Capital gains in Poland - Swiss tax residency

Hi,

I know that there is a quite numerous representation of Poles here so maybe I am lucky and I found someone with the same case.

I made some money on Polish stock exchange but I am a Swiss tax resident of course (mainly capital gains from selling shares but also some dividends).
Do I have to submit/pay any taxes to the Polish tax office? In my account in e-Urzad Skarbowy they have this info from the bank and ask me to pay taxes (PIT-38 form).
I know that it depends on the tax treaty between PL and CH but perhaps some of you already went through it :slight_smile:
Many thanks!

I don’t really know, but maybe it’s the same principle as with renting? So money earned in Poland (eg. from renting the apartment) should be taxed in Poland, but then it also affects tax rate in Switzerland too?

No, as a Swiss tax resident (with the usual “unbeschränkte Steuerpflicht”), you’re taxed in Switzerland for worldwide income from stocks, although capital gains are tax-free as private investor, of course. I.e., unlike foreign real estate, the dividend income (and wealth) from foreign stocks doesn’t just affect the tax rate in Switzerland.

You may be able to get a Swiss tax credit for foreign withholding taxes (DA-1) depending on the tax treaty but the primary taxation would still be in Switzerland.

As far as I know, most countries do not tax non-residents if they invest into stocks in that country, with the exception of withholding taxes on dividends. However, there are some countries that may tax non-residents, mainly if you’re a citizen of that country (e.g. US) or if you’ve recently been a resident. I don’t know whether this applies to Poland or not.

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They have this info from your Polish bank? Have you informed them when you moved to Switzerland and became a Swiss (tax) resident?

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@Frugo: I guess that to be on safe side, the best would be just to ask Polish tax authorities.

I tried last year to ask and they said that it depends on the Polish-Swiss Tax Treaty but they did not know what is in the Polish-Swiss Tax Treaty :laughing:

I know I can read it myself but I do not really like reading tax agreements because they are really ambiguous.

Yes, they got the info from the bank, even the precise numbers. Both tax authorities and the bank know that I am a non-resident.
In general I agree with you @jay, and I was quite sure about it until I got the tax form and the amount of tax to pay in the e-tax system in Poland :slight_smile:

https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1992/2011_2011_2011/fr

Don’t think there’s much surprising in it. Seems to mostly default to being taxed in the place where one is resident of.

Edit: there might be a 15% tax on dividend but I’d expect that to be withheld at source.

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@Frugo did you finally pay the tax in Poland? I am in the same situation. My polish Broker submitted PIT-38 for me with my Swiss residence address. However I was still asked to pay the tax by polish Tax Authorities. I appealed from that decision saying that I am Swiss tax resident (they already blocked money on my polish account). They called me back and asked for Tax Residency Certificate and breakdown of all the company shares I sold in 2022, whether their assets consist of more than 50 per cent directly or indirectly of immovable property. Which is crazy. I don’t think any of the companies publishes in the balance sheet where their immovable assets are located?
@Frugo I wonder how did the taxation situation end up for you?

For reference: Konwencja o unikaniu podwĂłjnego opodatkowania ze SzwajcariÄ… - przepisy.gofin.pl Art. 13, ust 3a

Hey pawp,

I declined PIT-38 that they prepared for me on the last day before the deadline with a note that I am a Swiss Tax Resident and so far I haven’t heard from them - so it turned out okay it seems, I did not pay anything.

If you missed the deadline and your tax declaration has been automatically submitted then probably you would need to provide them with this Tax Residency Certificate to undo it and also submit a correction.
I heard about this “50% immovable property in PL” rule but this is really crazy and I think impossible to enforce - if I were you I would interpret it in your favor and if they have a different opinion - ask them to give you any evidence that you are wrong. This is of course not a professional tax advice (disclaimer :laughing: )

Let us know how it evolves!

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Thank you. So basically you didn’t submit PIT-38 at all? :slight_smile:

Yes correct, I rejected the automated version prepared by the Tax Office and indicated the reason in the notes that I have a Swiss Tax Residency. Maybe it’d be better to submit it and edit the tax amount due to 0 PLN but so far nobody asked me anything.

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I am returning to this topic once again. Has anyone got any new information? How does the settlement of e.g. Polish Bonds look like? Do we have to pay Belka tax? It’s still unclear for me.

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I did all these with Polish tax authorities, Polish institutions and Swiss (Zurich and Schwyz) for a six years now: broker, investment funds and government bonds (PKO BP Dom Maklerski / obligacjeskarbowe.pl). I am not a tax advisor and following advice comes from my uneducated experience and reading (while still being uneducated) a lot.

  1. Broker for PIT-38 (tax capital income): No need for tax residence certificate, just claim foreign residency address, which they will use in PIT-8. Then you submit PIT-38 every year with 0 income and 0 taxes. It looks like they still need such silly PIT-38.
  2. Broker for dividends (tax on dividends): Would need to bring them tax residency certificate (you can get for free from Swiss cantonal tax office). By law it should be translated to Polish by certified translator, but some brokers accept English. You will pay 5% in PL and Swiss income tax.
  3. Investment funds (capital income): yep, you can avoid 19% Belka tax! That’s actually awesome. Need to bring them the tax residency certificate, probably in PL translation. I did it with three investment funds with Polish translation, then sold all the funds and paid no taxes. Caveat: Swiss might want to tax the dividend part of income, although never bothered me. Probably there was little dividend in the funds I got anyway.
  4. Bonds: Need to bring them the tax residency certificate. PKO BP DM accepts English version delivered online (online from this year, previous years in person). You will pay 5% in PL and Swiss income tax.

Now, for case 2 and 4, have in mind you will have to pay Swiss income tax, which if you consider Polish 5% and Swiss marginal tax rate (minus 5% credit from PL taxes) might be not that beneficial (you do the math on marginal tax rates…).

In all the cases above (1-4), if you change your residency they will send you IFT-1R next year and report you to Swiss tax authorities, so you will have to declare that assets/income in Swiss tax return.

For the cases 2-4 it is important you deliver tax residency certificate to that institution before the income is paid. Otherwise: for all the 2-4 cases if you already paid Polish 19% tax, you can recover it by asking PL tax office for refund. You need Polish translation of certified tax residency certificate. Then you submit application, with scan of translation and “Upoważnienie dla Naczelnika Urzędu Skarbowego XXX celu uzyskania informacji dotyczącej uzyskanych przez mnie przychodów w podziale na
poszczególne miesiące za XXX rok” (that’s another story I can share… stupid polish laws), online via e-Urząd Skarbowy and you got your missing 14% refunded.

Any more specific questions around these steps?

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Regardless of whether you declare correct residency to Polish institutions, it should always be declared in your swiss tax filing anyway. (That wasn’t super clear from the writeup)

Yes, correct. Although also a bit different question. My point was that if you declare foreign residency in Poland, they will actually notify Swiss tax authorities about your Polish income/assets.

Also a note:
If you declare things in Switzerland and do not deliver proper residency statements (broker) and tax residency certificates (2-4 cases in my post) to Polish institutions, you might be taxed twice: in Poland and Switzerland. Then you can still request refund of Polish excessive tax from Polish authorities with translated tax residency certificate. The Swiss will not refund you nothing above tax rate mentioned in double taxation treaty (been there…), so e.g. 5% for dividends/interest rates.

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When you delivered to PKO BP DM the tax residency certificate and changed the address, did you loose online access to obligacjeskarbowe.pl?

I have a basic question. Does anyone know where to request “tax residency certificate” in canton zurich?

I know where to request Wohnsitzbestätigung ( Residency certificate) but I believe tax residency certificate is something specific.

No. Funny that they mentioned it somewhere in their policy, but it did not happen. I was still buying bonds after changing my residency (6 years now).

Not really related to this topic, so you nicely off-top the discussion.

On their website. Google works… translate the term to German, add Zurich and magical Google gives some answers.