How to account for conversion of options to shares in tax declaration

Worked in Zurich for a startup until 2020. Got some stock options as part of the comp after some vesting period. In 2025 converted these options to shares. Company is not public but had already a couple of successful rounds of funding since Ieaving.

Now do I just declare the stocks in my tax declaration in ZH? I ticked “Mitarbeitertitel” but the “Ablauf Sperrfrist” can only be in 2026 so I guess that’s not something I would have to tick? Also what is the Steuerwert of those? And would this conversion not be regarded as income? Where would I have to put that then?

Thanks for some leads.

Call them up and ask directly, they are very helpful in my personal experience with such questions:

Steueramt

Kontaktformular

Informationen zur Hindernisfreiheit

Kontakt

Natürliche Personen
Werdstrasse 75 (Verwaltungszentrum Werd)

8004 Zürich

Telefon

+41 44 412 33 11

Postadresse:
Postfach
8010 Zürich

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Did you pay anything to convert the options to shares? Was the exercise automatic, or did you initiate it?

Generally, with regard to taxes:
For income, your income generated is “share value” - “strike price” (what you paid to exercise the option).
For wealth, a different tax value is usually used when the stock is not public, usually much much lower than market value.

I would contact your previous company, they should have those 2 values. The tax office might have them as well, since they’re determined in concert with them, but I would say the likelihood the person on the phone has easy access to them is lower.

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