Refund of withholding taxes in Geneve

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
I came to Geneve in the middle of October 2011 on L permit from a non EU country.

till december i received two pay checks (nov and dec).

my annual gross does not go beyond 25K for this year.

i was deducted withholding tax around 3K at source.

i am married and with one child.

My Question is:

What is the condition for reclaiming the tax withheld at source?

If reclaiming the tax is possible, what is the procedure?

Any help in this regard will be highly appreciated.

2
You must complete a tax return for the year you want to reclaim.

3
Thank You Mikers for your reply. however my question is if i am eligible for a tax refund?

4
3k from 25k is pretty low. I doubt you'd get anything back. Get a tax declaration form from the canton if you want to have a go.

5
Hi

If I understand your situation correctly:

When calculating your withholding tax, your MONTHLY pay is taken into account, not annual pay.

I do not live in Geneva, but I can share with you my experience in another canton:

- Before March of each year, I need to perform an online request for a refund form of withholding tax in preceding year from cantonal tax department.

- In about 1 to 2 weeks I would receive the form with reply envelope from them.

- Fill in the particulars in and attach relevant documents, mail back.

- wait for a few months, the refund would be credited into my designated bank account.

hope this helps.

6
Yes, this is right. If you earned 25k in November and December, that's 12.5k a month. The tax system works on you therefore having a 'virtual' income of 150k, and you would have been taxed on those two months accordingly. I too had to question this when we moved from the UK, as the system there would be 'oh, you've only earned 25k, in that case your tax is buttons'.

There'll some tables for Geneva somewhere, search on 'impot a la source canton Geneve' (sorry, can't do accents on this keyboard) and they should appear; then you can check you've paid the correct rate for your family circumstances and salary.

My experience in Vaud is that tax at source is slighter higher than that calculated via a tax return, presumably to stop the dodgy foreign types leaving owing tax; we had an extremely straightforward tax situation (PAYE, no investments, no property) and always got a refund of some thousands each year.

7
Thank you Hiroki for your information... Now I understand that there are possibilities to get a refund hopefully. Am I Right?