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| Hi,
I am about to submit my tax declaration for the first time (i'm Swiss and just arrived in CH last year) and was wondering when you declare a bank account, can the tax authorities then access the account history or is that still protected by Bank Secrecy?
Also, when submitting it, should it be via registered mail? | |
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if you declare it or not the CH tax authorities have the right to know all named accounts you have with CH institutions. By opening said named account (UBS, CS, BCV, SWISSQUTE, FX ACC's etc) you usually explicitly allow them to inform the tax people when asked if an account exists in your name.
then if you declare a named account, the tax people can talk to that institution to confirm what withholding tax they have applied.
i don't think they can look at the detailed history on the account unilaterally. they could demand an audit of your return _with_ you, in which you have to provide detailed info as to where the money came from or goes to. And force you to do the same for past years. But working unilaterally without your knowledge or a court order is not permitted, i believe.
Regular post is fine for the return, unless you are super paranoid and/or are late and want to make sure the interest on the debt you owe them is kept to a minimum.
bill