Hello, I have been living in Basel since 2020, I have a type B residence permit. My husband lives and works in Italy, he has an apartment in Italy.
Last year I didn't do any tax return because I thought I didn't have to do it since I have a B residence permit and my salary was less than 120k. I heard/read that I had to declare my husband's salary and the apartment, so I contacted a tax company who sent me a request to get the form from the tax office for ordinary taxation (I don't know if that's the right word but it's the form to make the voluntary tax declaration).
They replied that my tax residence is in Italy because my husband lives there. On that basis, should I pay taxes in Italy as well? That would be a bit absurd!
Do you know if there are any solutions for this?
My salary in 2023 is over 120k, so next year I will have to do my tax return (based on Swiss rules).
Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you in advance
If you didn't have legal income/wealth separation than I bet you most likely have fallen into obligation to do ordinary taxes. Beware that this obligation arises also if your taxable wealth (worldwide wealth) exceeds certain threshold, 150K CHF in Basel for couples.
Assuming you are a couple with shared household but just living in two countries, it all depends on the tax treaty between Switzerland and Italy. In Europe there's a general rule of "the center of your life" to determine where your tax obligation is. Owning a house and having a family in Italy might be seen by Italy as your center of life is still there.
Indeed talk to professionals.
Thank you for your answer. Switzerland assigned me the status of international commuter I think because my husband lives in Italy. However, I don't understand why they can decide that "the center of my life" is in Italy not the opposite. My husband is trying to move to Basel, so we are not thinking to live in Italy in the future.
While each case is always a bit special, there are rules for these decisions; see
https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1979/461_461_461/it
for the legal details. That is the ultimate document for this kind of questions.
Aside from this, what does it mean that they assigned you the “status of international commuter”? Don’t you also say that you have a B permit? Here might be lack of knowledge from my side but they sound like different and incompatible classifications. International commuters (G permit) differ a lot in how their residency and the taxes are assessed.
What we assume with a common sense doesn't necessarily go along with the legislation. I feel you, if you end up filling tax return in both countries it would be an "unfair" burden, but if that's how it's arranged then there's nothing you can do about it this year, just prod your husband to join you asap to avoid it in the future.
Exactly... I have a B resident permit and I live in Basel, how can I be classified as a commuter? I read the document you shared (thank you) but my residence is just in Basel, my husband owns an apartment in Italy but we are married with a separation of assets, so It is not mine..
Thank you for your answer. I am trying to contact lawyers in Italy to understand if the status of international commuters has been correctly assigned. Next week I will meet the tax company to understand if there is anything I can do.. I cannot pay ~40k per year in Italy + the swiss tax. It is crazy.
Husband and wife can have separated tax residency.
Separation of assets has no influence on this.
If you center of life is truly in Switzerland you will be taxed here. Also as you perform work here and you are not a cross boarder commuter you will also be taxed here on your Swiss income.
I have just my husband in Italy but I really live in Basel, I have friends here, go to work every day, to the gym, I took a German class, and bought new furniture for my apartment in Basel (since our idea is to live in Switzerland and not in Italy, my husband is also trying to sell his apartment in Italy), pay bills and health insurance (basic + complementary insurance). Of course, I go to Italy sometimes but not much frequently because it takes at least 10 hours in total to go and come back, and during the week I have to be in the office.
It seems the tax office are a bit confused. I recommend you talk to an accountant in Basel and get them to sort it out for you.
Based on the information provided by the OP, she is likely an international weekly resident (Internationaler Wochenaufenthalter) for tax purposes. In the event that the OP is even required to file a CH tax return, her CH income and CH assets would be included in her CH tax filing while her assets abroad and her husband's income and assets are not declared. An international weekly resident can have a B or C permit or even be a Swiss citizen.
To be clear, an international weekly commuter is normally taxed at source only even if earning more than 120'000 per year.
Mmm... but who actually has assigned you this? The tax company? If you have a B permit you are (temporarily) settled in Switzerland, there's no commute whatsoever. EDIT: but I got some doubts after reading Mulhollander's post...
Shared assets and assets abroad might be a complication, but from what you write you are definitely tax resident in CH.
You might want to also contact the tax office of Basel, they will provide a more official opinion. Usually people are very helpful and they can clarify things. I did that in Zurich. I think the best office is the cantonal Steueramt, but just be aware that there is also a city Steueramt.
Even if you have to pay taxes in both places, which the Convention aims to avoid, the net result is not the sum of the two but equivalent to pay just the highest of the two. What you pay in one country you deduct on the other.
Keep in mind that the deadline for tax declarations is end of March. You have to deliver the declaration or ask for a delay by this deadline. Asking for a delay is not uncommon and not complicated, just don't do it on the 29th. If you feel that the matter is getting a mess, ask for a delay next week and then take your time to sort it out.
@Mulhollander: isn't that concept attached to being employee of an international organization? Or am I mixing up two things? I had a friend who as a permanent arrangement was living in Bern and going back to Italy every weekend, but I never heard of this status. But thanks for pointing that out.
Thank you. My problem is that based on the assigned status I should also fill out a declaration in Italy and pay a lot of taxes there even though I don't live there..
The status has been assigned by Switzerland (I guess) not from the tax company. In Italy with a salary higher than 50k you have to pay more than 45% of taxes, it's really a lot!
The tax company told me that I cannot do the tax declaration because the tax office didn't accept the request to pass to the ordinary taxation(the ones that you do voluntarily, I didn't receive any form for the tax declaration because I am taxed at source) because of my status of international commuters. It is okay if I don't do it for the last year (my salary was lower the 120k) even though I voluntarily put some money in my 2nd pillars that I could get some money back. Also, I just found out about the assigned status of international commuters because no one told me that.
I will talk with the tax company next week and that I will see if they will try to clarify my situation with the tax office, otherwise, I will contact them directly.
I'm still confused about this status that you have received without applying for it.
I understand that you have your daily life in CH but your family, and possibly a second home, in Italy. In this case I would quote the aforementioned Convention, Art. 4, section 2b:
where "abitualmente" usually means "more than 50% of the days in a year". (EN: if someone has two permanent houses, or none, it's resident of the regularly inhabited country).
Moreover, you seem to be in a condition where the Swiss authorities are taxing you at source while the Agenzia delle Entrate does not even have a record on you. The easiest way would really be to change your Swiss status to reflect reality.
By the way, I assume you have Italian citizenship, have you registered to AIRE so that you are officially resident abroad to the Italian State? Or did you keep your documents, family doctor etc. as if you were still in Italy? These changes do not have automatically a tax implication but they are for sure part of the concept of residency and they might help in case you have to prove what the actual center of your life is, should you have to.
Isn't this someone at the tax office going too fast and assuming, perhaps, that as a woman you live where your husband does? It is also possible your tax company made some silly mistake themselves (have seen this happen loads of times).
Tax office in CH is pretty flexible so I would just call them or go in person and clarify the situation - sounds like a silly mistake to me. If you can just do it yourself.
Thank you for your help. I registered to AIRE and I received a letter that confirmed my registration. I have a doctor in Basel and I pay the health insurance every month.. I think that I need to talk with the tax office in Basel, I want to understand what the tax company will tell me next week but they already told me that in their opinion is not easy to change my status of international commuters. I don't why, but I will let you know on Wednesday
Exactly! I think they are wrongly assuming that I live where my husband lives, but this is not the case. I will see what the tax company tells me next Wednesday and then I will contact the tax office if there are not willing to help me (it seems that they think I cannot change my status of international commuter, but at least I would try)
By law, married couples are taxed together, at a single address.
Tom
In Switzerland, but not in Italy. And in Switzerland, they are taxing just me.. I wanted to do the tax return in Switzerland to declare my husband income and his apartment because I knew that we should be taxed together. However, in Italy you are not taxed together, even though you live together