Refund (from Baselland) arrived in my bank account less than two weeks after sending off the letter!

dies of shock!


and finally,

Lucky you. I'm still waiting for my refund from 2009

Refund for tax at source?

Contribution to 3rd pillar mostly

...and other deductions (there are a number of allowances that a good tax advisor will make sure you get back) and over payments (e.g. due to bonus months).

That's really surprising - BS have always been efficient with me, although thinking about it they were slow last year. Did you call them?

Yep. Called, emailed and no luck. Everytime I speak to someone they say they don't speak English and don't understand me when I speak German (granted my German is limited more to daily conversation and not the ins and outs of tax returns but I'm sure I'm not that bad!!)

They owe me a fair bit too.....

You've been unlucky; I usually manage in German but have resorted to English occasionally without problems. A case of "keep trying"?

Refund, lucky people..

I just received a bill for just under 7000 SF extra tax for 2009, i thought
tax at source covered this.

Lady at tax office spoke English but could only say its very complicated.

im to afraid to send anything in. id rather.

rather play the ignorant card .....is there a way one could find out though? (quick summary if it is simple as im not getting a taxman or going through all receipts.... )

All typical deductions and allowances are standardized and directly included in the withholding tax tariffs, e.g. deductions for social insurance and professional expenditures.

Alien employees resident in Switzerland and not subject to the subsequent ordinary assessment may however claim additional deductions, if these are properly evidenced. So a part of the tax withheld will be refunded.

As far as I am informed, a refund can be applied rof based on the following conditions:

§ for debt interest in accordance with the principles for exclusion in force at the time in question (only consumer credit, no mortgage interests);

§ for payments of alimony;

§ for further education or retraining costs which are related to one's profession ;

§ for contributions to recognised forms of tied private pension plans (Pillar 3a); here, the same provision amount as for Swiss citizens can be deducted (currently CHF 6,682);

§ for additional expenses for childminders;

§ costs for illness and accidents as well as costs due to invalidity given the costs are higher than 4% of gross income (e.g. gross income CHF 75,000, 4% = CHF 3,000)

§ for voluntary payments to the professional pension fund (Pillar 2) for missing years of contribution (“pension fund buying”);

§ for voluntary contributions to exclusively non-profit Swiss institutions.