B Permit and no tax declarations

Taxes
1

Hi,

First of all, welcome everybody! This is my first post here. :blush:

I moved to Switzerland 6 years ago (B permit). Since then, I have always been employed and earning more than 120k CHF annually. I pay (actually, my company pays) withholding tax on a monthly basis.

What worries me is that I have never received tax forms. I’m especially concerned because I also have a lot of stocks (my portfolio is composed mainly of Polish and French stocks, 500k CHF in total, and I’m definitely more of an ‘active’ than ‘passive’ trader) and some cryptocurrencies.

Should I proactively contact the tax office and ask them to send me the missing tax forms? I’m a bit worried that, year after year, my trading history is getting bigger and it will be challenging to report trades back to, let’s say, 2018. I also contribute yearly to pillar 3a, but I have never deducted it.

2

That‘s certainly above the paygrade of the forum I feel.

You should have been doing a tax declaration from the first year already (and your wealth also requiring you to do that as you are over the thresholds of every canton since years probably) and you also should have been paying wealth tax since years as well.

You also needed to be pro-active 6 years ago already, to request the tax papers on your end and not wait for that to happen.

I have no clue how the tax office handles this and if it‘s even possible to properly backfill taxes (probably not).

This may be even time to consult a lawyer specializing in taxes first (I may be exaggerating here)

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3

I’d definitely contact your tax office, esp. since you are above the wealth limit for tax filing (normally the deadline for that is March).

(I think the tax office is generally reasonable, personally I would simply reach out to them and explain the situation).

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4

Thank you guys.

I’ve just called tax office (Steueramt), they were also surprised but they also mentioned that sometimes people get tax forms ‘in one batch after 5 years’. I sent them email with details.

If you interested I will keep you updated. For me it’s a bit unusual that I have to ask to pay my taxes.

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5

I guess, they just missed you.
Also after 5y it should be possible to get a C-permit (or are you non EU, which would surprise me since you have French/Polish stocks).

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7

What canton do you live in?

I think the situation can potentially be a bit hairy as @Tony1337 mentioned, because in many cantons you have other conditions where you are required to fill taxes even if your Swiss salary is under a certain limit (e.g. taxable wealth: the tax office can’t know how much money/assets you own, so it must be you who proactively communicate to the tax office that you have to submit taxes by a certain date once the conditions are met).

So regardless of the tax office missing your 120k salary threshold, I might have been that you nevertheless had to proactively request a tax declaration years ago - so worth double checking with the tax office that they are indeed cool with you retroactively filing all those years

8

I live in ZH.

Honestly, I always thought that eligible for wealth tax are only property owners and people with more than 1 milion in assets. Now I read that this is not necesserily true.

I hope I will be able to fix it with ZH tax office. I’m willing to pay, it’s just I didn’t know so far that I have to (although for someone it might be not an excuse).

9

For ZH anything above 80K wealth is taxable already… and subseqeuntly forces you to do a declaration.

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10

I wouldn’t worry too much, I’d bet they’ll just ask you to fill them out. (that said, heads up if you have a high salary and live in Stadt Zürich, tax at source is below the real city tax rate, so you’ll probably owe a 5 figure sum, even taking into account 3a deduction).

Once you fill stuff out, I’d compute your actual tax liability and compare with what was withheld at source (should be in your Lohnausweis). Then you can already pay the difference (otherwise you might have to wait 2-3y before you get the bill, and the bill will keep accruing 1% interest until your receive it).

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11

I can concur, as long as you come from yourself, they are pretty chill.

On the other hand I can confirm that in ZH, that normally they come towards you when the salary threshhold is passed (wealth might be trickier for them).

12

A few years delay is normal for Zurich. Five is surprising, but not much. The explanation I’ve heard is that they are getting your tax-at-source, so not in a hurry. They start doing things faster and faster once you get the C permit :slight_smile:

13

A few years for getting the final bill is usual, I don’t think it’s usual for getting the tax form tho :slight_smile:

14

My experience is entirely anecdotal, but it does happen.

15

I live in Zurich with permit B and this year my salary exceeded the 120K threshold. I called the tax office (Support zur Online und Offline Steuererklärung erhalten | Kanton Zürich) and they told me I should automatically receive the paperwork by post in January 2025.
However, in case I do not, they suggested calling directly this number: 0432593700

Hope this is useful :slight_smile:

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