Hi all - I'm looking for some general recommendations on places to consider living in or near Zurich from a tax perspective.

Before I get accused of laziness, I already have the CS Tax Calculator and all those other interesting sites, but they are very specific for my needs. What I actually need is a steer from people who know the region, of the rough areas to look at from a tax perspective. For example, I have been told that Wollerau and Zug are great from a tax perspective (and have run the calculator on them and researched them). Equally Zurich, Erlenbach and Zumikon are fairly high tax (comparatively). What I would like to get is an indication from people of areas that they would recommend which are:

1. Within 45 mins commute of Zurich
2. Low tax
3. Cool in any other way (nightlife, etc).

I'll then be able to take a close look at them, run the tax calulators, etc. When I've narrowed down the options I'll fly out and take a look first hand.

Any guidance much appreciated.

L

The cheap tax regions near Zurich are Meilen/Küsnach/Erlenbach/Herlliberg (gold coast) and Pfaffikon SZ, both are within 45mins journey time by train but both are residential with not much going on.
(Pfaffikon is in fact a hole but good for tax breaks)

Don't forget to consider Stallikon

http://www.steueramt.zh.ch/html/steu...adio_STEUER=on

Ausserschwyz fits your first two points; we live in the Höfe area; my husband's commute is 30 minutes at silly o'clock in the mornings, 45 in the evenings. Taxes are indeed quite low; our liability is over 40% less than in Mannedorf, where we lived previously.

As to your point 3, I have been very happy here. However, I'm a middle aged lady whose life revolves around my crew of canines. I suspect we might have rather different definitions of 'cool'.

To give you an insight into everyday life in SZ, search the forum for 'Heart of Darkness'.

Best of luck to you.

You also need to bear in mind that tax rates are inversely proportionate to rents/housing costs. The lower the tax the higher the rent and the difference in tax may not offset the difference in rent. Also bear in mind, if you're likely to be here for more than a couple of years, that tax rates do actually go down - the Gemeinden set their budgets for their necessary expenditure and are only allowed to levy taxes to cover that and a bit of a reserve. This often means that if a stinking rich person moves into a particular community, the tax rates go down for everyone. You also have to look at the villages and towns themselves to get a feel for them. The next village along from us is in a different canton and we would have paid about 12k a year less tax there had we chosen to live there, but it just didn't feel right to us whereas our village has a completely different vibe (we were building so it's slightly different, but our next-door neighbour moved here from renting in that lower tax village so we were not alone in our feel). Just to vindicate our decision, the tax rate in our Gemeinde has fallen from 113% when we moved here to 104% this year

Unfortunately, there is a direct correlation between the level of the tax rates and the "cool-things-to-do-ratio". This applies to most tax havens, come to think of it......

Forget Wollerau, yes low tax, commute exceeds 45 mins, fun factor below zero.

Thanks all for your advice. Much appreciated.

One further question. I assume that the very low tax places (Freienbach, Pfaffikon etc) are bang-your-head-against-a-wall boring? No offence intended for anyone living in these places. I'm just trying to get a feel for whether there would be much to do in evenings/weekends, and whether the tax savings would make the lifestyle/commute worth it. Happy to be corrected.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

L

I think the concept of "boring" is very relative. For some people reading a book is boring for others is fun.

I live in Wollerau (commute 40 min. by car in rush hours). I spend my free time doing sports, reading, having dinner/drinks with friends at home and once in a while I drive to Zurich or Rapperswil to meet up some friends.
I don't feel bored at all but you probably would.

Silfabio - thanks for the post. That helps me get a feel for Wollerau. I should really go and take a look I suspect. Is there much there in the way of restaurants etc?

L

I live at Kusnacht Goldbach and whilst there is nothing on my doorstep in terms of facilities the lake is a 1 minute walk away and I am only 8 minutes to Stadelhofen on the train so it's easy to get into town. In fact I find I can get into the centre quicker than some of my friends who live in zone 10 who are on the tram. Also there are night trains at the weekend but I usually take taxis as they are pretty reasonable. As for my rent I don't think it's any different to what I would pay in town. The other plus is there is a train straight to the airport if you will be traveling lots with work.

Not in Wollerau itself, but if you have a car that isn't a problem. There are good bars and restaurants within 10 minutes driving distance (Rapperswil, Waedesnwil, Pffaefikon-SZ, etc).
The problem is that your friends are normally located in Zurich and won't agree when you try to organize something outside the city. I have many friends around Wollerau what makes this part easier.

If you really enjoy the nightlife I would strongly recommend you to pay more taxes and live in Zurich.

I live in Küsnacht, one stop down from bonbon's Küsnacht's Goldbach (posh git ) and there is a bit more life down here but nothing like Zürich city. There are a couple of restaurants but not those that you can eat in every other week. No bars! There are shops, an apotheke, florists etc as well - enough for your daily needs. Fun wise, I am 10 minutes to Stadelhofen so its not bang-head-against-wall boring as the s-bahn (S6 and S16) goes into the city every 15 minutes. I choose to go in when I feel like the need for entertainment and there are night trains coming back just like night trams in the city if I decide to have a late nighter.

Tax wise, I am not sure about the exact numbers but I've heard from my husband that it makes financial sense moving just a little away from the city, rent wise (I paid the same rent as what I paid in the city but it comes back in tax rebates), as well as health insurance. Apparently, I was told that your post code matters when it comes to premiums.

Have a look at the comparison of tax rates for Kanton Zürich - I pulled this out of my husband's bookmarks - I hope its right - you can see that most, if not all, of the places on both sides of the lake are below 100:

http://www.steueramt.zh.ch/html/steu...euerfuesse.htm

Zollikon here - 10mins on the bus and we are in Stadelhofen - I can walk back from Bellevue in 50mins - a good way of processing the reason for me missing the last bus.

Tax is noticably lower than the City of Zurich - but no where near as low as Schwyz or Zug.

Fixed that for ya

Lets be clear - I have lived (existed) in Freienbach, Wollerau and Pfaffikon for the past few years - there is very little (nothing) to do in these concrete jungles. Taxes are low, rents are similar to Zurich and the commute is easy, but apart from the SeedammCenter and Rapperswil these areas offer precious little in the form of shopping, restaurants, pubs or any form of nightlife.

There are however multiple brothels (if u are into this type of thing) – two right in the center of Freienbach.

Freienbach has a nice walk down by the lake, but some moron put train tracks there as well – so in the day time u have the S-Bahn and at night the goods trains.

Pfaffikon is better on this front – u can still hear the trains, but they are further away from the lake front area. It has a nice little (very little) old town and bathing area by the lake – the rest of the town is cordoned in by the A3 and Churerstrasse (20,000 cars a day or something like that)

And Wollerau, well it sits on the A3 – literally !

Luckily my job requires me to spend a lot of time away from home, otherwise I would literally be banging my head off the wall.

But hey, I still live there for now........................

Hi everyone. Please help me clear up the question with taxation. I am completely confused.
I am non-eu with student B permit, and I just recently started my first lucrative activity in CH, that is – payable internship for 6 month. I suppose my salary (if you can call it so) is a subject to taxation. Could smb please give me clue what taxes (pension funds, cantonal and communal taxes etc.) and in what amount I should be paying. Are they deducted from my salary or I should I pay the bills myself?
I am single, female, no children, earn 4000 ch a month, registered in the canton Vaud, the company I am doing my internship at is in canton of Neuchatel. I guess the taxes are paid to the canton of residence (Vaud), right? I am considering moving to Neuchatel, will this mean the decrease or increase in taxes? Different cities of residence also mean different tax rate?
I tried some tax calculators I found on this forum but they show different results and confuse me even more. I would highly appreciate guidelines from your side. Thanks so much in advance!