Tax declaration: moved canton - high tax bill

Taxes
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Hi all,

First time poster but long time reader! I was hoping for some guidance as I’m reaching a dead-end on this.

I’m a Permit B holder, taxed at source. I complete tax declarations as salary is over CHF120k threshold and I have assets/property in UK.

Having lived in Lausanne for 3 years, I moved to Zurich in June last year for a new role. My accountant is currently completing my 2025 tax declaration for Canton Zurich. Due to a significant salary jump (from ~130k to ~210k) he’s told me that I will now face paying an additional CHF21k in tax.

The amount is a shock; however, I understand it’s because of the salary jump / tax rate differences between the cantons. The problem is my accountant isn’t telling me if the tax I have already “paid” from January to May in Canton Vaud will be automatically transferred to Canton Zurich to reduce that amount payable or do I need to request it myself from Canton Vaud? I assume this will bring down the 20k additional tax payable.

Online I’ve read both views: you have to ask and wait or, if you’re a Permit B holder, the cantons sit it out between themselves. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

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The tax at source rate on 170k in VD is ~equal the tax rate on 210k in ZH (I checked on comparis).

Where does the quoted 20k come from? Given there’s not much impact (for this move) of the progression, the only impact should be the difference between at source rate (avg of all Gemeinde) and your Gemeinde rate (Stadt Zürich is higher than average).

(But 20k for that feels too high, the difference is 4-5% extra in tax iirc)

The money should transfer between cantons, details will be in the bill (expect it to take 2-3years tho). If it doesn’t transfer give a call/contact them.

The money owed has a 1% interest rate. If you want to avoid that you can request a payslip to settle the difference.

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My understanding is that the 21k are relative to the final taxation, since a tax declaration is filled (and the announce by the accountant came after filling the 2025 declaration for Zürich).

With a +80kCHF gross salary increase (roughly +72k net?), that would amount to a roughly 30% marginal tax rate. Doesn’t seem that off to me (but I don’t have experience with higher salaries).

This should be asked to the accountant. My understanding is that the additional 21k are relative to the final, total amount due and not to the residual amount after tax at source. I may very well be wrong on that. The accountant would know.

Edit: re-reading this, I think I have high chances to be wrong. I’m assuming the accountant communicates the difference in total taxes due from 2024 to 2025. The number communicated could very well be the amount of the bill that should be issued on top of the tax at source.

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Zurich shall ask for the money paid to Vaud. I would recommend you to get in touch with ZH for the details. It may speed up the process

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We moved from Zurich to Zug. It took 2+ years for the taxes paid in Zurich to be transferred to Zug. Canton Zug didn’t finalize our taxes before the money was sent by the authorities in Zurich. At least in Zug the tax authorities are very responsive and you should just ask yours if they already received the at source taxes from Vaud. The Zug tax authority also took care of reminding and requesting the paid taxes from the Zurich authorities in our case.

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Thank you all. The advice is really appreciated! I’ll reach out to Zurich tax authorities and my accountant based on your responses.