I'm wondering if someone can give me some advice.... My previous employer didn't deduct the taxes from my monthly income and I would pay it at the end of the year, much like a C permit holder. I am currently on a B with over 120k threshold. My new employer however is already deducting the taxes from my paycheck, even though I asked them this wasn't needed. They came back saying all B's needed this deducted. Is there anything I can send them to prove this is not true and they should not be doing this?
Further to the discussion above, I have received a quarterly tax bill for 2022 from my commune/town which they would like I pay in instalments... So clearly someone hasn't been communicated the fact I'm already paying taxes from my pay check..
Are you married to a Swiss national or a C permit holder? This is the only reason to be excluded from Quellensteuer regulation as a B permit holder to my understanding.
In some cantons it can be possible for B permit holders to be taxed regularly. You should ask your local tax office to send a letter to your employer stating that you are "ordentlich besteuert" and not subject to Quellensteuer.
I am not either of those.. Yet I was not being taxed previously.. So those reasons are not the only ones. I will contact my tax office and ask them to send a letter to my employer perhaps.
Have you changed cantons? Different cantons have different rules.
When I got married while living in ZH, I was taxed normally. Then, after we moved to TI, it was Switched to withholding until they realized that I earned too much for the withholding tables, so then it went to normal.
I did switch Cantons, from Schaffhausen to Valais. However, thats not when the switch happened... My place of employment is still Zurich as before, but the employer is different.
No, that is not the case, at least not in ZH - see 13.1 of the leaflet. The CHF 120 threshold the OP mentions. I got the ordinary tax declaration literally 1 month after reaching the threshold. The amount your employer already paid will be set off against the final amount. I don't pay taxes in advance because I get confused 🙂 also note that you need to submit the tax declaration by the end of March or ask for an extension - can be done online in ZH.
Everywhere as of this year, the request (I believe including all relevant documents) must be submitted by March 31 to the cantonal tax office, no extension possible.
But careful, you can't stop the process or revert it: once individual always individual.
Taxation at source can have significant advantages, for instance in a high-tax commune. Unless someone's case is a very clear one it may well be better to postpone until next year, by when there should be enough time to clarify what's been left unclear.
I may just leave it perhaps this year since the employer might change again... But I'll drop a note to the office none the less..
I did receive a notice from Valais canton saying I can extend the tax submission, so that post about extension not being possible might not apply to all cantons..
Sorry to hijack the conversation, but isn't withholding tax designed NOT to give a tax advantage to its holders as otherwise it can be used as a loophole?
Still seems highly counter logical to submit the both leaving aside the financial aspect of it.
Nope. Because it's to save the tax authorities' time (and therefore money). Many people come for a year or so then go. Quellensteuer means that at least some of their due tax will be paid.
Nope. Above 120K the tax take is worth the tax authorities' extra effort. And the point above still applies.
As I interpret it, you are allowed not to submit a tax return when the government is confident that it is unlikely that you are being undertaxed significantly, so they understand that sometimes it goes in your favour, but when it is a small amount it is just not worth the extra work.
Indeed, if you look at when you are forced to submit a tax return even being subject to withholding tax eliminates the risk of you being heavily undertaxed:
- your income is high (>120k), means your tax liability is high, so small errors in tax rate can be significant in terms of taxes not paid
- your foreign income is non-negligent (e.g. 3.5k in ZH) - you did not pay withholding tax on it at all, so as soon as there is some such income you have to file a tax return and pay those taxes
- your wealth is high (e.g. 80k in ZH) - you might be liable for significant wealth tax, so better do the exact math
- you filed a tax return last year - you are likely a person who submits the tax return if it goes to your advantage. The fact that this year you don't want to submit it, means you are being undertaxed - so you must submit it again
In Schaffhausen you don't have tax deducted when you live in your own home. It could be that this is not true of Valais.
I happen to know this tidbit as I moved from SH to ZH and my employer incorrectly stopped deducting tax assuming the rule was the same in ZH as SH. It could be that your old employer made a mistake when you changed cantons.