Hi Everyone,

I just had a nasty shock on my payslip and my firm's accountants are being no help at all. I'd be really grateful if anyone could advise me on this.

-I got a bonus this month, which is about the same as my normal monthly income.
-As a result my tax rate (quellensteuer) almost doubled as a percentage, applied to both my normal salary and my bonus
-Obviously I'm being charged tax as though that were my new monthly income
-This results in a loss of several thousand francs that I can ill afford

Is there anything that can be done? Can I claim the tax back at the end of the year? The firm accountant says that it's impossible and that the bonus should have been spread out over the year to prevent the problem, but I find that quite hard to believe.

Thanks very much in advance for your help,
Owen.

if you earn over 120k, then you will file the tax return and reclaim the difference anyway.

it's much better to spread the bonus over the 12 months due to this tax problem.

Thanks.

I earn less than 120k unfortunately, so no tax return.

If only someone at my firm had bothered to check these things out!

I think you can volunteer to do one anyway. when you think about it, it makes no difference: the Quellensteuer is calculated monthly and will average out as though you have received your bonus monthly. The only difference is that you you don´t have the use of that money earlier in the year if you only get it at the end. Additionally you will miss the bonus-busting parties that (used to) occur at bonus payout time....

AYB

Unfortunately, and you probably don't want to hear this, but (IIRC) quellensteuer tax rate is a "trap-door", i.e. once it "lifts", it stays at that higher rate for the rest of the year

Getting in touch with a non-company treuhand for a personal consultation might be well worth the investment...

(To AhYesBut)

Thanks, but that's not quite right.

The percentage tax that I paid doubled for this one month, so I pay 3.5k tax this month. If it were paid out over twelve months (say) then it would be a less than 10% increase in the monthly income, and hence not much change in the tax rate.

Makes a small difference of course as the tax rate if the bonus was spread out over the 12 months would not rise by enough to be equals to the equivalent rate applied to the payment added to the normal monthly wage.

I would say the difference is in the hundreds of francs rather than thousands of franks.

No it doesn't.

AYB

I hope you're right, otherwise I might as just jump in the Limmat right now!

That's not the case. You should - in theory - also complete a tax return if you earn under 120 k as well. There are all sorts of deductibles that are not taken into account with QS that means your tax burden should be lower. However tax authorities don't push for this as they know that most people don't bother and therefore they get to pocket the small amounts - but small amounts for each person adds up to big bucks for the system...

Weejeem. Don't scare the poor chap - this isn't the case. The accounting department deduct a set amount based on monthly income - they look at the income, see how much it is, look at the tables (of course this is all computerised) and see what needs to be deducted. As you earned more this month, you get taxed more, as they take this as an "annual average".

OP - do a tax return at the end of the year - it will all come out in the wash, as it were - and you will be taxed the correct amount over the whole year. Unfortunately you have to put up with loosing a chunk now - but you will get it back.

As Phil mentioned, maybe ask your company to spread any bonus payments?

Well, I did say "IIRC", but clearly my R was not C

Taking a worked example :
If you earn the ubiquitous CHF120k - and using the Quellensteuer rates for a single person in Baselland (as an example).

http://www.baselland.ch/fileadmin/ba...if11_Ad_Bd.pdf

If you earn your salary in 12 even instalments, you will earn CHF10,000 per month - be taxed at the 16.54% rate each month, and will pay CHF19,848 in tax for the year.

If you get paid in 13 months, you will earn CHF9,230.77 in 11 of those months (tax rate 15.57%) and CHF18,461.54 (tax rate 24.37%) in the other month. Total tax bill = CHF 20,309.

So being paid over 13 months/ being paid one month with a bonus, means overall you will pay CHF 461 extra tax with the Quellensteuer system (IN THIS EXAMPLE).

The Quellensteuer rate can vary each month (depending on earnings in that month).

Thanks. That's very helpful. So I just download it from the quellensteueramt and send it in? I always thought that this only applied to people over 120k. (And I always thought that that would be me soon... ha bloody ha!)

I bow to the people earlier who said the difference wouldn't be huge. I did the maths and to my surprise, though it's still painful, it's less than 1k in "over tax".

He is right, every month the salary is multiplied x 12 to calculate the tax payable that month.

It might be worth submitting a tax return. You get one from your canton's tax office, most have a software version that does all the adding up for you.

Thanks, I just did something very similar myself and was surprised how small the difference was. (Still enough to make me cry mind you!)

Great. I'll give it a whirl when the time is right. I have some insurances and stiff I might be able to make deductions for too.

You will get it balanced... but only at the end of the year... either as cash back or off set against your next year's bill. I think (but am not sure) you can claim for the lost interest.. but at today's rates that's hardly worth it...

Anyway.. you're lucky ! When I got here I was convinced the best thing to do with my bonus was to send it straight into the employer's fund used to buy shares at a preferential rate. What nobody warned me about was that the Quellensteuer tax bill for that 'bonus' month would be more than my basic salary. Hey presto.. the bonus disappeared into the company fund and my basic disappeared to pay about 80% the tax bill.. I actually had a wage slip telling me I owed money to the company !

You will get 2% interest on any overpayment, that's tax free, no claim to make.

Nightmare!

Are people sure that I have the right to fill in a tax return (Steuereklärung). I looked at the canton Zürich tax office (Steueramt) website and they didn't seem to agree. (Because of being on a B permit, and earning less than the fabled 120k)

http://www.steueramt.zh.ch/content/d...20HA%20DEF.pdf

Thanks

Fill it in & see what happens, nothing to loose IMHO.