I'm wondering whether the Swiss tax return process is more than painful than I'd heard about it...
In my case, there is a TDS (Tax deduction at Source) every month done by my company, so that part is easy.
I had still filled in the necessary documentation in Feb this year and submitted it to the authorities, asking for a "tax return" on the amount I had spent on education.
So far, I have not heard back from them...
Anyone has an idea as to how much time it takes for the tax authorities to respond? 1 month? 6 months?? 1 year??? 10 years????

-Dave.

It is normal for them to get tô the end result between March and October of the following year...

Hi...
my company tax me at source...
I understood that kind of taxation is convenient but at the same time we pay more than locals. I was wondering what I could claim back, when and where..
Do you guys know any tax consultant?
Cheers
Max

yes we do. There's a thread about it - search "treuhand"

My rebate I get about June time but im sure it depends on Kanton or village etc. One of my fellow workers from Glarus said he does not even bother giving in his paper work until Easter, my Gemeinde send me a reminder before then.

DC

I moved here in May 2006, so only worked part of 2006 in Switzerland. I´m being taxed at source and my annual income exceeds 120´000.

I just got my first blanc tax declaration in the mail a week ago Well, found out that this seems to be standard procedure for those who move here in the middle of the year. Happened to two friends of mine as well. They got their tax papers in the summer of the first full year they lived and worked here, not in Jan or Feb like the locals do.

How much time do I have to return it? Ha, actually it says end of March 2007 on the forms but March is long gone. It´s August....

I am in the exact same position as you. I moved here last August. Earlier this month I got a pile of forms and a brochure explaining the process. My German is too bad to deal with a tax return. I'd have problems if it was in English.

There was no letter to tell me when to return it. No letter at all in fact. The forms have "März 2007" on them also.

I engaged the services of an accountant whose name I found on this forum. She told me where to look for the submission date. But it wasn't there. I got a Swiss German colleague to look at the forms and he could not find a return by date either. My papers are with the accountant (Treuhand) now.

I suggest you get the papers back within a reasonable time and be prepared to aargue with them if they tell you that you are late for a deadline you were never informed of.

Submission dates for tax returns - in my gemeinde (local community) these can be extended to pretty much any month of the year I like, as long as I request this in advance (which can also be done via a website). This spreads the administrative load for the tax department in your community, since the returns don't all arrive at once.

In the case of a tax return arriving without a submission date, then the standard procedure (like for any such situation) would simply be to call the person who sent the letter and ask them. If there is no contact person listed, then simply phone or visit the tax department at your local community office and ask. I'm sure they don't bite and would readily give you this information.

Some other people also seem to have been asking "How long before I get my money back". Well, I suspect that the answer to this will vary widely according to the usual regional shenanigans in Switzerland, but in my case, for canton Zurich, my refunds have usually taken 3 years to come through and I was told this is normal. Personally I find a such a level of service a complete joke, but I'm not going to hop on my soapbox here... I'm still waiting for my refund from 2002.

If you can speak German and need the money in a hurry, you can sometimes call your cantonal tax department, and after a bit of digging they may be able to tell you which particular paper mountain it is located in, and how much longer it might take. It's important to mention that you were paying tax at source, because these tax returns are handled (at least in Zurich) by a separate department.

I've just had money back from my 2005 return, submitted in May 2006...
A friend who also lived in Kloten is still waiting for the year before...

YMMV, as they say.

Can you ask to be moved up the pile if you are leaving Switzerland soon?

If you are leaving Switzerland soon you should contact your Gemeinde (local Community) to tell them There is more to leaving than just sorting out your taxes. Once the Gemeinde knows and seeing as they organise your taxes anyway then they will deal with you promptly. Note promptly means usually within the next 12 months...

When I left Switzerland a few years back (in the middle of a year and obviously owing taxes [2002]) they were very concerned (at the derigestering) and wanted me to give them a name of a 'official' person who would be dealing with it after I left, luckily I had a friend who transferred recently from the Steueramt into IT who was willing to take responsibility for me and sent me all the paperwork to the UK with advice on filling it in.

I am having big trouble understanding this Swiss tax thing while filling in the painful tax sheet. I was taxed at source for 8 months in 2007 until I got married to a Swiss.

After 4 hours of scratching my head, it turned out I had to pay a lot more than what I had to pay before! I figured there must have been something wrong about it: my tax at source was calculated at 12.7% of income after deducting unemployment insurance and pension for the first 8 months. Now after all deductions of meals, transportation, health insurance, unemployment insurance, unemployment insurance, etc, the tax is calculated at the following rate, amounting to CHF 400 more than tax at source:

6.735% Cantonal tax
8.2167% City tax (122% Zurich)
3.476% Federal tax

Has anyone made similar experiences or have I missed out anything important? Any comments from you will be highly appreciated!

Souce tax is based on the kanton average.
"Zürich Stadt" has a higher tax multiple (122%) than the average.
So, you pay more.

Thanks a lot for your useful tip. Do you happen to know the approximate level of kantonal average? It still strikes me that I have to pay so much more after getting married.

Thanks

What you paid / 122 * 100 ?

You got married.

Getting married results in the income and wealth of both spouses being clubbed. This results in a higher tax slab. Fortunately, there is a separate milder table for married persons. Also, more deductions possible, and entitlement to 3a deductions for both (assuming both have earned income).

The politicians have realized that the higher taxation of married persons is socially unjust. They are working on tax relief for the married. Meanwhile, in most places, the married pay more.

Dear guys,
I understand your points perfectly because I work with expats every day and it is always the same.

--> There is only one answer I can give you: DON'T EVEN THINK OF DOING IT BY YOURSELF! PAY THE LITTLE MONEY FOR A "TREUHÄNDER". MY WIFE IS ARGENTINE AND WE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM. AFTER TAKING HELP (COSTS AROUND CHF 200.00) WE GOT EVERYTHING YEARLY BACK INCL. INTERESTS. NEVER EVER FORGET YOU ARE TALKING TO EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE... THEIR WORLD GOES AROUND OUR SUN IN 5 YEARS AND NOT IN 365 DAYS AS IT DOES FOR US...

Besides that they don't understand your language and they are not educated to deal with cases like yours. YOU NEED SOMEBODY TO KICK THEIR BALLS AND TELLING THEM WHICH CONSEQUENCES IT COULD HAVE IF THEY DON'T ACT FAST. A professional "Treuhänder" is not only doing the work for you! He's doing as well the work for them, because they only have to do what he tells them. ... And this is the same everywhere...

Tell me if you need an address...

Regarding the extension of the deadline, haven't you people got a yellow form in the tax return envelope (canton Zurich)? I'm not taxed at source of course.

Also I wonder what the negative consequences feared after the extensions are, or in which regard the tax authorities didn't "act fast". Maybe you people speak based on experiences but this all seems a bit vague to me.