FYI, my donation to a relative made in 2020 was accepted without asking proof of their wealth (ZH). I only provided a signed paper stating that they received the money from me and the payment confirmation from the bank.
My small tip: Optimise wealth tax by paying all bills due in January in advance by Dec 31st (rent, credit card, insurance, taxesâŠ)
It could save 0.5% of the invoice amount depending on your marginal rate. Tiny relative to an annual tax bill but if you bother with cashback credit cards you should do it
1 Like
you can also make a big purchase (only if you would anyway do it soon!) using your CC and claim the balance as debt
3 Likes
Theoretically you can declare any outstanding bill as a debt, but I agree that it is easier to just pay it before the end of the year.
You can also pay tax estimate for the next year completely still in the current year, get lower wealth tax and even earn some interest. If you get a bill. It is said that you can declare tax estimate as a debt and deduct it from your wealth, but I find this way is easier even if it is not very mustachian.
2 Likes
Well, you can move to SZ (or ZG), virtually or really doesnât matter (no-one will check this for the new year), mid of December and then move back home mid of January. Then you will pay the taxes for the whole year in this canton and not home.
Of course doesnât work if you have a family and a big house: the tax authority wonât believe that you alone have moved for two weeks in a mini-room and come back home in your villa to your family 
But alone or just a couple, if you have someone who rents you one room in his home for Silvester, it works.
Have friends doing this job regularly with their home in Kanton SZ.
Wouldnât be this considered a tax fraud?
4 Likes
Itâs a Tax Fraud if the 31 December you are, letâs say, in your home in Jura but you are registered in ZG/SZ, yes.
But if you are anyway or on holiday abroad, or really in ZG/SZ because the craftsman are doing your kitchen new or you just resigned the old home in Bern the 30th November to find a new one starting the 1st of January, itâs not tax fraud, but all legal. Itâs called âtax optimizationâ, which in case can reduce you tax to 1/3 or even even more. Of course doesnât work for a family with a villa in Jura
1 Like
You cannot just simply rent something and claim you live there.
Cantonal residence change takes quite some time and itâs a bureaucratic process, so I am surprised to hear your friendsâ cantons havenât stepped on their tails yet (for âdoing-it-regularlyâ).
And yes, it is tax fraud, they just havenât been caught yet (surprisingly).
11 Likes
you are correct. Donât listen to David73. There is no way his friends do what they claim (the old tax bragging). They can try, but the cantonal tax authorities will never accept it.
All Switzerland will spend Christmas and New Yearâs Eve in Zug
1 Like
Can someone might help me here:
We own a holiday appartment, that we rent. We have an agency that manages the bookings.
The eranings must be declared in âmietzins einnahmenâ thats the easy part.
However for the deductions i can just tick: Pauschal or list all the things, how do i know what i can list as expense?
Anyone here that has some tips for filling a holiday appartment?
2 Likes
refer to your cantonal tax authorities website. A section and/or a publication shall be available on this topic.
But if you are unsure, try and see if the accept it. Worst case they donât
1 Like
We are in the same situation for the first time (owning a holiday apartment). And thatâs exactly why Iâll pay a tax consultant for the first time in my life. I want to understand exactly how this works. Itâs not that simple, because, for example, youâll have to pro-rate the âEigenmietwertâ if you are not renting out 100%.
I remain interested if you find out more about this.
2 Likes
I would pay the eigenmietwert only for the months (even weeks) when itâs not rented out.
If you already lived and declared taxes in Zug for years and employment is within commuting distance likely no one will ask. If your job is in Geneva and you paid taxes as GE resident last year, be prepared to provide an explanation why your centre of life has moved to Zug with evidence (rental contract, supermarket bills etc.)
My experience as below:
Rent
If you have a vacation home for your own use, you would have to pay tax on hypothetical rental value (canton can tell you how much it is)
If you rent it for part of the time e.g. 13 weeks I believe you may have to declare the actual rent collected during the 13 weeks plus prorata of the annual hypothetical rent i.e. 3/4 of annual hypothetical rent
Deductions
For our holiday apt in Valais I itemised the deductions. They did not allow any of them and applied the standard forfait amount which was less. I contacted them and I needed to provide the receipts after which they were accepted
If a vacation home is for your own use you cannot deduct electric, heating etc.
If you rent it out you should be able to deduct costs related to the rental. So if you rented 13 weeks I would assume they should allow deductions for 1/4 of heating, electric etc.
Filing tax declaration
VS agreed that I send them a copy of my Geneva tax return so I donât have to file 2 returns (I am resident in Geneva).
As someone said above call and ask the local tax authorities
2 Likes
Now that I think of it, I forgot to declare eigenmietwert for the house I started renting out in summer of 2020 and only reported the real actual rent, together with all renovation bills. No complains about the missing eigenmietwert.
1 Like
Exactly, thatâs also my understanding.
For those impacted, you can also deduct in the same way your military tax (Wehrpflichtersatzabgabe / Taxe dâexemption de lâobligation de servir).
It is of course only deductible from your wealth, so the impact is small.
1 Like
Is it worth for someone with B permit (getting tax at source) deducting the GA, meals or commuting in general?
This most likely depends on your canton and municipality. Generally, the lower your municipalityâs tax rate, the more likely it is to be worth it. Use a tax calculator where you can specify deductions such as FTA tax calculator (although, it seems to be broken right now) and compare with your tax-at-source deductions.
You should also consider pillar 3a in this calculation.
1 Like