Hi,

i know that tax percentage is calculated on monthly basis, so in the monthes of double or very high pay (13th salary, bonus, etc ) i will pay much more taxes becasue the tax percentage will go up.

HR guy of my "maybe next" employer said me that all is balanced and i will not pay much more taxes of a swiss citizen.
For example, if my extimated total tax percentage (federal, cantonal, city) is 20% each month, i will pay a little bit lesser in order to compensate the percentage boost that will occurs in "high pay" monthes.

Is this correct ? Who decides this lesser tax percentage ? HR or FI-CO of my company ?

if you get it in writing from HR that they will pay you compensation arising from the imbalanced months. then great.

but if he's talking crap that it will all be the same and then you are out of pocket, then he'll probably just shrug his shoulders a year down the line...

Phill has nailed it, the guy is talking crap!

The amount of tax is determined based on the quellensteuer tables for your canton -- your local HR department has no say in how much they withhold.

In theory, it's all supposed to balance out, but in practice, you can be at a disadvantage if you have months that take you into much higher tax brackets. I suspect your HR guy is giving you the 'in theory' answer, while you're experiencing the 'in practice' reality in your bank account.

All is not lost, though. It's not mandatory, but those earning less than CHF120k can still file a tax return -- it's worth doing the calculation. If you've overpaid, you can claim back a refund; if you've underpaid, you simply don't bother filing the tax return and your quellensteuer is considered as full settlement of your tax liability. Whether you've underpaid or overpaid is a basis on the tax rate in your village vs. the average tax rate in your canton (which forms the basis of the quellensteuer rates).

It's also worth filing a tax return if you've got unusual deductions to claim, as the quellensteuer makes some basic assumptions about your lifestyle and theoretical deductions which may not be realistic (eg, if you have high medical expenses, etc)

He's right. You may pay a little more, but the amount is in the order of a few hundred francs over a year -- not thousands.

Quellensteuer (tax deducted at source) on bonus shows a worked example.

I don't know if i had to open a new thread, in case i apologize.

I'm still "studying" the net calculation that hr guy sent me but i'm a little bit confused.
I ever thought that witholding tax is calculated on the part of gross salary that you obtain after you subtract various pension and insurance contribution (OASI, BVG, ALV, etc). For example, if my gross salary is 100k chf / year i have to subtract:

AHV : 4,55 % -->4550 CHF
Accident: 1% -->1000 CHF
ALV: 1% ---> 1000 CHF
BVG: 5% ---> 5000 CHF

I found a post in this forum that seems to confirm this even if another post stated that BVG is calculated after the other previous deduction.

Anyway, now the "taxable" salary should be :

100000 - 4550 - 1000 -1000 -5000 = 88450 CHF

Unfortunately in the net calculation that hr guy sent me the witholding tax is calculated on the entire starting gross salary (the 100K of my example). Also i see that online calculators and also some websiste calculate witholding tax in this way and do not substract first insurance and pension fees.

So i'm little bit confused: which's the correct calculation method for tax at source for a B permit holder under 120K?

Your HR colleague is correct. Quellensteuer is applied to your gross salary (in this case, the full 100K). Your additional deductions for AHV, accident, etc are taken out afterwards.

In this case BVG is not tax deductible because i pay tax also on the share that i will put into BVG. At the same time it seems that i can't fill the (in)famous tax form because i'm B permit holder under 120K.
Maybe i still didn't understood the whole thing or the system is not fair

Do you think your (usually Swiss) HR is a specialist in taxation for foreigners? (they've probably never been taxed at source in their lives)

Taxation at source is based on the monthly/weekly amounts. There's no right to adjustment except for Pillar 3a if your salary totals less than 120k unless you are magically sent a self assessment form by the taxation authorities.

(Or you meet another criteria eg C permit holder, married to one or a Swiss cititzen, they know you have high worth or lots of property/assets.....)

Please see here for a ZH summary in english: http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/content/...t_QSt11_en.pdf