. You can opt out by claiming you have "another" religion. Put down "Andere" when you register on the first day!
Income Tax returns are sent out in January, to be completed and returned around the end of March. You can ask for extra time, until about August. Your tax bills then start to arrive during the year. Every canton is different, you can ask neighbours, friends and colleagues (even the tax office) about percentages and dates but never ever ask or give amounts ! This is a private and very secretive society. Your final tax statement will arrive at the end of the year or even later. In January 2011 I am still waiting for my exact taxation bill for 2009, and my situation is not at all complicated.
. http://www.estv.admin.ch/dienstleist...x.html?lang=en
. http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/18/22/publ.html?publicationID=3910
. http://www.homegate.ch/finanzieren/r.../steuerrechner
. http://www.comparis.ch/steuern/steue...h/default.aspx
. http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/d...ent.130359.pdf
.
Well, it depends where do you want to live. Every Kanton is different. Do you want to live in a city or in the countryside. Health insurance is in every Kanton very different. As I know a cheap basic insurance in Zurich is about 300.- CHF, in Bern you pay 400.- a month.
@skafetzakis: You're from Greece? Here's an example. You can take other cities of course, but for a comparison. Check this page out:
http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-li.../zurich/athens
I think that's a pretty helpful page. (Health insurance is not included.)
The parking in the blue lines is around 240/250 CHF a year, but only for your area (Gemeinde). Parkings in the city are different. Here's an example:
http://www.parking-bern.ch/parkhaus.asp?ph=bahnhof
And for the idea Switzerland has a high living standart. Try to live of 2800.- CHF (2 persons). Switzerland is hell for most single parents...
@Ittigen-Thanks for the direct link- I have forwarded that along to my German husband to read, but at a quick look through it seems (as might be expected) much closer to the official Swiss site than comparis or homegate were and it does appear that the reason is the latter two sites not including deductions or exemptions (standard ones). Here in Germany we have the same tax time lag- just sent our 2009 tax return (on the 30th) off and that's without filing an extension! I find it incredible. And we have the same privacy in re monetary matters mind set- when a Finnish acquaintance told me that tax returns were publically disclosed in her country, you should have heard the gasps from the Germans, Americans and British!
It seems pretty clear that Americans living in CH will be paying US taxes at just about any income level above the basic expat deduction though, and then we need to consider whether the spouse should let the green card lapse and take effective control of income to pay to CH rates.
Ah, gotta love all the permutations of national tax policies!
if i came with my car from Greece, how mach will it cost me to change my licence and the license plate ???
thanks
Chf 923.45 (not including TVA)
What a dam fool question, you have been bugging everybody with this for some time now and if you haven't learnt it varies greatly depending on which canton you live in, we have all wasted our time.
It costs what it costs and it's hioghly unlikely you'll get 10% Xmas sales discount.
I've started 3 topics which should help people.
1) Running a car
http://www.englishforum.ch/daily-lif...itzerland.html
2) Electricity
Suppliers and Unit cost of Electricty
3) Water
I have also found this thread on heating oil which should also be of some help.
thanks a lot!!!!
Take a deep breath, now ignore the comment and hopefully someone with more knowledge than myself will answer your question.
(It's good practice for moving to Switzerland )
If you don't like a question that's posted can't you just ignore it? Being snarky doesn't solve anything.
Hmm for Quellensteuer (tax at source) I take it you just need to use this website:
http://en.comparis.ch/steuern/quelle...r/default.aspx
Which gives you a figure. Does this figure inculdes the national, canton and commune tax you would have to pay?
I'm a bit confused if it does as I have sat and worked out using the other calculators with my salary of 100k the figure of between 11-13k for the Zurich canton.
However Quellensteuer calcualtors say 4,240! Surely I am missing paying someone something? The canton tax alone when I do a calculation using this calculator http://en.comparis.ch/steuern/steuer...h/default.aspx is 5,129 a year.
What have I missed, or done wrong?
The original post has an example of taxes. I think it may be wrong?
Cost of living - help needed to get it right
For the majority of people researching cost of living they will take the 100,000 figure and extrapolate it for them, so it does need to be right.
Most people will be paying tax at source, Quellensteuer.
So the calculations used are very confusing. People paying Quellensteuer should stay away from these tax return calculators and use this one:
http://en.comparis.ch/steuern/quelle...r/default.aspx
So for 100,000 salary you would be paying 4240 in tax in Zurich rather than the suggested 11,000. Is this correct?