Hello All,
When looking into my salary bill, I have found a "surprise". It's name is "PK Winterthur columna (CH)". The company is located in St. Gallen (maybe it has something to do with). Does any one knows why I'm paying that for? My company is telling me that this is mandatory in Switzerland...

Another surprise I've heard today - rent is deductible (from income tax)! Is that true or was it one of these 1st of April stuff?

Many thanks

Rent is not tax deductible. Interest is.

If you own a property, there is an assumed rental income (Eigenmietwert, or Own Rental Value) which becomes taxable, which can be offset by mortgage interest ... interest on all debts always being tax deductible.

I have no idea what PK Winterthur is, ask your HR dept. It may be "Pensionskasse" which is Pension Fund, and the company might be Winterthur Insurance; which recently changed its name to Axa-Winterthur.

Hope this helps,

Lisa

It's the contribution to your pension fund.

Quite correct PK is Pensionskasse.

I think the rent deduction depends on the Canton you live in. In Zug you can dedudct 20% of your rent.

correct I guess one assumes the convention that if the Original Poster is from Zurich then the advice is based on living in Canton Zurich.

Ok, clarification required. In Kanton Zurich, rent is unfortunately not tax deductible. Or if it is, I have been screwed.

Must make a note to move to Zug ....where the rent probably costs more because of the great tax breaks ....

Lisa