Hi everyone,

I'm a Canadian living in Bern. I had recently been offered a job which will commence on the 14th of April. I just received an e-mail from the company outlining my first day...and asking me to bring my AHV-ID and a payment slip. I'm pretty sure I don't have an AHV-ID because I have no idea what that is! Where and how does one obtain this? What is it?
Also, they ask for my date of marriage for their personal data—is this normal?

Cheers,
Bernard

Have you worked in CH before?
Then you have an AHV/AVS number: it is your social security number. In your first CH job they should have given you a card in a plastic pouch with your AVS number and name, DOB etc. Its sort of grey card-boardy type thing. Each employer should stamp it with a number to show you were employed by them.

Date of marriage: not sure about this. One justification i can think of is so that they can cross check with the tax people that you are in the correct tax code for tax at source.

Thanks for the lightning quick reply!
I have not officially worked here. Only some random, small, freelance work with North American clients mostly.
I for sure don't have an AHV number then. How do I get one? Will they freak out if I tell them that I don't have one?
I am allowed to be here though, and work as far as I know—I have a B Permit and a non-recognized (Polish) EU passport.

I was under the impression that when one is married they do not get taxed at source and must pay taxes at the end of the year themselves. I think I read that on here somewhere...

Tell your employer you don't have an AHV/AVS number and they will/should sort it for you. it shouldn't be a problem at all but THEY have to do it so might complain a bit about the extra work!

tax at source is more complicated than you state. just because you are married is not reason enough _not_ to pay tax at source.
check the tax threads for much info on tax in CH. to summarise ...

B permit holders nearly always pay tax at source.
if your combined salary income is >120kCHF you also HAVE to make a tax return at year end/March.
if you own property in CH then you have to make a tax return.

bill

Thanks for clearing this all up for me Bill. I actually prefer to pay tax at source!

The second sentence confused me a bit though. What exactly do you mean by "make a tax return"? Doesn't everyone have to do a tax return? Our combined salary income will be over 120K...

A.)
if you and your wife/partner combined earn less than CHF120,000 then you do not have to make a tax return.

above + owning property in CH: you have to make a return.

B.)
if you and your wife/partner combined earn more than CHF120,000 then you have to make a tax return.

above + owning property in CH then you have to make a tax return.

more info here:

http://www.englishforum.ch/tags/tax/

Got it. Thank you.

I wish we knew this last year when we were stressing about the tax stuff and were below the 120,000 mark, since I wasn't really working :\

no probs. the link i gave above has a LOT of good info. take the time now to go through it and prepare for next year. i don't know what it is like in poland but tax is much less stressful here. there is a distinct difference between tax fraud and tax evasion! Fraud you are a criminal; evasion you are a naughty boy.

if you need to make a return the tax people will tell you based on the info they have about you! and as this is likely to be your first return, do not expect a request until May 2010.

Thanks again. I've already read some of that stuff and am looking at more now.

I know that they make a pretty big distinction between fraud and evasion. I actually have absolutely no idea how tax works in Poland either—I only lived there until I was 8. I do know how it works in Canada though, and it seems a lot more strict. I also think you pay much more in Canada, but I suppose that can depend on how much you make.

90% of the time it is in your interest to make a tax return here in CH. teh trick is getting onto the system, highlighted above. there are a lot of deductions you can make to reduce the amount of tax you should pay and as a result get a rebate as you are paying it at source. download the software from your canton and play with that too!