OP’s problem probably goes deeper. Being married, his home and residence is deemed to be the marital home. The wife has deregistered, that’ll be seen as the marital home moving elsewhere.
But for which tax office/gemeinde would this be a problem?
Let’s assume that wife and kids are de-registered and living abroad (UK/EU). And let’s say it is not in one of the neighbouring countries, so you cannot drive there every day. If the someone is registered here, rents a flat, lives more than 50% of the days of the year, has a normal job, pick up post, have normal electricity/water consumption, etc., why would this be a problem for the tax authorities? Both for the swiss one and the EU one. Everything is done according to the law…
Why not ask the tax office?
As I understand it, you were moving out of your flat in Zürich and not relocating anywhere else in Switzerland. i.e. You were giving up your Swiss residency. So your commune wants to change your status to unknown.
You can’t have a residence permit if you don’t live here.
As far as Switzerland is concerned, if the husband has a job in Switzerland and rents a property in Switzerland, he ought to get the residence permit, no issues. He would be liable to swiss tax for his worldwide earnings like usual.
If his wife and kids are abroad, this does not matter to the Swiss, but (EU countries at least) that country may also want to tax him for his salary, on the basis that his ‘center of life’ with where his family lives. This means double taxation for the salary, which practically means ‘you pay the highest of the tax rates among CH and the other country). [This happens often, wife and kids at home, husband in a 0% tax arab country → taxed from the home country, subject so some minor exceptions].
What the question was about, was husband working in CH but not living anywhere in CH whilst being able to keep a swiss permit. This is not possible almost by definition. One must always maintain a main residence. If your job is such which means that you travel all over Switzerland, then you need to register-deregister each time you move.
By the way, registration is based on fact with almost no limitations : so you can register with a Hotel address, a campsite or caravan site address, a friend etc, as long as this is where you actually live/sleep. Some documentation is required.
The OP’s first post says he was living ina flat in Zurich …
Key word there being “was”
Exactly. He may have shot himself in the foot so save a few francs.
Is it accepted? I registered living in a hotel, so your entire sentence it not a punch line. If caravan site it accepted, then why not chalet?
Well I thought that wasn’t possible either!! So that sentence looks like a joke to me.
When we moved here we registered only after we found and rented an apartment (which luckily was empty, so immediately available) and moved into. I don’t know how other people did it because it is indeed not so easy to find proper housing, but I am surprised to read you could register with a hotel address.
Anyways, logic demands that if you don’t have a fixed home you can’t keep your residence status in Switzerland.
Well sure, if everything is done according to the law then you’re fine. If you don’t have an actual physical residence, though, then you’re not in accordance with the law, in which case it’s nothing to do with taxes, you’ve become an illegal immigrant. You seem to be asking “what’s the harm? who cares? who’s the victim?” which are all completely irrelevant.
I doubt it, those aren’t situated in residential areas (they’re usually closed for an extended off-season time, to boot). Hotel is different.
Agree with what UM says above. There’s a campsite near us, but one cannot legally live there year-round as a fixed residence. I suppose one could register for residence there for a few months, then somewhere else, etc. But all that registering and de-registering seems like a pain. And an expense.
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To register with the authorities, all is needed with regards to the accommodation is that the property has an EGID and EWID number (building suitable to live in). You can find that info on Swisstopo maps website. You don’t even need the place to have an address (you must provide a correspondence address however, which can be different).
There are many campsites near big towns along lakes and of course they close in the winter, but this is a different story : if the landlord will rent to you or not for the length of time you want, is different to whether it is possible to register. Campsites near me btw have EGID-EWID numbers meaning that they are suitable to live in, posing no problem. Of course you need documentation, the authorities will demand whatever documents the canton specifies. (When I lived in a hotel for a month 15 years ago they asked the hotel for a weekly email confirmation.)
As for the registering and deregestering being a pain, if this is how you live (a few months here and a few months there, then this is what you have to do) there is no choice… As I said, your registration must reflect reality (where you actually live) and the authorities will have to accept that reality (with documentation). But not having a primary residence anywhere starts the permit cancellation process…
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awesome, thank you, I will keep this in mind if I get the idea of buying rustico again. I contacted the local municipality to verify this (which in the end is probably the best thing, but is a nuisance)