I am still working for a German company in the German border area. My company has entities in both countries (CH & DE).
When I have announced to the company last year in August that I will have to move to Switzerland due to a family reunion, I have proposed least two options to stay: as Pendler or better to move me on the CH entity.
After some time I got the confirmation by email that I should act as Pendler due to the fact if I would be on the Suiss entity I would have to be at least 30% more and they were not open to it due to the fact they are in some reorganization changes. It has followed a few months with taxation on Steuerklasse 1, quite painful.
This year, I have sent them the yearly residence certificate from Schweiz (Ansässigkeitsbescheinigung) in order to pay fewer taxes in Germany. Out of a sudden, once the certificate has reached to them they are encountering "payroll issues" and they "are unable to process the complexity that it is involved". Honestly, I was surprised to hear this as was we are talking about a multi-national company. They did the retroactive calculation for January and have applied the 4.5% on Lohnbuchhaltung.
I don't understand what is the payroll complexity for a Granzgängner from CH to DE. Could someone, please, enlighten me? And even more, the salary for February was paid two times.
Honestly, something is smelling fishy to me. Once with this Ansässigkeitsbescheinigung for 2022 they have raised up this problem. And even more, they have proposed switching on the CH entity, converting my EURO salary to CHF. But the equivalent of my actual salary is 40% under the standard remuneration applied in the professional field. So I am tempted to inform them that if I would be too low paid, the company can be easily suited by Government controls .
But then I wouldn't be surprised if they will lay me off.
What are your feelings and thoughts about this "complex" situation? Any similar experiences as Granzgängner from CH to DE?
Yeah, many ideas after an evening of thoughts and analysises.
For I don't know what reason, the manager of the German entity has supported the idea of switching on the Swiss entity. I wouldn't be surprised he being pissed off that I have sent the Ansässigkeitsbescheinigung for 2022, "overcomplicating" the payroll. But that's only my supposition!
I don't know the details but I assume your company has not dealt with this before and needs to apply different payroll calculations - if they do not know how, they need advice on how to do it so that it's done correctly.
I assume they will sort it out, they just need time - are you getting paid in the meantime?
If I understand you correctly, you have made a claim to be taxed differently this year with a view to reducing your tax burden in Germany and normalizing your situation as a cross border worker. This a change from last year.
Most companies operate on the basis that employees are paid in they countries where they live even multinationals and many have outsourced payroll on that basis. So it does not surprise me that their systems can’t handle the situation.
From what you say, it looks like your manager has no experience of the situation and is trying to work of the information he is being given by others.
I don’t really think there is any thing suspicious about it, just a lack of information, knowledge and experience.
Fully agree. We are having an external collaborator but she has shown in the emails I have exchanged with her (and my manager in CC) that she is competent.
Thank you for the hint. Fortunately, our payroll collaborator just has proved she knows her job while explaining to me the last two Abrechnungen der Brutto/Netto-Bezüge once with the Gränzgangener status in place. I told her, hat off and to my Manager in CC, thanks for having such collaborators.
I also have responded to the hot HR lady that came with this proposal, and according to her, her team will "analyze the situation".