ETFs (TQQQ / TNA) and Taxes

Taxes
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Hi!

My current situation:
I was working till end of February of 2023 in Switzerland, currently I’m not registered in Switzerland and traveling (planning to come back in autumn) and not working.

I have bought 10k of TQQQ and 1k TNA for almost 90% of my net value. which for now payed back very well. I have used some of the margin offered by IBKR. The gains are much higher than this years income from work.

Question:
Do I have to pay taxes when selling those ETFs?
Does holding those shares longer (6m? 1y?) would help me not being classified as tex eligible?
My canton when buying those ETFs was Schaffhausen. Is there any benefit of moving to a different canton before selling?

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Then, no taxes whatsoever are to be paid in CH I guess? If you are re-registered in CH until 31.12 things my be different though.

… assuming the later and that you are not taxed at source:

No, there are no “sell-taxes” or capital gain taxes in CH. Wealth taxes on the other hand are to be paid (regardless if yo sell or not): Your wealth (> ~100k CHF) as of 31.12 is taxed by some 1/1000 - no matter in what form, e.g. cash, stocks, houses, cars, … and dividends (distributing and accumulating) are taxed as “income”!

No

No (IMO differences between cantons in wealth taxes for some 100k CHF are neglectable)

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@clon

thanks for the answer. I wish I have asked earlier - was carrying this with me since months.
I will re-register before 31.12. so → wealth tax. I forgot about it completely

I’m still concerned of being considered professional investor because of this:

Tax exemption of capital gains - are you a professional investor? - Taxolution Advisory LLC Taxolution Advisory LLC.

not sure if:

  • ETFs like TQQQ and TNA are ok here
  • investing with the IBKR margin is ok
  • do I need to keep them 6m+
  • I making way more income with those ETFs than from working - not sure if this is ok.

does anyone have experience with those ETFs?

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searching the forum for “professional investor” you’re going to find quite a few threads addressing this topic…

I would not consider leveraged ETFs as derivatives per se (?)

OK, that’s one valid criteria - out of 5

You were traveling for most of the year, so that’s not surprising?

IMO: If that’s the “whole story”, I would not consider you as a professional investor. But, why not ask the tax office in Schaffhausen to be sure? Buying leveraged ETFs on margin I’d rather consider as gambling :wink: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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@clon thanks!

I’m still young and taking the risk of gambling. Switched from x20 leverage to x3 to get calmer :slight_smile:

I will ask the tax authorities - I though that if SOME of the rules apply I’m already considered a professional investor. Therefore was keeping the ETFs for minimum 6 months (even knowing that there will be some downside to the market :slight_smile: )

It’s strange that a person in the Tax Office can decide on every case if it’s professional or not. It feels like a gray area.

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You can fight decisions of tax authorities in court.