Living in one Canton (GE) and having real estate in another (ZH)

Taxes
1

Hi,

I live in Geneva and own an apartment in Zürich, which I rent.
How does tax declaration work? Do I need to fill both tax declarations, and if so, do I need to fill both the same way?

2

I would take a tax advisor for this type of complicated question

3

I believe you will just need to complete the Geneva tax return and send a copy to Zurich tax authorities. This is how it worked for me with property in other cantons but check with the Zürich tax authorities if in doubt

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4

Not complicated, no advisor needed. You fill one complete tax return in Geneva. This tax return includes the flat you own in Zurich as an asset, and the rent thereof as income (so of course no imputed rental value / Eigenmietwert).

Geneva will assess your taxes and automatically do the intercantonal allocation, i.e. they inform Zurich and Zurich will separately bill you for their part (the net income of rent minus expenses/mortgage interests and the tiny bit of wealth tax).

8 Likes
5

Agree except that Geneva has never informed the other canton in my case. I had to send copies

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6

Thanks Barto,

I had the exact same issue; after 2 years I realised GE had not transmitted my tax forms to ZH despite my apartment being listed.
Thanks for sharing.

7

Thank you all for your valuable inputs

8

Fill in GE like normal, and send to GE.
When ZH sends u declaration to do, simply attach copy of your GE tax declaration & send back (to ZH).

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9

A related question (or rather a clarification). Based on what I read above or on internet, I am assuming following

If the owner of real estate (rented out) is resident of another canton, then following should be applicable

  • rental income (with whatever deductions) will be taxed by the canton where real estate is located as per their rules
  • Wealth tax (and Property tax when applicable)on real estate will taxed by canton where real estate is located
  • I saw in ZH pvt tax , they do some automatic separation of taxes, so most likely only one submission is needed if owner is resident in ZH.

Is this correct?

10

That is correct.

Most of the time, you send a copy of your tax return’s canton of residency to the one where the real estate is situated. They’ll have all the information to tax the real estate and you avoid filing two tax returns.

1 Like
11

Thanks.
One follow up question

Let’s say I buy a property in Switzerland for the purpose of “buy to let”. But for some reason, the property is vacant because the tenant couldn’t be found.

I know there is imputed rental income for owner occupied properties. Bur what about properties which are vacant ?

12

They shall not take into account the imputed value. However, you’ll have to prove that you are looking for tenants (adverts on website, visits organisations, third party contract etc).

If not convincing enough, they might add the imputed rental income.

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