I don’t read it as the same:
Kann der Steuerpflichtige nachweisen, dass ihm Kosten für die Vermögensverwaltung durch Dritte entstanden sind (…), die über die allgemeine Verwaltungstätigkeit hinausgehen, steht dem Steuerpflichtigen gemäss einer festen Einschätzungspraxis eine Pauschale von 3 ‰ des Wertschriftenbestandes als abzugsfähige Vermögensverwaltungskosten zu
I read these two clauses as belonging together:
oder dass die Tätigkeiten des Dritten aber auch betraglich unausgeschiedene Handlungen umfassen, die über die allgemeine Verwaltungstätigkeit hinausgehen
I.e., I don’t consider “die über die allgemeine Verwaltungstätigkeit hinausgehen” to apply to the first case “dass ihm Kosten für die Vermögensverwaltung durch Dritte entstanden sind”. However, the sentence is not very clear, so I’m not sure.
Jumping on this thread: for those who are employees (not independents), did anyone attempt for this year (or last) to deduct part of the rent, since remote work was mandatory for part of the year?
According to Vaud’s Tax Guide, under “Autres frais professionnels”, you have the possibility to deduct as follows:
Les frais se rapportant à l’utilisation principale et régulière d’une chambre de travail privée
sont acceptés de manière restrictive. Cette déduction est soumise à certaines conditions :
le travail à domicile doit être une nécessité, voire une obligation. L’usage ne doit pas
relever de la convenance personnelle. Elle implique que l’employé ne dispose pas, à
son lieu de travail, d’une pièce de travail appropriée. En outre, la pièce doit être utilisée
régulièrement et essentiellement à des fins professionnelles. La déduction de la chambre
de travail à domicile comprend une partie du loyer et des charges, affectée à l’usage du
bureau, à l’exclusion de l’entier du loyer de l’appartement.
I am wondering how I should approach this deduction and how much additional proof I would need to provide.
You could ask your employer how much days did you spent teleworking and asked him to report it in your Salary certification for example or in a side document. With it, you can try to sent your electricity bills in order to prove to the AFC your drastically electricity consumption between months where you work at home compare to others days where you worked at your company. It will maybe help them to take a percentage of your activity at home to be deducted.
This is just an idea.
In any case, I think the guidelines are highly canton dependent. In Zurich iirc it means removing a lot of other standard deduction, so in practice it’s not very favorable (assuming you can also demonstrate you have an extra room, etc.)
In Vaud ? almost no chance of deduction. https://www.vd.ch/toutes-les-actualites/decisions-du-conseil-detat/seance-du-conseil-detat/decision/decision/1d33f31b-18b7-4582-8734-770f6306fa2e/#:~:text=En%20réponse%20à%20une%20interpellation,jours%20concernés%20durant%20l’année.
It’s a other story, if the wfh was regular before the covid and your employer does not provide you with a working place at the office. Wfh for “conveniance” purposes is not accepted.
You must have a dedicated room at home. Working from the living room, your kitchen, a small desk in your bedroom is not accepted.
Yes you can…
For those interested, I called the taxation office, who told me that indeed, that would not be taken into account, whatever the circumstances leading to home office.
At best, this is included in the “3% forfaitaire” of the “frais professionels”, even though the amount does not cover the actual costs at all. I’ve also been told that if I tried to put higher effective expenses, the person checking the declaration would most likely scale it back to the 3%.
This was the case last year in canton Zürich, but I couldn’t find anymore this information for 2021. Do you know if this is still valid for the 2021 taxes?
In Fribourg, at least, this is still the case. I filled my tax declaration with 220 days in the office even though I have not been there at all.
Also for livestreaming school?
It seems to be a canton-by-canton approach. Vaud went for a more restrictive approach:
L’autorité fiscale vaudoise rappellera expressément, dans les Instructions générales 2020, que les déductions calculées pour une année (240 jours ouvrables) doivent être réduites si l’activité lucrative dépendante a été exercée seulement durant une partie de l’année, si elle est exercée à la maison (télétravail) ou dans le cadre du régime de réduction de l’horaire de travail (RHT). Il s’agit en particulier des déductions liées aux frais de transport (code 140) et aux frais de repas (code 150). En revanche, en cas de chômage temporaire, RHT ou télétravail, la déduction pour autres frais professionnels (code 160) n’est pas réduite.
Source: https://sieldocs.vd.ch/ecm/app18/service/siel/getContent?ID=2014601
Do you know if you can deduct the accrued interest paid when buying bonds from taxable income?
Yeah, it’s that time of the year again!
US citizens, don’t forget to declare your stimulus cheques:
Beinahe alle US-amerikanischen Bürger erhalten – unabhängig von ihrem Wohnort – in Zusammenhang mit der Covid 19-Pandemie vom amerikanischen Staat USD 1’200. Kinder und Jugendliche, die von ihren Eltern finanziell abhängig sind, erhalten USD 500. Bei diesen Zahlungen handelt es sich um ein aufgrund Ansässigkeit in der Schweiz (…) steuerpflichtiges Einkommen. (…) Die Steuerbehörden können eine Überprüfung aufgrund der Staatsangehörigkeit vornehmen.
They are not deductible (neither taxable at sale). They are included in your total purchase/sale. Gain/loss are not taxable for a individual private investor in Switzerland.
Thanks for the clear answer.
Since coupon payments are taxed as income I thought it could make sense. But if they are not taxed at sale time I guess that even things out. Unless you hold the bond until maturity in which case it’s lost forever.
Well, yes, if you want to put it this way. You pay it to the previous owner of the bond, which is entitled to a part of interest accrued between coupon payments. That’s how bonds work and it is a fair system.
I understand that’s how bonds work but I find it curious that depending on who is paying the interest to you (seller or company) it’s taxed differently. Hence the old trick of selling right before the coupon payment and buying back right after.
If done systematically, this is considered tax evasion, if I remember correctly.
In my opinion, the bigger issue is buying bonds or bond funds with a relatively high coupon but a low yield-to-maturity. You still have to pay income taxes on the full coupon yield, making bonds even less attractive than they are anyway right now.
