I hope you can help me understand this weird situation. Last week I received a letter from the city of Zurich with tax forms for 2017. This is strange, because I am on Quellensteuer and wasn't notified about any change in this aspect. Even more confusing is that the forms say in one place that I need to submit them by March 2018, but later it is written that the submission deadline is end of August 2018. The forms came without any letter explaining why they send it to me.
To clarify better my situation - I came to Switzerland in 2013 for doctoral studies, which I finished in the fall last year and now I work full time. I have a B permit good until 2019 so nothing changed here. Also when I started the new job I got a confirmation that I am still on Quellensteuer. The only reason for tax paperwork I can think of is that my bank where I have an account at my home country (within EU) asked me a few months ago to clarify my place of residence, and I had to send them a form stating that I live in Switzerland now (I consider my stay in Switzerland temporary, so there is no reason to close bank accounts at home). So my guess is that this tax paperwork must have to do with property tax, i.e. the savings I have on my account abroad. Is this guess reasonable? If yes, then do you have any hint on how to handle this? If my taxes are already done via Quellensteuer, what should I do with the forms I received? Re-do everything, or only fill certain parts, or what? I can't find any info online about a city office where could go and ask those questions. Does such thing as an official free tax advice not exist in Switzerland? Who should I contact or send a letter to in order to even just figure out that do they want from me and make sure this is not a mistake?
Here helpful forms and speciall the Wegleitung zur Steuererklärungfür natürliche Personen (Form 305) which explains how to fill in all those forms you got: https://www.steueramt.zh.ch/internet...kblaetter.html
And finally here the software so you can do it on the computer:
PS: You are subject to normal taxation if you earn more than 120k per year, or have real estate. Also income and earnings not subject to tax at source (like from abroad) and your wealth can be normally taxed. §93 of the Canton ZH tax law.
To add to aSwissInTheUS's post, Quellensteuer switches from a source tax to a withholding tax under these circumstances in Ct. Zurich, requiring that a tax filing be made:
1. Annual earned income greater than CHF 120'000 or
2. Annual unearned income greater than CHF 2,500 or
3. Taxable assets greater than CHF 200'000.
See para. 12 and 13 at this link for more information (English):
it says that the Vermögenssteuer starts at 77k if I understand correctly. Is this not the same thing?
I make less than 100k, have no real estate property or any other income than a single full time job, I'm not married, no kids, no deductibles or so. So I'm really confused by this.
Does it mean it's taxed separately and I only put that on the forms, or it means I'm excluded from quellensteuer and need to do the taxes on all income?
Yes, but they only start collecting it from 200.000 if you pay quellensteuer as in 3) in Mulhollander's second link - I guess it does not pay off to collect less than 100CHF.
If you own less, and had less than 2500CHF income that was not taxed at source (including interest on saving accounts, dividends) call or write them to tell them that. If you own more or had income above that amount, you have to file everything and the % of quellensteuer you owe will be reacalculated plus you will get a tax bill for the Vermoegenssteuer. The deadline for a tax declaration usually is March but can be extended to September.
I own far less than 200k so I hope there is nothing to do from my side. I think I will just walk over to them (an address in the first link by aSwissInTheUS) as I work not far from there, bring the forms and ask for some explanation about what do they want. I hope they won't kick me out because of no German language or because "we are not an info desk"
Hi there, this happened to me also this year. I was passed from department to department when I called and no one could explain it. Everyone was very friendly and spoke in English. I eventually just went online ( https://www.steueramt.zh.ch/internet...lensteuer.html ) and wrote that I paid Quellensteur, and asked them to check if I should have been sent the form, and within 2 working days I had a nice letter saying that it was a mistake and to destroy the forms.
People with periods of not working or self-employment can receive tax forms even if not on a C permit. I received one from the first year of being registered here. Useful for claiming tax back.
Hmm, I was actually unemployed for two months in between the jobs. Does it mean that on the Quellensteuer they still charged me for those months and I can get a return for that?
I received some more letters yesterday. They are recommendation for tax payments split (pay slips included) for the time since I finished my first contract until now. It seems like whatever office sent them behaves like if they know about my contract ending in 2017 but don't know that I have a new job and that I am still registered in Quellensteuer.
No, your employer is responsible for deducing the quellensteuer from your paycheck and paying it to the Steueramt. If you have received unemployment money the Arbeitslosenkasse will do that. If you did not and had no income you will pay no quellensteuer for the months you are unemployed and there is no way for the tax office to take it from anywhere. Maybe they wonder indeed how you supported yourself in these months. Is your new job maybe in a different Gemeinde or Kanton? Maybe your employer messed up the quellensteuer registration and/or payments - call or visit the tax office and explain the situation, bring your payslips from your new job.
The registration at Quellensteuer is fine I guess because the new employer received a confirmation of registration and gave me a copy. There was no Gemeinde or Kanton change for nether my place of work nor place of living. I plan to go to the tax office this week, as I wrote before. Let's see what they tell me.
No, as far as I recall on Quellensteuer it is deducted from your unemployment benefits at source also. People non-employed may receive forms though, not drawing any benefits, as they may wonder what you are living off.
I actually find this strange. Any adult should keep enough savings to survive for a couple months if necessary so it is weird that they instantly find this suspicious :P
I dont think the suspicion is 'instant' .. but over a long period of time it might look odd. But yes one can live off savings, which can be undeclared too if you are on a B permit.
I just came back from Steuersamt. The people I talked to were very friendly and spoke perfect English, but were not happy to do it because they are not allowed to. They explained my situation but said that if I asked some more specific questions they would not help me and I would need to come with someone who can speak German and translate.
So what they told me is that I got the forms because the Kreisburo wanted it. The reason is that I was employed at ETH before, and they for whatever reason were instructed to double check former ETH emnployees. They told me to copy the numbers from my Lohnausweiss (the one with Quellensteuer taken into account) to the tax forms and send it, and most likely they will decide that all is good and let me stay on Quellensteuer. Well, I guess my next Saturday will be with a pile of papers and google translator