It costs around 10k more in tax to live in Basel than Zurich? Seriously?

Since I am in Zurich quite a bit, I might as well get a pied-a-terre in Basel and have a flat in Zurich and have a base in 2 cities because the tax saving will cover the pied-a-terre in Basel.

Does anyone here work in Basel and live in Zurich? Do you do this?

That is totally possible, for me the difference was 5K & my Ex could not understand why I did not want to move in with her in Basel. Of course if you can deduct 65 raps per KM driving every day then living in ZH & working in GE is quite cool too, thats 404chf a day in deductions, however that could be milking the system!

hmm. maybe the pied-a-terre could also be tax deductible - that would make it a no-brainer...

It is upto approx 5k a year, km is a better deal probably 110 chf a day or 25400 CHF a year. Doing a daily commute from GE to ZH works out at 96,960chf

Have you explored Basel Land? places like Binningen are virtually in the city, but have that all important BL tax code.

Most of the people I work with (5 out of 6 of them) live in Zurich but commute to Basel every day. They use the train pretty much as an extension of their office time. It seems to work very well for them ... and when you ask them why, mostly lifestyle choices but they do also mention the tax (and another colleague lives in Zug and commutes to Basel .. but he comes from Zug so perhaps there is more to that choice than just tax ..)

but how much would it actually cost you per km in fuel, insurance, depreciation etc. (assuming car is only for work)? would you end up ahead by much?

i looked at bottmingen which was the cheapest in tax, but for the difference, iirc around 5k, i would prefer to have a base close to basel SBB and zurich SBB so that i can have a quick commute and have a base in both cities.

i think i would prefer to have a base in zurich as that is where i am about the most and where most of my friends are. but having a base also basel would be great as i can do stuff in basel on the 'quiet' days and also build up a life in another city too.

most of the guys i know also commute from zurich to basel, but they were already established in zurich before they started working in basel. i wonder if you started working in basel, whether you would bother with zurich?

I find motoring expenses to be under 25 rp on an old BMW with 65 rp deductible. So work deductions pay all motoring expenses and some extra.

A GA would be your friend......

Yeah right, it's 65 raps up to a certain amount of KM, read the instruction book ! For this size communte to work they would automatically deduct a GA from your taxcable income and finished,

i already have a GA and deduct this. wonder if they would object to deducting GA and flat in Basel.

I used to work in Basel a few years back and I noticed this aswell, there's a difference between BL and BS so I'd definately look at BL.

Rents are cheaper however, and if you Shop in Germany/France, you pay less for your groceries as well.

Plus we have a river. Lakes are so passe. They don't even go anywhere.

What's that river that goes from the lake in Zurich through Basel for?

Yeah, but no one talks about that. You all (yes, every single one of you, I've researched properly) sit around the lake.

Do you know what's the best part of Zurich?

The road to Basel!