I opened a brokerage account in the US and started trading with it way before I arrived in Switzerland. Now I'm temporarily living in Switzerland for school and I continue to access this brokerage account via the Internet. If I make profits with the trades I execute while physically in Switzerland, will I owe taxes to the Swiss gov't? (Not easy making profits in today's market but let's say I get lucky..)

Where do the profits get accumulated. Meaning which acount do they get accumulated in? If not in a swiss account I doubt your paying taxes here.

Anyone with better knowledge on the subject could correct me if I am wrong.

In Switz there are no taxes on capital gains. No one pays taxes on trading, and you're obviously allowed to manage your private finances while in Switz. If you have a work permit, you can try and register as a professional trader, then you will have to pay taxes but you'll also be eligible for tax rebates on your work-related expenses (transaction fees etc.).

Furthermore, I suppose your dividends are already taxed as regular income in the States, so by the US-CH fiscal treaties you're not taxed on that in Switz either.

Swiss residents must declare foreign assets and foreign dividends. These are relevant in calculating Swiss taxes. Any taxes paid elsewhere can be subsequently offset according to the clauses of the pertinent tax treaty.

hi Goldtop,

any idea how one goes about this? if i had a US broker I would probably send them a W8-BEN but I am in fact with postfinance/BCV based in CH and so far the people I have talked to have never heard of such a form! i'm trying to recover 15% of my dividends: the BCV keep 30% on US stocks and then in the tax return for ZRH I get 15% back. but how does one get the remaining 15%?

any help appreciated. bill.

Wish I could help you. I do not own US stocks. I am a CH citizen resident in CH and ignorant of US tax rules.

Only the first 15% are redeemable (unlike the Swiss withholding tax, which is redeemable in full). I think the remaining 15% counts as a tax credit in Switz (but only if you actually have a positive charge on your tax bill).