Zurich Online Tax - Kita Deduction Question

Taxes
1

Hi everyone,

Seeking the collective wisdom of this group. I’m a father with a young child attending Kita 4 days a week in Zurich. The annual cost for 2023 is approximately 22k, and due to a significant difference in income between my partner and me, I’m solely covering this expense.

Based on my understanding of page 18 in this document (https://www.zh.ch/content/dam/zhweb/bilder-dokumente/themen/steuern-finanzen/steuern/natuerlichepersonen/2023/est-wegleitungen-uj/305_wegleitung_zh_2023_uj.pdf), if I can provide proof of payment demonstrating that I’m the sole provider for this cost, I should be eligible to deduct 10,100 CHF (cantonal tax) and 22,000 CHF (federal tax).

However, the ZHprivateTax online tool seems to default to a 50/50 split of childcare expenses between parents, and I haven’t found a way to override this. Has anyone successfully changed this default setting? If so, how did you do it?

Thank you so much in advance!

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2

I guess you can try changing the custody status to sole custody to override this and then include a note.

3

FYI you can’t deduct more than the cost.

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4

Won’t that have some implication on the rest of the tax? (not so familiar with this part tho, so maybe not)

5

Also, personal opinion, why would you want to deduct more than your actual cost for the federal tax?

Anyway, it’s as @nabalzbhf says: you can only deduct your actual cost, and it’s capped at CHF 25k for the federal tax.

6

If you’re married, there’s no change to your tax return. The deduction of CHF 10,100 (cantonal) and CHF 25,000 (federal) will be calculated on all your income, regardless of who paid what.

If you’re not married, it’s up to the person with parental authority and effective custody of the child to claim the deductions. If you both have parental authority and custody of the child, half will automatically be deducted on your respective tax returns, unless you can provide proof to the contrary (invoices and proof of payment).

7

I’m also a father of a young child who attends Kita, but so far did not had to declare it (because he was not in Kita yet in the last Tax periode). As far as I know:

  • You can only deduct the approx. 22k. Proof is needed (Food, diapers etc. are not deductable [not sure how and if they check this])
  • In the tax declaration, you can specify the “main” breadwinner (person with the higher income) who is then able to get the “married rate” (“Sorgerecht und Obhut” → Finanzieren Sie den Lebensunterhalt des Kindes zur Hauptsach?"). This helps to reduce the higher income.

That’s all you can do. If there is anything else - I would also be interested to know for the upcomming tax declaration.

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8

Yes you’re right, I meant to say 10K cantonal tax and 22K, which is my cost, for the federal tax. I edited the post as well, thank you

11

That’s what I ended up doing - Unfortunately, on the phone they weren’t able to resolve the issue directly, but they advised me to open a ticket so the technical team could investigate further.
I’ll keep this thread updated with any progress

3 Likes
12

Ultimately, I spoke with a tax consultant, and they told me that it doesn’t matter who pays the Kita costs. The Vereinbarung über die Anrechnung der Erziehungsgutschrift document holds the percentage. Without going through the process of changing the 50/50 split we signed when the baby was born, I can’t claim a different deduction. Of ocurse applying for such a change involves many other considerations

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13

That sounds wrong. This document is to decide who gets the Erziehungsgutschrift. I find it strange that this should also regulate who gets the Kita deductions.

IIRC, the online tax return claims that it is based on the custody split - though I guess this is even more consequential to change.