Can I get tax returns for working FT less than a year?

Taxes
1

The beginning of 2024 I was working as an intern for 2 months at 100%, and 3 months at 20% employment, then after a month break I started working full time, so that would mean 6 months of full time work for this year. Now currently I’m taxed the same % from my monthly salary as someone who worked for this salary the entire year. If I choose to file my own taxes, would I be able to spread out all my salaries throughout the year? (This would mean an approx. tax return of 10000 CHF)

I read some comments on reddit recently saying that this can’t be done, to prevent people freelancing in December for 20k, and then barely pay taxes, but it’s reddit, so I’d rather ask here where people know a bit more about the system.

2

Maybe specify if you’re taxed at source. (It obviously would work for people not taxed at source, that’s how tax filing works)

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3

Yes. Tax would need to be reconciled at time of tax return. If you are taxed at source, you might need to file a return to get this back. But this might mean that for every year onwards you would need to file return. Just check about it

Tax is paid on monthly salary but in the end what matters is annual income.

You can also ask your employer if they can already reduce tax rate for next months.

4

I don’t think tax at source has configurable rate, it’s fixed based on the monthly income.

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5

I am taxed at source, but if I could get this amount back then I would file my own taxes

6

I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be possible, note that deductions will be pro rated for time worked, and that doing this is a one way street (you’ll have to file a tax return every year).

Long term, real tax rate can also be unfavorable compared to the at source rate depending on the tax rate of your municipality vs. the cantonal average (that’s the case in Zurich city), so this can be a downside.

Also it takes 2-3y to get your tax return back in some cantons.

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7

I see, but my internship would still count as work right? So with 8 months of 100% work and 3 months of 20%, that’s about 70% of working 100% for the full year, so just multiply all my deductions by 0.7, right?
And yes, if my basic calculations are correct I will lose about 1000 a year going forward, but even with that I should come out in the +, since I would have to switch to filling my taxes in about 2-3 years anyways.

I live in SG, not sure how quick it is here.

8

How will you profit if you pay 1k more in taxes?

9

Because this year I will save close to 10k, and then I have +1k for 2-3 years.