UK Resident- Work for a Swiss company and pay swiss tax

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1

Hello to all, and thanks for letting me join.
I am a UK resident and work for a swiss company and pay swiss taxes etc. - Abroad on ships - as such I am out of the UK more than 1/2 the year so do NOT pay UK tax and i do NOT live in Switzerland .
can i claim my tax paid in Switzerland back and how - should i use a swiss tax company or is it simpler to do it myself - i use SK tax in the UK for my tax etc.

thanks stephen

2

Welcome to the forum. :slightly_smiling_face:

If you’re a resident of the UK then far as I know you should pay taxes in the UK. Doesn’t matter that you’re out for more than half a year, you’re still a resident in the UK.

I’d contact the cantonal tax office where the Swiss company is based and ask them whether you can or not.

3

First of all, you say that you are not UK resident (for tax purposes) because you are away for more than 1/2 the year. Note that this is not the only criteria (as far as the UK is concerned), you may still be resident if eg, your only home is in the UK or you have important family ties in the UK, regardless of the days spent there.

There are various types of contracts possible with a Swiss employer (place of work in Switzerland, place of work abroad, temporary detachment etc), each with different deductions for social security and tax, but I would assume that the deductions they take from your salary are correct for the contract they gave you.

Assuming you are correct that you are not UK resident and don’t have to pay UK taxes, the Swiss taxation is probably correct. You cannot simply ask for a refund because you don’t live in Switzerland. The only way to get a refund would be if you have to pay tax elsewhere, based on a double taxation agreement. Eg, if you are indeed a UK tax resident, then you would have to pay UK tax, but they will reduce it by the amount paid in Switzerland (so you end up paying full UK tax and 0 Swiss tax).

You may get a better answer by asking directly your employer or payroll office, no ?

4

You may be eligible for some expatriate concessions. You should check that. Under certain circumstances you can also receive a deduction if a large percentage of your time is spent working outside of Switzerland. See section 2.9 of this document: https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmgsites/xx/pdf/2023/01/TIES-Switzerland.pdf.coredownload.inline.pdf