How long is too long for a tax return response (ZH)?

Taxes
1

Hey all,

The first tax return answer that I did was for the year of 2021. I submitted that to canton/city Zürich and so far I haven’t received any reply. Since I am taxed at source with a B permit, I filled pillar 3a + other deductions and details I expect to be getting a not insignificant amount per tax return. For 2022 and 2023 I have also submitted my tax returns for canton Zürich (but no longer city) and also no reply.

My gf is roughly in the same situation but she submitted 2021 in Vaud and she did get a reply and a refund quite a while ago.

So my question is roughly along the lines of, is this normal? Are other people in the same situation? If not normal who/where/how do I reach out to to maybe speed this along?

I’ll have to say that it is somewhat unacceptable that it can take this long to resolve this matter as we aren’t talking about 100 CHF difference. While I can do just fine without that money and I think I’ll also get some interest on it, it is rather annoying to think how much it would cost in the end as it would be money that I would immediately invest.

Hopefully I’ll get my C permit soon and then it will be less problematic.

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Have you tried to call the tax office to have some update?

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For me it’s normally 4-5 months if I submit it by end of March
Kanton ZH. City

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Tax at source is definitely a few years in ZH. Not at source takes a few months for me.

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My personal experience: ZH, at source, 3 years average.

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Yeah, you can try to call or email them … seems to have worked for some to have their file treated.

Not going to lie, the swiss tax administration has been a disappointment for me so far.

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I did call them at some point (can’t even remember when). I was told to just wait.

I guess I’m not alone then… But 3 years is way too long IMO (in terms of a fair waiting time)

Which exact number/email is it? Whenever I search for it there’s always quite a few of them and I get lost.

Swiss administration is usually quite on point and fast which makes the tax administration rather suprising.

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I’m not in Zürich but they should have contact forms.

To be fair, I’d personally just not bother and wait for it. (And hope they didn’t mess it up when I got it.) How high is the refund you’re waiting for?

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A few k CHF per year. I’m not really sure, I would have to check and it varies between the years. It’s partly out of the principle of having it done and also making sure that it’s all ok since 2021 was the first time I did a tax return and so essentially I never got any of them back. Hopefully I didn’t do anything wrong that I could have corrected for 2022 and 2023…

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Click on Quellensteuer and there’s a phone number and a contact formular.

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Yeah, I get it. You could treat the tax refunds as very secure bonds in your net worth - do you know how much interest they pay? (I used to do late tax returns for the high interest rate back in my home country.)

I wouldn’t worry about having been able to correct stuff because how could you have known if they take years to treat it :wink:

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1% in Zürich now

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I used to treat them as “loss” and then it’s a good news when they arrive :slight_smile:

On the opposite side, once moved to C permit and removed the at source part, we have a low interest lease instead :wink:

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So it’s so bad in ZH for tax at source. Good to know, I’m also waiting for my tax return from 2021 when I moved to ZH. The bad thing is that once you have some year open, subsequent years are put on hold, that is I can’t have 2022 nor 2023 closed until 2021 gets solved.

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I did my first tax return for the year of 2020 and only recently got the decision back. (Canton ZH)

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thanks for the update.

I guess I will need to wait 1 year more.

At this pace I will be getting tax returns during my retirement. will probably make FIRE a bit easier :smiley:

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Glad to know that I’m not alone :see_no_evil:

I arrived in Zurich in mid-2020 and received a response about the 2020 tax year in May 2023.

For 2021 however, I am still waiting as well… :smoking:

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lightning fast compared to my August 2024 :joy:

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The LIFD (art 120) sets a 5 years deadline to tax

https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1991/1184_1184_1184/fr#art_120

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