I’m really new to investing. I buy the VT ETF with IB. In the future, I also want to buy some stocks (starting in 2026). I’m thinking about 10–15 stocks. Would you also buy them with IB, or with another broker like Saxo (easier for the tax statement, but more expensive)? I have never done my tax statement by myself so far, but this is a goal of mine for next year, and I’m a bit afraid of making mistakes.
Some misinformation in your post.
Swiss Vs foreign brokers makes literally no difference for any US estate tax.
To respond to the first post, I would recommend to dig a little bit more into this forum. The pros and cons of each brokers have been discussed extensively.
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I’m more concerned about the fact that you are new to investing and want to start immediately with stock picking.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against stock picking at all, but you should know what you are doing.
Why do you want to buy single stocks? Will you sell your VT investments and put everything into single stocks or keep VT? What amounts are we talking about?
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wow, what a valuable contribution 
absolutely pointless comment. How about pointing out what you don’t agree with? Or provide your own advice?
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As in everything in life, try to separate facts from opinions. Here are some of mine:
- Switzerland is probably the most expensive place in the universe. Sometimes you pay more just to pay more, just because it is Switzerland. If you have a choice, don’t!
- There is a stamp tax that is collected only by Swiss brokers.
- Swiss brokers usually charge you for just having your money or your stocks there, without any service. Probably you pay for a guard with a halberd standing in front of you paper stock certificates.
- Interactive brokers is around for a very long time.
- IB is a member of the SP500 (since last month).
- The best client support is the one you don’t need. I did need client support one only time in more than 25 years with IB and the issue was resolved without any problem and fast.
- If you need somebody to hold your hand, probably it is not IB. But then probably you should not invest anyhow.
- The only brokers “cheaper” than IB are the “free” brokers, but you may find out that they are more expensive for you because they have to live somehow.
Addendum: IB has a “free” option too, called IBKR lite. I would not recommend it because you have free trades but higher fees on many other things. I would recommend IBKR pro with tiered commission. Commissions are like 35 Cents per hundred shares and you get back negative market fees for adding liquidity (all other brokers keep that for themselves).
Here are the commissions: Commissions Stocks | Interactive Brokers LLC
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I think IBKR Lite is not available outside of the US.
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There’s no need for that. The tax tools I know are mostly self-explanatory, you can call your tax office for advice or look online. Sure it takes some initial effort, but it’s not rocket science.
Worst case (unless you cheat) is that the tax office asks you some questions to clarify or corrects wrong entries.
Don’t even know, but even the normal accounts have several trading platforms, including web- or mobile-based that look less “intimidating” and yet cover more than the average retail investor needs. And likely less “gamification” features compared to neo-brokers.
Maybe the account opening process takes some “paper” work, but nothing outrageous, either.
This is not entirely correct though, while in theory US-funds are within the scope of the US estate tax regardless of the broker, it seems that it does matter in practice. Anecdotally (from various threads on this and other forums) the brokers seem to be split into 3 buckets w.r.t. how quick you can unlock the funds:
- Will release US assets without requiring any proof of IRS involvement (apparently some Swiss brokers are in here)
- Will release US assets after heirs show that an IRS form claiming 0 taxes are due was filed (apparently IB for Swiss residents is here)
- Will release US assets only after IRS decision (apparently traditional US-based brokers are often here)
On top of this, the broker matters also if you keep significant cash in there: cash in a US broker is a US asset but cash in a foreign broker is not
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Sorry, I think you didn’t quite understand my post correctly.
My question was more about whether you would also buy the individual stocks through IB or through a Swiss broker.
The advantage of IB is that it’s much cheaper than through a Swiss broker.
For me, the advantage of a Swiss broker is that I would receive a tax statement for the tax return, which would certainly make things much easier.
But the Swiss broker is more expensive.
If it’s just a matter of doing your taxes, then go with whatever is easier for you 
Options:
- Saxo: Download your eTax statement, import* it into your tax software, done.
- IBKR: Record all purchases/sales individually in the tax software (ISIN, amount, date) or provide dividends and holdings as a total and attach the required proof separately.
Or buy a single cheap share on IBKR today and see how well it works for your taxes next year, before you buy many more stocks. Many tax topics are simply a matter of practice.
And most tax software can also be opened in demo mode. This allows you to test in advance how manual entry works. For example here for canton Zürich.
*if your canton supports eTax statements.
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Don’t believe everything you read on the internet when it comes to your US estate planning.
US inheritance is a hot topic on forums, as is the status of professional traders in Switzerland.
So far, no one has encountered this issue with a Swiss broker.
It’s more a fantasy, stories investors repeat to scare themselves (like the boogyman).
Investors like to scare themselves and discuss it on forums.
I have experience in Swiss banking and I don’t know of a single case of an account being frozen due to US situs and US inheritance for non-resident heirs.
Edit: I’m not surprised if US brokers/banks would like to ensure that US filing is in order before releasing the funds. Again, each bank has its own way to deal with inheritance assets.
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You resumed the pros and cons yourself.
Based on your preferences, which one do you prefer?
For a simple portfolio, not having a tax statement is not an issue if you can generate a document helping you getting the total dividends/interests of the year.
Tax authorities accept simplifications when filing your tax return, you don’t have to enter all your trades of the year (search this forum for more information on how to easily file your return).
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What they wrote was actually a good summary, and matches what you wrote after (swiss brokers will inform you and release the funds, brokers with US ties such as IBKR not so much).
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Should I switch from Swissquote to Saxo?
I need a bank with eSteuerauszug
This wasn’t explicitly discussed in this topic, but has come up here before: if in your ETFs (like VT mentioned by the OP) you hold any non-Swiss securities where the ultimate custodian is non-Swiss (e.g. all US securities, EU country securities, etc), your non-US domiciled or listed ETF won’t give you any additional security at all from any overreach in the governments of said countries’ jurisdictions.
I’m not suggesting that this will happen – on the contrary, I think it will not, as investors will pull out quickly of such markets – just saying that if you think your holding the VT equivalent ETF in .ch or .ie or some other non-US jurisdiciton is any safer, I’m here to tell you that won’t have any additional guarantees over the 97%-98% of non-Swiss companies in the VT. The ultimate custody for those companies is outside of Switzerland and outside of Swiss control.
The same goes for individual stocks, of course.
The OP seems mostly worried about getting a suitable tax statement. That is definitely easier to get with a Swiss broker.
I’m personally too cheap for paying Swissquote CHF 85 for something that costs them probably about less than a Rappen for calculating it – if I had to guess I’d say they have already pre-calculated it and me clicking the buy button just makes this report available to me – and file all of my DA-1 manually.
It’s maybe hardest the first time (but certainly not with 10-15 stocks) and is mostly copy&paste in the subsequent years.
If you make any mistakes, the tax office will happily correct things without fining you and you can learn from them for filing in the next year.
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