They already replied and you got a response from Deloitte. Do you really want to keep asking until you get a different answer? We already had another forum member who got into a whole lot of admin problems by inviting too much discussion with the authorities.
@robber so far has no written response, so since the phone answer seems to contradict what the official documentation from the canton says - it seems a totally reasonable thing to do to try to get more confirmation. And they said that if Deloitte will confirm no tax is due (no response yet) - they won’t contact the tax office again
Makes sense - I obviously hope for you that there is indeed nothing to be done. For what it’s worth, if it helps you sleep better while you are figuring this out - Swiss tax authorities are famously very pragmatic when it comes to tax errors (if there is even any here), and when where is no ill-intent involved things are usually resolved in a friendly manner, so I would not worry too much. Worse case you’ll have to pay some money here
If the recipient is not living in Switzerland, I think there is not going to be any tax on gifts for the donor.
I think it doesn’t really make much sense to tax donor because for Swiss taxman perspectives all of the following should be equivalent
- Gifting money to friends and relatives abroad
- Burning it like Joker from Batman
- Spending it on luxury travel
For the recipient abroad, they need to follow their own rules locally & declare the gift in their own tax return.
If the recipient is located in CH, then it kind of becomes an income for the other person. This is why there is a tax component. Or else rather than paying taxes on earnings, people can start offering black market services & get “gift” to compensate
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@PhilMongoose as @rez said, I have asked Deloitte after the call with Basel TaxAdmin, so I don’t have yet a response from them. As for now, that call is the only proof that such tax shouldn’t be paid - and I want to believe it’s reliable, but in such situation I simply prefer to double-check.
We already had another forum member who got into a whole lot of admin problems by inviting too much discussion with the authorities.
Can you link the thread? Now I’m curious 
@rez thanks for these words, it definitely helps if you don’t have to stress about fines, interest, refusal to renew permit… 
I also believe it would be quite tough to execute - I can imagine most of such foreign gift recipients wouldn’t even think about a need to pay taxes in a specific canton in Switzerland, so they would need to chase people around the world.
But well, there’s also this quote:
It should also be noted that in most cantons the donor is liable for the gift tax if the donee does not pay it.
so they could just reach a gift giver and say “it’s your problem, they don’t pay, you pay” 
For gifts the tax event is triggered when recipient is located in Switzerland. The tax is paid by the receiver.
If the receiver is not in CH. There is no tax to be paid. I don’t know why you are worried about this.
You should be concerned if you get a gift from a friend because then you need to pay the tax. But in your case you are the donor and you don’t need to worry.
Who has to pay gift tax?
Gift tax must be paid by the person who receives a gift.
Normally, spouses and registered partners and their descendants (children and grandchildren) do not have to pay tax on gifts to each other. Gifts to stepchildren and foster children are also exempt from the tax, but only in those cantons where they have the same status as biological children.
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This is not how it works. They will not reach to the donor because there is no tax to be collected in first place if recipient is not CH resident
See here: Obligation to keep Swiss health insurance when leaving Switzerland
A different context but a warning of what can happen if you accidentally volunteer yourself into a bureaucratic spiderweb.
For gifts the tax event is triggered when recipient is located in Switzerland. The tax is paid by the receiver.
This is not correct, the tax event is triggered when the donor is resident in Switzerland as has been mentioned multiple times in this thread. Every canton has the right (some do not) tax only two types of gifts:
- The gift is a movable asset donated by a resident of that canton
- The gift is an immovable asset (real estate) located in that canton
An example for Zurich canton: Erbschafts- und Schenkungssteuer | Kanton Zürich
Eine Schenkungssteuerpflicht im Kanton Zürich besteht, wenn […] die Schenkerin oder der Schenker im Zeitpunkt der Zuwendung seinen Wohnsitz im Kanton Zürich hat;
Well . All the rules you are reading are true but they are only applicable if recipient lives in CH.
This is why tax office mentioned to not worry.
But anyways , I will find it very strange if a donor needs to pay tax even if the resident lives in another country . It makes no sense to me
Let’s see what the verdict is
But the donor doesn’t need to pay taxes even if the receiver lives in Switzerland… If the receiver lives in Switzerland they need to pay taxes based on the Kanton of the donor, but anyway it’s the receiver and not the donor who pays the gift tax, no?
Can you elaborate what do you mean? Do you mean that the law literally - juridically - does not apply to non-Swiss residents? Surely this is not the case for all laws (otherwise tourists would be legally allowed to steal, kill, etc.) - so how do you determine which Swiss laws apply to non-Swiss residents and which do not to determine that this specific does not?
If you mean that the law apply but is - in practice - not enforceable on a non-Swiss resident: that sounds also a phallacy. First of all international collaborations between government exist, so Swiss authorities might still get you. On top of that, as @robber already mentioned above, the authorities can simply demand the tax from the donor if the recepient does not pay (source")
If the friend is not a Swiss resident - then no. When any person (Swiss resident or not) receives a movable gift (e.g. cash) from a non Swiss resident - there can not be any Swiss tax liability by definition, the law is quite clear on this.
To be honest I don’t share this view - earlier you were framing the gift tax as necessarily something logically related to the income tax, so only the recipient matters. But why? A gift tax is just a tax: it is overall reasonable for a country to levy taxes on assets owned by their resident, so I would not find absurd any gift tax both donated or received by a resident of that country. Switzerland specifically decided that they will forgo any tax claim on incoming gifts to Swiss residents, but will claim tax on the outgoing ones
I think in this thread there is too much focus about this detail that the recipient is the one to pay the tax: it is just a bureaucracy technicality that does not matter much IMO. The overall concept is the same: the gift can be decreases by a certain % as tax. So if you want the recipient to get 100k CHF and the tax rate is 10%, if the recipient pays taxes: you donate 111k, they pay the tax and get 100k. If the donor pays the tax: you transfer 100k to the recipient and pay 11k in taxes yourself, same thing.
The fact that “the donor pays the tax” is just a default choice that Swiss cantons made. And as mentioned above, the Swiss authorities can still demand taxes from the donor if the recipient did not pay.
So IMO all this discussion about who pays is moot, clearly in 99.9% of cases it does not matter, the tax comes from the gift itself, the rest is just who transfers the money to the tax office. It would only matter if the recipient has the intention to avoid taxes, escape from Swiss authorities and screw the donor with their actions
If the receiver is not in CH. There is no tax to be paid. I don’t know why you are worried about this.
Because general information about gift tax liability suggests that potentially it could be the thing, and except the call - there’s no writing confirmation (like a concrete paragraph) mentioned in that thread to clear up any doubts once and for all.
This is not how it works. They will not reach to the donor because there is no tax to be collected in first place if recipient is not CH resident
I was just referring to the quote saying that donor is liable for the gift tax if the donee doesn’t pay it. If we agree recipients outside CH don’t pay - of course, it doesn’t matter, period. But my point was - in the opposite scenario that would mean I’m also responsible to ensure my father paid the tax, I couldn’t just say “it’s his problem, not mine”.
so how do you determine which Swiss laws apply to non-Swiss residents and which do not to determine that this specific does not?
Exactly my concern pointed above.
See here: Obligation to keep Swiss health insurance when leaving Switzerland
Thanks, interesting (and quite ridiculous) case, but even more interesting are all these scenarios related to the 2nd pillar after relocation - another Pandora’s box opened, plenty of threads to read tonight
Well, I am not making it up. The tax office themselves told OP not to worry.
Actually, I just thought about another reason why the law explicitly mentions who between the donor / receiver is liable for tax: it matters for the tax amount.
So say you are the donor and you want your friend to receive a 100k net gift (i.e. post-tax). As I mentioned above, I think the authorities do not really care about who actually makes the transfer, you’ll just figure it between you and your friend, but what is the amount of tax to pay if you want your friend to get 100k clean and let’s say that the tax rate is always 10%?
- If officially you are liable for tax: the gift is declared at 100k, tax bill is 10k, you pay tax, your friend gets 100k
- If officially your friend is liable for tax: the gift is declared at at 111k, tax bill is 11.1k, you pay your friend 111k, he pays taxes, gets 100k clean
So I think this is just a technically to avoid ambiguity about how much taxes are due (and coincidence: the tax office chose the case where the tax bill is higher 
)
In my view, you are not responsible for your father paying tax. Your father need to pay tax but it is his responsibility. I feel that you are over thinking about all this. But please let us know your conclusion when you have final info.
@rez tbh I believe it’s simpler than that - a gift is just a special type of income, and taxes on income are paid by income receivers, so it simply follows that model. Imho the part which is more non-intuitive is the fact we don’t care about receiver’s residence, but donor’s residence - and it also complicates a process quite a lot, as we, in case of being receivers, can’t report a gift in our tax return and call it a day, but have to know where donor lives and reach out to his canton. If it was the opposite - we wouldn’t have that whole discussion as well.
Btw, another mental exercise - what if my father was Swiss living abroad? Would he need to pay a gift tax or not?
I don’t think considering gifts are income for the purpose of taxation is a good comparison, because from the Swiss perspective it does not work that way, if nothing else because, if you as Swiss resident receive a gift of 10B CHF from a random guy resident abroad - there are no Swiss taxes due. Should they care as you get income in this case? Anyhow, I don’t know the logic of why the donor-based residence criteria was decided and I agree that it is at least non intuitive (although a legitimate) choice
Re dealing with other countries when receiving a gift: yeah it’s a pain… but there are also countries that have more complicated rules. In principle, for a gift I would make sure to check at the minimum the gift tax regulations of the following countries (many are often the same): residence and citizenship of the donor and of the receiver, country of where the assets were located before and after the donation