A long time ago when I had a DKB account, this was fairly simple. I had to fill in and submit the form “Erklärung für Zwecke der Abstandsnahme vom Kapitalertragsteuerabzug”, declaring that I’m not subject to German income taxes.
Whatever the reason, (almost) all legacy banks are differentiating between payment (chequing) and savings accounts. Even many of the new app-based online banks do (though they may call it „Spaces“ or whatever.
There shouldn’t be WHT on interest to non-residents: Withholding tax (WHT) rates
I think I can confirm this from personal experience, as I have never seen WHT deducted on my interest from German banks (though with DKB I haven’t really paid attention) due to the small amounts of interest from the.
As a new investor what is the recommended action here? Both my and my gf have a sizeable amount of CHF in the bank ~100k each. We might be doing a real estate deal soonish 6m-12m but it’s not guaranteed so something without too many limits would be great, but we can commit for shorter times as well or do a mix of both. I’ve started investing in ETFs/stocks recently but she is very much risk averse and would very much be happier with something guaranteed.
I see a lot of people recommending willbe. is that considered as safe as having the funds in a bank in Switzerland? Also the interest rate is 1.55% in CHF vs 3.80% in EUR. I guess that is down with the franc continuing to become stronger and stronger but I wonder what people are using. If we do end up doing a RE deal it would be in EUR so there’s that.
Lastly we both have accounts with UBS so if there’s an option there it would be convenient even if less efficient. I see what @oslasho mentioned above with the fixed term deposit rates but I don’t really understand what a price of 1.159 would mean in terms of %p.a. I also saw in another post that UBS has quite a few offers at like 1.75% but for “new money” so if we have the money already in a UBS account we wouldn’t qualify I believe 
We are maxing 3a so that isn’t a problem.
Thank you all in advance!
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Thanks a lot for the reply.
I guess I can wait for other people to chime in but what would be the main arguments?
It’s just something that we are keeping an eye out so there’s really no probability yet. For sure until the end of the year it won’t be started which basically already guarantees 6 months from now.
as in 1.159% p.a.? So let’s take the 6M rate = 1.179. If I deposit 50k for 6 months then it’s 50.000 * 0.0179 = 895 CHF so I would get 895 * 6/12 = 447.5 CHF extra at the end, is that it? If so that’s quite a difference from the other offers even from UBS. I got a call from UBS recently about investment opportunities, maybe I should have asked that.
I’m already subbed to that post! thanks for all the work there 
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Thanks once again!
Yes I forgot to include that 1. But it’s a pretty bad deal considering it’s a fixed term as well.
I am opening an account with willbe as I write this. Will probably leave 50k there and forget about it.
I might contact UBS anyway to see what I can do with the remainder of the funds. See if they tell me anything interesting.
Thank you once again @oslasho !!
Let’s see at what point we get the first Kaupthing 2.0 
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Did you decide to deposit in EUR or CHF at the end?
I’m in a very similar position to yours, I want to do a Real Estate deal that could pop-up any moment. Hopefully before April 2024. (Actually 2 deals, one in CHF and one in EUR).
Can you confirm that if you would like, you could withdraw immediately the money and don’t loose the interest accumulated?
Thank you very much
Swiss residents lost their money when that happened? 
Or they were protected?
I think anything >100k was lost. Seems like a lot, but people got greedy.
Their Luxembourg branch had a filial in Switzerland, that was registered as a proper Swiss bank. So there was the guarantee, but it was 30k max at this time. It was raised to 100k around 2009 I think.
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Just realized CIC takes out the 35% of Taxes directly from the account while others like WillBe or IBKR doesnt seem to apply the tax. Any clue why?
Thanks
Different countries, different withholding tax rates.
Switzerland has 35% withholding tax (Verrechnungssteuer) even on interest, other countries don’t.
There is also a threshold below which the 35% are not taken (I think at 200 CHF).
AFAIR 200 CHF limit exists only for saving accounts. For any other type of investment, 35% is withheld from a distribution no matter the amount.
Yes, I meant for savings accounts.
„Seit 2010 sind die Zinserträge bis CHF 200 bei allen Kundenguthaben von der Verrechnungssteuer befreit. Von dieser Freigrenze können nur diejenigen Kundenguthaben profitieren, welche einmal pro Kalenderjahr abgeschlossen werden und deren Zins nur einmal vergütet wird. Das bisherige «Sparheftprivileg» wurde aufgehoben.“
Berne cantonal tax administration
The Federal Department of Finance here also confirms that the 200 CHF may be applicable to current accounts as well, provided that there balanced and interest is credited only on a yearly basis. In practice though, most current account aren‘t - and won‘t pay interest anyway.
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But IBKR doesnt take it directly… any guess why?
Because it is not a Swiss bank?
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Yuh did credit me (less than CHF 200 of) interest for 2023 without withholding tax. not that it really matter anyway, considering how easy it is to get that back filing a Swiss tax return.
Of course.
Withholding tax on interest payment is charged based on the country where the bank/payer is located and its laws (which may have different tax rates for residents and non-residents, even differentiating by country of residence - or have no withholding tax at all).
But Swiss Verrechnungssteuer of 35% is only charged by Swiss banks - not by foreign banks.
Mini-update to this, I ended up with 2 tranches of these from August and from October 2023, for 1.95% p.a.
I see their current offer is now significantly lower.
Beginn Laufzeit: 2. Mai 2024
Laufzeit: 12 Monate
Verzinsung CHF: durchschnittlich 1,175% (quartalsweise, Monate 1-3: 1,40%, Monate 4-6: 1,20%, Monate 7-9: 1,10%, Monate 10-12: 1,00%)
Verzinsung EUR: durchschnittlich 3,40% (quartalsweise, Monate 1-3: 3,80%, Monate 4-6: 3,50%, Monate 7-9: 3,30%, Monate 10-12: 3,00%)
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