Just to add, a loan doesn’t require there to be an interest payment. I used to have an interest free loan and that was never an issue with the tax authorities. What is important that both sides declare it properly. Although not mandatory afaik , I find it useful to have something written. It’s simple enough and doesn’t cost you anything and will clearly state things.
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Is the authorities come back asking for documentation that it is indeed a loan, is it really such a big deal? OP can just back-date a document signed between them and their mother
I would be careful going this route, because if you declare that money as a gift and then send it back - now you effectively made a gift to your mother and that is a taxable event in ZH (granted that 50k is under the threshold, but your mother would be still obliged to file ZH gift tax declaration, in theory)
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As far as I understand, these would be taxed only when/if you exercise them, because they are not “Freie börsenkotierte Mitarbeiteroptionen”, see Merkblatt des kantonalen Steueramtes über die Besteuerung von Mitarbeiterbeteiligungen | Kanton Zürich
And iirc if not done smartly (I think you can get a tax ruling before setting up the startup?, too late for that though if that wasn’t done), this means you’ll pay income tax on all the capital gains which is really what you would want to avoid for a startup.
Hi all, probably stupid question, but should referral bonuses for opening bank account be declared? For example 80 EUR for Revolut or 50CHF for Radicant or 10 CHF for Neon etc?
I will declare them in my fortune with the new bank account but I won’t bother declare them as revenu nor bonus for such amount.
Zurich online tax -
I’ve been struggling for some time to find where to put “Income from abroad” (the one that was taxed abroad; should only be used to determine the income tax rate, but not being applied to).
“Oldschool” forms seem to have a dedicated section for it (“Steuerbar im Ausland”, item 26.2);
but I found no section / switch to label the income as “from abroad”.
Should it go into “Übrige > Weitere” with some descriptions?
Any hints are very welcome.
Thanks!
What kind of income are you talking about? Swiss residents are normally taxed in Switzerland on global income with the main exception being income from foreign real estate.
There are probably further (maybe more niche) exceptions and the situation would be different if you had limited tax liability in Switzerland, however, just because something is taxed abroad doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not taxable in Switzerland. This situation is often avoided thanks to double taxation agreements, but there may also be situations where foreign income is taxed abroad even though it shouldn’t have been taxed abroad.
Can you (roughly) describe what this is about?
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My wife is self-employed.
She moved to (became resident in) CH few months before the end of the year, but her business there was closed only at the end of the year.
So for those few delta months - as I also got confirmed by the very kind ZH tax office over the phone - that part of income should be reported, but will not be taxed (as per DTA you mention; she was fully taxed in the original country).
It should only be used to determine our tax rate.
Ah, that makes sense.
Checking the demo, you can actually go to “Formulareditor starten” → “Abzüge” and then you can still enter a value in 26.2.
This is the deduction part, you still need to enter it as income beforehand.
Isn’t there a special form at the end for Steuer Ausscheidung?
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The software most cantons offers don’t cover special cases through the input assistant. So yes, you likely have to enter all income, end the assistant, select the form directly, and enter income taxable abroad manually, “oldschool” style. Also the included tax calculator might be slightly off because of it, but the Veranlagungsverfügung will ultimately be correct. Had to do so for years myself.
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Indeed something pops up at the end related to that (choosing auto or manual).
That seems to be new from this (for 2024) year? 
Thank you all for the guidance!
I’ll report back with what worked for me when I get around it.
It’s not new but it probably pops up only if there is anything that is not taxable in ZH.
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