Always keep in mind that in most cases the classification as pro trader will come from an inquiry of the tax office that is not able to understand an increase of your taxable wealth from previous year. If your trading activity does not lead to a massive increase of your wealth then even if you buy and sell securities daily there’s no way you will ever be on their radar. I have declared margin loans in tax returns, I trade options, forex with yearly proceeds from sale that surely exceeds 95% of what people here trade and I was never asked any questions despite all my data being known by the tax office (IB sends this info to the tax man yearly). Again you will not risk anything as long this is a hobby and you do not make a living out of this activity (and I wish I could, then being a pro trader would be the least of my concerns lol).
Do you declare all options and FX trades yourself?
Imho, if IB participate in AEOI then they disclose totals, but not details.
No to all three of your questions. 
You are not required to declare individual trades only the balances as per year end and any dividends you may have received. Yes IB only sends the sale proceeds but depending on the quantity of securities you sold this number can be high and I’m quite certain the tax man has an automated check to compare the quantity of securities you sold vs what you declared. However this value alone of course does not tell whether you actually made money on the sales you did.
Is this in ZH? I thought you need to declare each transaction and then it calculated your end balance. Also possible that you bought, got divs and then sold and declaring each transaction system would automatically would calculate divs.
If that helps you to calculate dividends you can add the various transactions but you don’t have to, what’s important is the year end balances and the total amount of dividend you got.
whats the best way to structure a legal form if one is classified as professional trader. Im thinking create a gmbh to pay corporate tax + AHV, if by doing this is it possible to ring fence professional trading activities using solely the gmbH and my normal personal long term investments and not pay capital gains on those?. Can that distinction still be made if one is classified as professional trader.
Let’s start by you answering the following questions: were you classified as a professional trader? Or is it a hypothetical question?
Hi,
so I already FIREd two years ago, but last autumn I put 700k USD into 3 cryptocurrencies which is now worth around 2.4M USD. I’m planning to sell it later this year (more 6 months after purchasing), meaning that I will realize capital gains of at least 1.7M USD (assuming it will go up a bit more).
I am extremely worried about being considered a professional trader to a point of thinking about moving from Switzerland to Dubai or Cyprus (which I would have to do by the end of June). I will basically make only 3 transactions this year (a SELL order for each of the 3 cryptocurrencies I’m holding), but I’m still worried as this is my only source of “income” for 2024.
Am I being overly paranoid? Is there anyone I could talk to? I already sent an email to Schwyz tax authorities but they haven’t replied yet.
Thanks.
Most probably. The tax authorities are especially looking for people that trade for a living. One could argue that you earn your living with it as you hqve no income, but this would basically be the case for everyone who retires early. I highly doubt that they would classify you as a professional investor for this, you were just lucky with your bets.
Since we are talking about huge sum of money. I recommend to talk to some good tax advisor to avoid any random surprises
By the way, great work on your crypto trades. Well done 
Make sure to talk to an expert before moving to dubai.
But one lucky bet doesn’t make you a professional trader imo Congrats 
They won’t want to let you deduct your losses when your next gamble doesn’t pan out 
the odds of being classified as pro for this are ~zero.
Yes. They don‘t consider everyone a trader that merely shifts his assets over once in a year.
It seems unlikely, like other say. I don’t know what share of your net worth this is, but this could be a once in a lifetime trade. Potentially missing out because you are afraid of unlikely taxes is not rational. You are not poor, go hire a professional or two for a consultation at least.
Here is the website of the Anwaltsverband Schwyz. There is a huge list with lawyers. Ask some with websites that seem trustworthy if they know someone who specializes and would do a consultation. Find peace of mind.
PS: This bugged forum software has had me reply to @ZahliBaba , sorry.
The question of being classified as professional trader is omnipresent in this forum, but 99% is pure paranoia and misunderstanding of the ruleset. The answer is nearly always that there is virtually no risk, even for the average active investor pursuing FIRE.
And yet the exception exists: You are at risk of being classified a professional trader.
Get yourself a good tax advisor, you can afford it. And stop communicating with your tax authority, that won’t help.
Uh, it’s kinda clear cut, it’s a lucky trade.
Maybe these were three lucky trades in an alternative asset that is a few percent points of the total net worth invested. In that case, yes, near zero risk (not zero because profit is large enough that any tax authority might simply try, but you would win that in court).
But how do you get that from the single post? I don’t see motivation, target, background or anything relating to these trades. I don’t know how much knowledge in crypto currencies that person has, how these currencies were selected and with what reasoning. I don’t see where the exit in June logic comes from, but I sure hope it isn’t relating to the six months holding period. I do see that this person just flagged their own file with the tax authority, so they will certainly have a good look. And the list goes on. There is risk in these trades, simply consider this luck is too simple.
This thread kind of disappeared from the list of the latest one, I am bumping it up.