Any UN staff or international civil servants here?

Hi, I am working for an UN affiliated agency here in Geneva. Anyone else working for an UN agency here?

Hi,

I am working for an international organization in Geneva.

Hi, it’s great to know someone working in the same environment and who do not fill in tax forms😅. I guess you are investing in VT on IB like most people here?

Are you saying you’re tax exempt because of the organisation you work for? Does that only apply to regular income/wealth tax or to other stuff like car/traffic tax too?

I used to work for CERN and the salaries were income tax free but I think you need to pay other taxes.

Have always wondered what are the salaries at UN agencies? Any feedback?
(Every time, I read a job post from an agency, the task list is always huge and it seems always boring.I hope it’s not true in reality)

All UN and affiliated international org staff are exempt from the regular Swiss income tax (there is some small amount deducted at source but no one really knows how much). If you reach P5 level and above (heads of divisions/dept, directors and above), you can claim back VAT.

Entry level professional CHF6.5K. Salary = base salary + post adjustment (this depends on where you are located i.e. duty station)

It is not always boring :slight_smile:

I forgot to add, there are no bonuses, no 13th month and increment is almost non-existant. You can only hope to be promoted, if ever.

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Oh ok, that seems to be the downside of the shiny medal then. However I wouldn’t mind to be able to invest those 34k CHF I pay on tax right now.

Move to Zug or north Schwyz, some of that part might be eaten by higher rent, but some you’ll be able to save and invest. :slight_smile:

PS. There are some tax exemptions for cars, but I’m not sure what exactly. A lot of my friends bought a car while working at CERN, then they had to register it with special, green plates.

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As a matter of fact I do fill in a tax form because I am Swiss and I have to declare my wealth. Also I am married so we would have to fill for my wife.
I must say that it does not bother me, I almost like doing it :smiley:

I am investing in Swissquote and CornerTrader. I started in SQ long ago and I am ok with it. CT is less convincing in my opinion. I have two different brokers because I am not comfortable having all my money hosted in a single one.

What about you ?

I’m already in canton of Zug :frowning: Effective tax rate is around 15% so I shouldn’t complain but 0% would be nicer.

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I have accounts with IB (for VWRL) and an American based brokerage (for VT). One is low cost and the latter is zero cost i.e. no brokerage fees and with auto-reinvest of dividends.
I am also not comfortable having everything under one brokerage :slight_smile:

If you have to fill up tax forms, do you submit the DA-1 form to claim back some withholding tax?

At CERN I remember having sort-of 13th salary, as it was almost equal to monthly salary if I remember correctly. It was called international indemnity, because of working far from home or something like this


Then, there are additional child and family allowances (several hundreds per month), quite cheap health insurance (don’t remember the numbers), 70 or 80% of school/creche costs reimbursed, possibility to buy cars with discounts for diplomats and without TVA, 30 days of annual leave + 2 weeks Christmas closure.

Regarding the salary, more info can be found here: https://careers.cern/salary-conditions-and-career-progression.

Do I regret not being there anymore? Not at all ;).

No, because I am lazy. If I knew how to do it, and how much I would get back, I might consider it. Do you do it ? any advice ?

I was hoping that you have done it :smiley:
Being a foreigner working in UN, I cannot submit DA-1 to claim back withholding tax.

However, it seems you can. The only catch is that you should be investing in US domiciled ETFs to claim it back i.e. VT. As I understand, you cannot claim back with VWRL.

If you have USD100,000 in VT and if the dividend is 2%, then you can claim back USD300.