My current B permit is still valid till August, I live in canton A and work in canton B, I will move to canton B or canton C by latest May, as soon as I find a good apartment there.
It seems to me that for C permit, tax is not deducted at source. Is it purely positive or there is also a downside? are there other positive/negative implications if I inform my employer now?
Thanks for your analysis
I think you should inform them right away. You stop being taxed at source in the month when your new permit goes into force. At least that’s how it was in my case. Also, I don’t think you can have two permits valid at the same time, so that B permit is probably invalid, although that’s just a guess.
Tax at source is an average for the whole canton, so you will pay more or less, depending on the Steuerfuss of your Gemeinde and what you’re able to deduct on the tax declaration.
And if you were a high earner and doing a tax declaration it wouldn’t matter at all anyway.
Just be aware that city and cantonal taxes for 2021 are typically due in the fall, not at the end of year (iirc Sep 30th for ZH?).
I think it’s march 31, but you can extend it. I never did, procrastination is deadly!
Where do you live?
Here in Vaud I got a letter from the tax office, they were already informed by the population office. I had to inform my employer though.
Did you have to pass any language tests to get C permit in Vaud?
Language requirements and amount of time depend on passport. There’s a set of countries where due to reciprocity the move from B to C is automatic after 5 years (only have to ask for it), there’s another set of countries (which includes USA and I suppose most of EU?) where the regular move to C can be done after 5 instead of 10 without going through the “early integration path”.
No, but they initially told me that I should. Not sure what happened there.
If your passport is from those countries, the upgrade to C is more or less by right after 5 years (only need to fill out the form): “Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Netherland, Portugal, Spain, Austria, and Liechtenstein”.
@Bojack
Thanks, I received the C permit mid December, if I understand correctly, it’s in my best interest to tell them now and there is no advantage to delay informing them or not informing them at all?
@Ed_Waadt: I live in Geneva and will move to one of the German speaking cantons (not decided yet)
don’t think I am a high earner, depending on how much income to be classified as high earner
I don’t think you will gain anything. In the end, with a C permit you are obligated to file a regular tax declaration for the entire year. So whatever has been already deducted via withholding tax, will also be deducted from what you’re supposed to pay. And the other way round: if you stop paying withholding tax now, then this payment will just be postponed and you final amount will be higher.
@Bojack thanks a lot, sorry, by “withholding tax”, you mean income tax deucted at sourcre?
Also I guess between me and my employer, the only aspect that C permit changes is the tax?
Ah yes, I mean tax at source that the employer pays. Thus it is a withholding tax (payed by the payer of the income, not the payee). Your employer should know that he should stop making tax deductions from your salary. So you will start receiving bank transfers in a higher amount, but a year later you will need to send a hefty transfer to the tax office, for the whole year.