Hi there!
I am looking for information on properly optimizing the taxes to get all the deductions possible. I just know the basics (transport, food, and the 3rd pillar). Also, I can deduct from the medical insurance some stuff. So, what are some other ways to optimize taxes?
Some context:
* I earn around 150k/year
* Invest in VT mainly.
* Fulfill my 3rd pillar.
Should I create another 3rd pillar or a 2nd one to put money on it to pay less taxes?
Thank you in advance!
Please search the forum, there are already topics on tax deductions.
You can only pay a defined max. amount (currently CHF 7’056) each year. Doesn’t matter if you pay it into one or 10 different accounts. Everything above this amount will be reimbursed to you.
You only get tax advantages from multiple accounts once you withdraw the money for retirement, as you can then split the withdrawal over multiple years (max. 5) to break the progressive withdrawal tax rate. This is because you can only withdraw the full amount from an account for retirement, no partial withdrawals are allowed.
Two big ones are paying into your 2nd pillar and renovating real estate. You can also donate money to charity (make sure you do to Swiss organisations) or send money to a family member. Moving to a cheaper gemeinde/kanton can also save you taxes. But yes, as written earlier, there are many posts on the topic (one thread is called “list your deductions” I think).
didn’t know this can result in deductions, do you have a source for this? (does it save on income taxes or just the wealth?)
It does not save as much as other things because it mainly affects the federal taxes. You need to donate at least 6500 CHF per year and provide proof of payment and a declaration from the receiver IIRC. Should have been mentioned in the forum several times, try googling for “Unterstützungsabzug”.
Not much fun reading through 160 posts that discuss topics that are double or arent relevant …
At least in Kanton ZH: deduct 0.3 percent of all of your stocks and ETFs in your taxable Portfolio as wealth management costs (Vermögensverwaltungskosten, Pauschal).
Also you might have to prove they need the money, ie. it’s not just a gift.
YMMV, but nobody asked me anything when I did it a couple years ago. I will tray again in 2024, so I’ll know in 2026 if it worked.
Would be great to feed threads to a LLM and let it extract a summary of relevant info.
Someone willing to donate some cash to run Llama on AWS? (donation is not deductible)
Just wealth afaik.
So nothing significant for most.
It saves on income taxes too, just mainly at the federal level.
Are you sure about this minimum (CHF 6500)?
Our tax advisor (if matters - canton Geneva) told us last year about this tax advantage - IIRC he told us that there’s no minimum amount. On the other side he mentioned a max amount (I think 15k).
Pretty sure about the minimum number, I’ll double check when I do the tax return next time (November). Could very likely vary between cantons.
Federal tax it’s 6600 in 2023.
State tax does vary by Kanton.
I understand the deduction is a fixed amount.
But you need to provide support for at least that amount.
You need the payment confirmation and a paper signed by the receiver acknowledging the donation.
Of course, I assumed that’s clear.
What I wanted to say is that you need to pay at least 6600 to deduct 6600.
Transferred 5000? No deduction
Transferred 10000? Deduction of 6600.
I wouldn’t consider this the main tool for tax optimization, though 
Do you know by chance if the received needs to live in Switzerland? We support my family back in Bolivia every year with an amount that exceed 6600.- and we have never thought about being eligible for tax reduction.
They don’t have to.
Remittances to support parents abroad qualify just as well.
Why not just add it with proper documentation?