Classification as private/professional investor?

Taxes
1

Hi all,

I’m sorry that this question has already been asked a million times, but I feel like I need a bit of reassurance for my particular case… I had around 170 shares of some ETFs sitting in some brokerage account since a couple of years. This January, I bought 5 more shares (175). In the middle of February, I decided to sell it all (175 shares), for a total capital gain of about 30000 CHF (the trade itself is bigger, sold ~90k, but bought for ~60k over time), including ~150 CHF from these 5 shares. Now I’m freaking out that, since I did not hold them for 6 months, this means I fail the first criterion for being classified a private investor, and therefore, I may end-up being classified as a professional investor, hence being taxed quite heavily on these 30000 CHF… or am I just freaking out ? As far as I can tell, I’m in the clear for the four other criteria.

I’m in Vaud, if that matters.

3

ah, that’s good to read, thanks a lot :slight_smile:

1 Like
4

I would say if it just happened once, this might not be anything.

But try not to do this often because if you do trading like behaviour then you are making yourself prone to scrutiny and eventually trader like taxes.

5

We’re still waiting for any forum member to be classified as pro, you need way more than doing this regularly :slight_smile:

(you’d need to do very frequent trading, and generate positive return consistently, since obviously they don’t want you to be able to deduct losses)

4 Likes
6

Two situations that are most likely to have you reclassified as a pro investor:

  • You consistently earn a substantial portion of your income through capital gains.
  • You invest other people’s money.

If you only invest your own money, and your capital gains do not make up a significant part of your income, then the risk is very low.

7

First thing to ask yourself is if you are a professional investor i.e. is that your job and how you earn your living? if not then 99%+ will not be a professional investor.

1 Like