I started working in CH in Jan. As part of the benefits, the employer informed that I can get a contribution to the use of a privat car for work, and that it did not matter if i have a car or not, and that there is no need for a logbook as the expected miles for this category is low. When i asked how this will look like, they said this will be categorized as expenses reimbursement of a car in the annual statement. I dont feel comfortable earning that when I dont have / plan to have a car and even worry of a tax problem
This sounds strange to me. After all, contributions from your employer for the use of a private car increase your salary and therefore your taxes. I you don’t have your own car, you pay higher taxes for nothing.
A former employer payed a “car allowance” of a monthly fixed amount, regardless of owning- or using a car for work. The amount was stated on the yearly wage statement and taxed ordinary.
The practice was approved by the cantonal tax authority and IMO was not that “exotic”.
Ok cause it’s possible, at least in certain places, to get a tax free allowance for expenses (not specifically car) if negotiated with tax authority. This has to be justified by specific job roles though.
Then you can’t make any deduction of course,
but revenue is tax free. For car it might be transportation that you can’t deduct then.
Somehow, my half-fare is reimbursed by work, but is not categorised as income even if I only use it for commuting (and there’s no expectations about work trips).
Not sure how that works, but in the Salary Certificate there’s something like “expense plan validated by the canton”.
Same here. I assume the amount is too low, so there is no need to mention it as income. If you get a AG/GA reimbursed, that’s mentioned in the salary certificate. That’s probably in the same range as these reimbursements for the use of a car.
I’ve seen this:
Some employers offer car reimbursement under item 13.2 (“Pauschalpesen”, lump sum expenses) in the pay stub. This is not treated as part of your salary and thus not subject to deductions of taxes, unemployment insurance or 2nd pillar.
Whether or not you actually use all of this money exactly each month for mobility, is not an issue. Employers seems to offer this sometimes as perk because you get more money than actually spent on the car = additional salary, just not taxable. And it certainly looks nice on paper (take this, tax office!).
But it may be restricted to certain roles (e. g. outbound Sales functions, upper management), and obviously, you cannot deduct additional expenses in the tax declaration or claim reimbursement from your employer (hence “lump sum”).
You might also consider the implications on unemployment benefits (lower insured salary) and lower 2nd pillar contributions.
In Switzerland, companies can apply to use a “Spesenreglement/Règlement sur les frais” for all employees. This eliminates the administrative work involved with calculating company-paid expenses for each employee individually.
If your employer’s “Spesenreglement” specifies a specific amount for the use of a private car for commuting, that amount will be paid out to all employees, regardless of whether or not they have a car. The same applies to all other expenses covered by the Spesenreglement.
The SSK/CSI recommendations for Spesenreglements specifies a maximum compensation of CHF 0.70 per kilometer towards the cost of using a private car for work.
The requirement is that the location or work hours justify the use of a private car, in that it offers substantial time savings over using public transportation. The same rule applies to taxis. If there are no substantial time savings, the employer can still pay out compensation, but only up to a maximum of the cost of public transportation.
In short, your employer likely has a Spesenreglement that specifies a certain amount of compensation for the use of private cars. Because of that, you receive that compensation whether or not you have a car.
You mean a fixed amount? Otherwise, I don’t understand how you can calculate the amount. If you don’t use the car, there are no kilometers. And if you use public transport and get reimbursed for public transport, I can’t imagine that you also get compensated the same distance for a non-existing car.
Exactly. The Spesenreglement specifies flat, fixed amounts that apply to all employees. The purpose is to simplify administration.
For example, if two-thirds of a company’s employees use private cars for work, and the company has to track the exact work-related use for each of these employees, that would be a lot of administration.
So the company has the option of applying to use a fixed Spesenreglement instead. In this case, the company more or less averages the total of private car use and divides it between all employees to determine the amount each employee receives as Spesen.
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