Low Cost Broker with no Regular/Custody Fees

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
81
I specifically asked them and they confirmed that they dont deduct any money. I will reconfirm. Do you know for sure that they do deduct 35%?

82
are there any brokerage firms in Switzerland where it is possible to place trades to buy and sell shares over the telephone instead of over the internet and where brokerage fees are low? Who is the custodian of the shares and do they have low custody fees?

83
Hi All,

I am thinking of opening an account at Cornèr Trader. Anyone from here has an account with them? Would any of you recommend or not recommend them?

I am a non frequent trader (1-2 trade per month) and would like to trade US and Swiss Stocks, investing around 50 000 CHF.

I also thought of Saxo bank as they seem somehow "more professional" but as far as I know they have a $100 fee every half year. Are there any other "hidden fees" at Saxo Bank?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Regards

Balazs

84
Just out of curiosity, what is the reasoning behind using voice for exchange traded products with retail brokers?

These days almost every retail broker will have a perfectly usable phone app which is both fast and I'd say more convenient than discussing over the phone, so if you have to do this stuff on the go, I'd rather do it that way.

If you are trading OTC products then often the only way is to phone the other guy to hammer out a deal, but something like stocks or FX (where spot is not exchange traded, but there's scarcely need/room for negotiation in retail).

85
Cornertrade seems good choice. I just opened an account with Strateo. Lets see how it goes

UBS platform is really good though, but their fees are quite tricky.

86
Be wary of Saxo inactivity fee.

Corner Trader rates are lower.

Also be aware that some brokers will try to charge you chf50 for a declaration/report.

Thanks for the steer, at first reading their rates seem reasonable, but are those listed the only ones???

https://www.strateo.ch/en/our-fees/

Edit

See the screen shot of their pricing structure.

Buy and selling seems cheap, but annually you will pay far more than you expect.

87
Yes, you should add:

Custody: 0,02% per quarter (min 15.chf - max.35chf).

Tax statement 50chf (same in Cornertrade).

Today I am still wondering if Cornertrade is a better choice... However, I chose Strateo due to a 5 trades for free promotion, which compensate at least 1 year of custody fees. As the closing fee in Strateo is free vs 25chf in Cornertrade, If I dislike the broker I will change.

88
I agree, thats why I am exploring my Optionen and consolidating my brokerage accounts.

89
Thanks. Which of the trading fees on buying and selling shares are tax deductible for Swiss residents?

90
As they are no capital gains taxes, the costs of buying & selling are not deductible. However you do get about 1/3% deducted against income for management costs. This exceeds wealth tax liability of about 5 million, so it pays to disclose for HNWI & possibly for VHNI but not for EHNWI.

91

Thank you. Could you kindly clarify

- do you mean 100% of custody fee (which is 1/3%=0.33% of assets undr management) / safekeeping fee can be deducted from gross income?

92
I does not have to be a fee, it's an allowance against management costs & yes it's deducted from gross income. That exceeds Wealth tax in ZH unto about 5 million, so it usually pays to declare assets.

93

Thanks. May I pls have a precise DETAILED definition of this "allowance against management costs"? what kind of items can go into this allowance?

If this is an ALLOWANCE, is this something that is automatically deducted by tax advisor during annual tax filings from gross income so there is no point to try to renegotiate with the bank to have higher safekeeping fees (tax deductible) in favour of lower brokerage fees (not tax deductible) as this will make no different on tax return?

what is the maximum allowance per year per couple?

94
It's just a box on the form, you write in a no all very simple.

Your always asking quite complicated questions, perhaps you should pay for professional advise as there appears to be a lot of money at stake. Even paying 10k for advise would probably be worth it.

95
In VD it is 1.5 promille of assets (so half of ZH) as a forfait or evidence of a higher amount. the forfait is just a checkbox on the electronic form. details are on EF in several threads.

96
Investing (initially around 10k, then) quarterly around 2-3k CHF into ETFs (buy and hold).

Is CornerTrader a solid (Swiss*) option for this "passive" investment plan?

Anything more efficient?

*I don't know (and do not want to investigate and concern about) how to handle taxation if opting for InteractiveBrokers outside of CH.

97
All swiss brokers I know are more expensive than IB. But the tax office doesn't really care what broker you use and where it's located. What matters a lot more is the domicile of securities that you're buying. Handling of swiss securities on a swiss tax return is equally easy with either broker. Likewise, for foreign securities with dividends you should file DA-1 regardless of what broker you use.

98
Sorry if that's a reoccuring question, but what are the costs of sending Money from a CHF account to IB? Worst case scenario. Can you have an account by them in CHF, or do you need to send them USD? If you send large sums abroad, is there a risk of paying high fees for the SWIFT Transfer? what is a typical fee?

99
You can have your account currency as CHF and you can change this if necessary it's just used to calculate all your profits / losses for the annual statements etc or for placing currency hedge trades as far as I understand, no cost for receiving CHF, for sending your bank might charge something, I normally just do sender pays costs as I have a certain number of money transfers free per year.

Withdrawals you are allowed one free withdrawal per month, after that you pay CHF11.- (see table under Europe -> Withdrawals below)

There is also a minimum inactivity fee of $10 if you have less than $100k or if the commissions you generate are less than $10 per month. (more info: here )

If you have more than CHF100k on the account they currently charge you 1.026% per year for anything over 100k. (This is only related to CHF cash) - See: here

More info: here

100
You can transfer the money to them in and out in a number of currencies, they keep them separate and you can convert as you see fit

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/e...funding&p=faqs

You don't get separate bank accounts with them, you pay into a shared pool account, different by currency. They'll tell you which exactly bank account to pay into for different currencies. For CHF it's Citibank in GB.

For CHF payments, yes, there's a risk of unspecified third party bank fees in addition to what your own bank might charge. IB's bank didn't charge me anything on the incoming side.

Personal experience: postfinance took out 10-20 chf per transfer, swissquote: 2 chf and no third party fees.

EUR payments go via a SEPA and are free (unless your bank explicitly charges you something for it, some banks do)