Hi all,

Like most foreign employees in Switzerland, I get a 13th moth salary. And my taxes are deducted at source. That means in the last month of the year, I get the double of my salary(gross). But, when calculating the net salary it's much less.

The reason is the double salary takes the tax % very high (from odd 10% to a hopping 17%). So if the 13th salary was actually distributed throughout the yearly monthly salaries, the intake would have been much more (roughly, 11% throughout the year).

A colleague suggested that can be explained and claimed back from Swiss Government, but how?

Regards,
Anirban

If you pay your tax exclusively through withholding tax (quellensteuer) then you cannot claim this back.

If you file a tax return, your overall tax will be calculated and any overpayment will be refunded (or underpayment charged).

I wrote a post on a similar situation here:

Quellensteuer limits - will it make a difference?

"(or underpayment charged)"

Exactly. If you do this, you need to work out what your overall resulting tax liability will be, and whether you will make a gain or loss. Consider that source tax is taken at the Cantonal average tax rate. If you live in a gemeinde with a higher rate than the Cantonal average (e.g. Zurich city) you will be charged the whole year at this higher rate when submitting a tax form. You need to calculate how much difference this, and other consideration such as wealth tax, will make to you.

Not entirely accurate.

It depends on cantons again, you will find this with everything in Switzerland. Ask 10 people, get 5 different responses.

I live in Aargau and was able to submit a tax return even though I pay through the PAYE equivalent. I was able to claim it back, but it's not much. First thoughts are that you have paid much too much, but it's not. The other 11 months you have effectively been underpaying tax as the 10% you have been paying should have been slightly more (given that your salary was higher in November).

Give a tax adviser a ring if I were you, I would recommend this person, she's mustard!!

denise.collin@colfina.ch

Cheers

You can submit a tax return, but as jaudi pointed out in the earlier post, there's no guarantee you'll be better off -- and you could even find yourself owing more money. It depends on the rate of tax where you live vs. the average rate of tax in the canton.