Net Salary confusion

Hello everyone,

I just signed a contract for a job in CH. Gross yearly salary is 150.000 (12 payments). I have used several sources for calculating net income but almost every website results in different numbers.

I am 37 married with 1 child. Wife doesn't work. I will be taxed at source. I will probably live in Canton Thurgau, however I might consider Canton Zürich (Winterthur) if taxes there are lower. Are they?

In a recent discussion with my employer, he mentioned that I will be getting a bit over 8200 CHF netto.

However, using several online calculators I get different results.

Lohncomputer.ch says the net income will be about 9175. It's almost a 1K higher than what my employer told me. Are they forgetting something?

http://www.estv2.admin.ch/e/dienstle...uerrechner.htm

Here I get a result of ca. 8450 which is closer to what my employer said. I got the number by deducting the Total Deductions from my yearly Gross Income and further more deducting Total Tax Burden from that, to give me my yearly net salary. Is that correct?

Since health insurance is obligatory, I have to deduct it from the 8450 or 9150, whichever is correct to see what is left. Am I right?

What is the Insurance deduction admin.ch mentions?

And the final question, is 8500 netto considered a good salary for CH. We live a moderate life and are hoping to save something for the future.

Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the forum.

For me lohncomputer was the most accurate of all, it is very close to what you actually get with a 2-3% difference as it's a multi-variable equation and everybody's circumstances differ.

Bear in mind you need health insurance for all three of you, try comparis.ch to get some quotes.

P.S Might not be a good idea to post your salary on a public forum. You might not realise this yet but CH is a very small place and people can easily identify a 37 year old Greek who just came in Zurich You don't need the figure itself, we can help you with calculations.

Thanks for the pointer. I saw other people do it, so I figured it's nothing unusual. It surely isn't a bad thing I hope.

Hi, you can check on http://www.lohncomputer.ch/en/home.html which is quite accurate.

Regarding the value, you might be able to adjust your monthly contributions for the Pension Fund Pillar2 (in agreement with your employer) and have have higher net salary. But think twice as this would then impact on your Year End Tax declaration (less deductions, high taxes). In your case will are obliged to do this as your income is >120K.

This strategy can work fine for having better availability for emergencies. And if you properly save, you can contribute back to the pension fund (Pillar 2) at the end of the year to balance for lower taxes.

If that salary is enough in CH... it will always depend on your life standards.

Cheers and welcome!

Thank you all for your help! Much appreciated!

The questions are:

- which canton and city of residence were assumed

- in which canton is the employer based? Some employers only pay tax at source for their own canton

- which family situation was used

- are there additional pension deductions

Hello,

to make maters easy, I assumed I will live in the canton of Thurgau where the company is based.

Family sitiation as described in the first post, marries with one child.

About the additional pension deductions...I ha e no clue and don't even know what that is.

pension contributions are generally split by employer and employee.

the question is which percentage of your salary is your employee contribution.

Also take into consideration that the Pension fund contribution is to a pot of mobey which is "yours" (not the government or your company money). This money is will be (naturally) your pension if you retire in Switzerland or, if you leave the country it is a pot you take with you.

This means you are saving for you and your family.

Surely, if your salary is what you said, you won’t be taxed at source. Salaries over 120k usually need to have a tax return done every year and then you make payments on those calculations.

Based on your information, the tax rate for Thurgau for a married "Alleinverdiener" with 1 child earning brutto 12.500 CHF per month is 11,94% in 2015 http://steuerverwaltung.kalkulatoren.tg.ch/TG/kalkulatoren/kalkulatoren/calc_06_que.html

With other social deductions (AHV, UI, add UI) and assuming a pension contribution of 7% (paid by yourself towards 2nd pillar) you should get in the area of 9.300 to 9.500 CHF paid in net amount.

From this amount you have to pay health insurance.

Hope this helps, as it was also one of my big worries when moving here. Feel free to PM me with detailed questions.

It is not the amount which decides whether you are taxed at source but rather your residence status. As long as you do not hold a C permit you are taxed at source

Thank you,

well this is closer to the result from lohncomputer.ch than anything else.

Health insurance from comparis.ch will be about 600 CHF for us three with a 1500 franchise (except the child) if I filled everyhting correctly. Which is still less than I pay here and have to visit Private Doctors and pay everything myself, in order to get a decent health service.

600 CHF could well be right. Depends on which insurance company and as you mention franchises chosen.

I thought it was either when you get a C permit or if your salary is over the limit. Or is the second an option where you can ask to do a return instead of paying at source?

As far as I understand it you are taxed as source as long as you have a B permit and not a C permit but you are obliged to fill out a tax return if the salary is over 120 000 (or 500 000 in Geneva) and then adjustments are made after that. Some people end up with a rebate and others have to pay more.

This is correct.

Yes OP you won't be taxed at source, you will need to do a tax return.

In time, you can read this forum about things you use as tax deductions. It's a lot of them and you can save enough money if you follow through.

But don't worry about all that now, first weeks are all about settling in

The OP will be taxed at source as long as the permit is L or B.

Only Swiss citizens or C-permit holders do not pay withholding tax.

A different question is whether (besides paying tax at source) he must file a tax return or not. And that depends on income level for those who pay tax at source. As stated by others, the cut-off is 120K annual income (gross). From 120K above, tax return is mandatory for those who pay tax at source.

Below that level, it is not required to file a tax return or even not possible in some case.