DA-1 refund denied

Could you please elaborate on the “Depot Schweiz” checkbox? I checked and I left it on last year when doing my taxes through Private Tax (basically didn’t notice it).

This year I’m trying to do them online and I notice that if I leave it on for VT, I get the same amount in both columns: “Pauschale Anrechnung” and “Rückbehalt USA”.

However, if I untick it, the amount in the “Rückbehalt USA” disappears and I don’t really understand why.

I’m using Interactive Brokers in the UK, do I have to leave the checkbox unticked? Does it mean the tax office will basically not refund the US-related withholding tax?

Congratulations, you may have (successfully?) cheated the tax authority last year.

Only applies to domestic “brokers”, basically.

IBKR doesn’t withhold the additional “Rückbehalt USA” - hence you shouldn’t apply for a refund of it.

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Actually not, I found the form they sent me back last year and they spotted the mistake :smiley:

But thanks for the explanation!

Same for me in Zug, tried to fill the DA-1 with IBKR only as broker but they rejected the claims :frowning:

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I received my 2020 tax assessment confirmation from Basel Land and my request for DA-1 refund has also been denied. No specific reason given, except that the provided details (annual broker dividend summaries and US tax forms, 1042-S) are inadmissible.

Do you two have significant wealth-related income deductions such as mortgage interest or margin loan interest? Or is this really about insufficient evidence? The formula according to Kt. ZH is

Ertragsminderung = A x B : C
A: Schuldzinsen und Unkosten
B: Steuerwert DBA-Titel
C: Wert Total Aktiven

And then

Maximalbetrag = (Bruttoertrag - Ertragsminderung) x Anrechnungstarif

“Anrechnungstarif” is your average (not marginal) income tax rate.

In Kt. ZH they send you a “Berechnungsblatt Pauschale Steueranrechnung” with all these values if their calculation differs from your DA-1 request, which makes it easy to comprehend.

I would simply ask for more details (give them a call or send an email). Most cantonal tax offices are quite responsive and willing to help.

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Hello everybody,

DA-1 amount (CHF 150.-) was denied for me in the canton de Vaud.

Explanation:

Le montant maximum de l’imputation d’impôts étrangers retenue à la source ne peut dépasser la somme des impôts suisses frappant les rendements en cause après déduction des intérêts passifs et afférents et des frais lies a leur acquisition.

The maximum amount of the deduction of foreign taxes withholding at source may not exceed the sum of the Swiss taxes affecting the returns in question after deduction of passive and related interest and costs related to their acquisition.

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Do you have marginal tax rate below 15% or something like that? Or is it because you deducted portfolio management cost?

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Where can i check my marginal tax rate?

i just deduct the standard/automatic value(116.-) for management cost.

The relevant rate is the average/effective tax rate, not the marginal one. Divide your total income taxes (incl. federal taxes but without wealth taxes) by your taxable income (not gross income). The details are a bit more complicated but that should get you a rough approximation.

Deduction of interest payments (e.g. mortgage or margin loan) affect the refund as well.

However, your tax rate being slightly below 15% should only result in a reduction of the refund, not a complete rejection.

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Yes that’s right, they didn’t reject it, they just adjusted it and refunded 2.55.- instead of 150.-.

Aimed for CHF 165, got CHF 93.
It‘s something :slight_smile:

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I received my tax return today in Geneva canton.
I had submitted the detail purchase of VT shares and the software GeTax calculated a withholding tax of 116.-

However I had a Remarques sur titres:

Titre ‘4354003 - Vanguard Total World Stock ETF’ :
Pas d’imputation d’impôts étrangers à la source sur les ETF.

I also have a foreign mortgage like the other.
I may switch to VERX+VTI+VWO as an alternative.

The “remarque” doesn’t make much sense. Maybe call them? I’m not sure why they’d not follow what’s in ictax (and you have a proof of withholding from IB).

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Thank you.
I will try my luck and call them.
It is not that important with this amount but who knows what it will be in 10 years.

It’s possible there’s a different reason (e.g. if you have a mortgage), but ETF shouldn’t matter, the ordinance doesn’t treat it differently than other foreign income subject to withholding.

I just phone them and I had one of the Geneva specialist of the shares department.
In his point of view, you cannot claim back withholding tax of ETF because the taxation is transparent. It is Vanguard that claim it back but not the end investor.

I can only reclaim it if I hold directly the company (Apple, Microsoft …) even if GeTax calculated the withholding tax automatically.

I told him I know there are investors that can claim it back in Zurich or Vaud but he was not really interested. there must be no communication between departments.

Is there another investor in Geneva that manage to get his US withholding tax this year ?

I can do a reclamation before August 11th to go deeper but it will be only to prove the point as it is for 116.-

Any update from @_MP with his latest real estate foreign investment ? Can you still recover the withholding tax of VT ?

Yes, it seems like the Geneva ‘specialist’ thinks it’s L1 WHT, in which case he would be right. However, it’s L2 WHT, which falls under the double taxation agreement. And L1 WHT wouldn’t show up in ICTax or broker statements.

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Don’t you just love this bureaucratic nightmare? The tax laws are so complicated that the tax office can’t even properly train their own employees to understand them and apply them properly. Neither you’re at fault, nor the poor tax office employee. With this level of complexity we’re bound to make mistakes time and time again. Just think how unmanageable this would be if we didn’t have IT systems and relied on pen and paper.

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