Hey there, I am intending to move to the Canton Vaud area from the UK but am trying to sort out what relocation I should negotiate, and what salary would be enough to be similar to what I am currently on (£40000). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated,

Hi,

if you are coming over via a company - they should do this exercise with you - most will cover relocation expenses, and convert your Uk salary to Swiss and explain the different costs - i.e. health insurance etc.

when i made the move over - it was my HR department that helped me

Good luck

GBP40K is not a lot in Switzerland, especially with the exchange rate at the moment and the higher costs. Negotiate on the old exchange rate 1:2.4 and add a bit if you can get away with it.

Hi

We moved over to Vaud just over a year ago - it's lovely here, BTW! - and at the time I found a conversion table for cost of living in different companies; obviously I can't find it now, but it was done by one of those big multinational consulting firms.

It suggested that you should first do the currency conversion, then in the case of UK to Switzerland, add 21% to the figure to get what would be a comparable salary.

My husband's company must have had the same table, because this was roughly how it panned out for us. Financially, it feels 'right', although the exchange rate was quite a lot higher when we moved over; around £1 to 2.20 CFS.

Good luck with the move.

kodokan

Hey thanks for the advice! I have accepted an offer and shall be there in August!

Hi Aussie Nomad,

One thing to watch out for is UK tax - I had to send a P85 to HMRC before leaving to stop Mr Darling coming after me for tax on my Swiss income. Might be worth checking if you need to do one too!

Well, hope this helps, and good luck!

£40k equates to around CHF100k in terms of standard of living. Definitely get get P85, if you're intending to leave the uk for good, or at least for three years. That way, you cease to be under the UK tax system from the day you leave. Which is nice.

I will be moving to Switzerland next month and been doing some reading on double taxation on UK/ Switzerland. From my very limited understanding, I may still have to pay (some) UK taxes in addition to Swiss ones, if HMRC decides that I'd still be counted as a 'UK resident' despite visiting the UK for less than 91 days. Which would mean Self-Assessment forms for a first time!

Can anyone recommend a tax advisor in the UK who would be helpfull for a new expat?? Thank you!

Interesting
I wonder why they say that the average salary of an Engineer in Geneva is:
CHF 75,000gross (51,600chf net) for 40 hours a week...

in the UBS report:
oh crap!
:|
thats better now:
http://www.ubs.com/1/e/wealthmanagem..._earnings.html

Don't you mean this report.

Swiss wages and prices

Allez! update the link!



L.

yes that link, thanks

edit: hoo, I need coffee... Had a bad night of sleep, *shame*

I have used http://www.expattax.co.uk/ in the past. Might be worth contacting them. From the past they were all ex Revenue people. Now I use my sister, since she is an accountant.

In very general terms of relocation packages, the following should be addressed (copied from a HR newsletter i received today):

When preparing an international assignment letter, what elements should be included?

• Title, compensation and assignment duration – critical elements of status and reward in the host country
• Housing and cost of living allowance considerations – should include the amounts involved (as applicable) and the frequency of review
• Benefit coverage (medical, dental, life, vacation, holidays etc.) – how will home country benefit protections be handled in the host country
• Relocation considerations – the back and forth policy coverage for the employee’s residence, to include movement of household goods overseas
• Property management (as applicable) – what will happen to the home country residence?
• Tax preparation – employee obligations in both countries. Usually a statement of company liability for "additional" taxes is included.
• Home leave – how often, and in what circumstances?
• Schooling, language, cultural orientation (as applicable)
• Repatriation – a balance is usually struck here between the employee’s strong concern and the company’s natural vagueness for what the future might bring
• Connection to international assignment policy – refer to the policy as the source of company rules and procedures

Unique and individual circumstances (as applicable) – if it’s different from the norm, write it down!

there is a lot of thing to think
my husband got a relocation agent but still i was not
able to come with him when he had his interview here
relocation agent will not tell you little things like
you have to pay your garbage bag the big one chf 4 each
small is 1,70 chf medium is 2,40 chf
the tv tax is about chf 500 a year i belive for TV and Radio
the recycling have someone tell you how to do it,i grew up
in France ,we didnt recycle anything when i left France in 2001
except Glass for Cancer then i moved to the USA,where you recycle
but here,ah,ah good luck,everything is different,
Plastic at the Supermarket,can at the City Hall container as well
as the Glass all in differnt container,Green,Brown,White Glass,
Cooking oil,Car OIl i think as well at the City Hall at least in my city
then the Battery ,i haven t find a place to discard them where i live,no where at any supermarket where i live,i seen a Migros in Zurich that do have a container to discard it.
you have to recycle your peeling of vegetable and fruit and put it in a green bin outside on a specific day,twice a month they come to pick up cardboard,in my street on Wensday,once a month they pick up paper at the city hall,to figure this out i had to go to the city hall,no one spoke,French ,Italian,wich by the way are language of htis country ,thank god on eof the girl spoke a little English,i ask her to explain me,as i said i try to translate what was on the calendar,but not all the words came back
in English,so she told me.
advice buy Battery if you come from America buy Battery ,they are so Expensive here .
Buy Razor Blades if you come from the Usa,they are so expensive here.
buy all the product you love from your own country,Cosmetics,clothes,
ect,Tennis ,sport,running shoes,so expensive,if you can get them in the
USA on sale buy at least two pairs,they are expensive here.
Buy socks,

Just to stop anyone panicking...

Much of the above varies by area: here in Vaud, we don't have to buy specially-taxed rubbish bags but just the normal roll of black bin liners from the supermarket. And the recycling in my village is all done in one place - paper, card, plastic, batteries, Nespresso capsules, everything. Turn up, about once a month, and unload the car - takes 10 mins.

Tititita's right about the cost of everyday stuff like batteries and sports equipment, though. But that's why the salaries here are higher/ taxes are lower - it all evens out, one way or another.

kodokan

I think it depends what Commune you are in. We are in Vaud and we can only use special bags for sale in Migros/Coop, hardware store etc, for which we are charged a lot