Zurich Cantonal Tax Office

Taxes
1

Would you believe it when I told you they just sent me the provisional bill for 2024 with the exact amount (including Rappen) of cantonal tax that I got when submitting my 2024 tax declaration?

I remember a few years ago they sent me something, I had already done my taxes so sent that amount, they refunded me the difference only to ask for that difference back several months later when my tax declaration was confirmed. But this time round they must have cross-checked to my submission for 2024 because there is no way they could have gotten the exact amount by using estimates from previous years.

2

Aren’t you referring to the provisional 2025 bill that you got now? And this one can be based on 2024 tax report you sent.

At least my provisional 2024 bill was sent to me already in ~ March 2024 (and final 2024 will come soon now).

3

This sounds like direkte Bundessteuer to me. Never pay more Bundessteuer than they invoice.

1 Like
4

No.

During the calendar year:

  • Gemeinde: Asks for provisional Gemeindesteuer for next calendar year
  • Kanton: Asks for provisional federal tax for previous calendar year (and if they are quick to complete your tax declaration for previous calendar year they will ask for a final bill for previous year federal tax)

At least this is how it works for me ever since I started paying taxes in Zurich.

5

Yes, as I learned when I did this the first year I started paying taxes, as I wrote above.

6

This provisional bill is Muncipal/Gemeinde and Cantonal tax.

So this part here:

should be about federal tax/Bundessteuer, not ‘cantonal’, right?

7

Yes. I see I wrote cantonal when I meant federal (which is collected by the canton rather than Gemeinde).

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8

Last year I submitted my tax declaration for 2023 in February and the ZH tax office sent me two provisional federal tax bills within a few days. The first one was based on a previous tax year and the second one was already based on my tax declaration.

Funnily enough, the first one was dated March 1 but was sent a few days earlier. The second one was dated February 28 with a comment that it replaces the bill from March 1 based on the tax declaration.

9

To be fair, seems a much better approach to charge as provisional the amount from the declaration if it has been submitted so timely. But the double letters are pretty funny. Maybe next year they’ll anticipate you submit early and wait til you have to charge the provisional.

10

I’ve also noticed that they’ve gotten more accurate with the provisional bills (voluntary payments in advance) here in Zurich. For the first time, the provisional bills (for 2025) more or less reflect my actual tax liability. In previous years they were always grossly inflated, which is good if you want to earn their 1% interest, but I never bother with that. I just wait for my final tax bill.

11

I think if you’re after the 1% you can just adapt the provisional tax online and pay in more, no? It’s not that the provisional bill they give you is a fixed amount.
Not sure to what extent they would pay interest on it, but you could always claim you thought it’s gonna be more but were mistaken.

I wouldn’t do it as it seems silly to play games with someone who you owe large amount of money every year. :smiley:

12

That is for Gemeindesteuer. And yes, I personally pay what I expect my actual tax bill to be, I have my own sheet in Excel for that, I just enter anticipated salary and deductions based on the current tax declaration I just submitted and it is usually very accurate.

For federal they send you back any amount you pay above the provisional bill they sent you.