No it is not. If you have a C permit then it is.

Thanks for the quick reply,

I wonder why I was told that I wasn't eligible - could it be that my current contract does not have an end date ? or perhaps I was just mis-advised ?

MC

expatriate equals short term max 5 years. No end date = long term...

MalloryCat it could be that the person that told you this is loosely equating B permit with longterm or permanent resident and therefore jumping to the conclusion that you don't get the expat allowance because you are not an expat. But see my post above. It isn't so black and white and it ain't necessarily so. There are still arguments for getting the expat allowance even if you are not temporary expat and you should go for them anyway.

By the way, if you really are there on a temporary basis, it would be better to have a return date in your assignment contract - for the avoidance of doubt (it can always be extended).

Hello,

brand new to this forum. I am in the midst of negotiating a job offer to work in Switzerland for a Swiss company, and have a question - can I arrange for an employment contract to be written in such a way that I will be eligible for expat allowance / provisions?

Key points:
1. The prospective employer is not really aware of expatriate provisions, and has not employed expatriates under these provisions before.
2. I do not currently work for the prospective employer, nor any of its parent companies - ie. it's a brand new job for me.
3. I am a non-EU citizen, however they have indicated that they will take care of necessary visas.
4. Employer will provide relocation assistance for my family and I.
5. Having a specific end-date inserted in the contract would probably be OK - they are seeking a minimum 2-3 year commitment from me

Happy to provide additional information as required.

cheers,

Moe

Sorry, further to the above, it is what could be described as a specialist and relatively senior role, and the company has indicated they would be happy enough to add whatever is required to the contract to meet the needs of expatriate provisions (provided it's legal of course).

MoeJoe

Here is an extract from the Zurich tax code:

"For the purpose of these guidelines specialists are defined as employees who are sent on international assignments because of their special professional qualifications as well as individuals who are self-employed in their country of domicile but who are employed as a contractor for the specific purpose of completing a specific project in Switzerland within a specific period of time. This is particularly applicable to programmers, information technology professionals and telecommunications specialists."

I am in a similar situation to you - planning a move to a new company in a senior specialist role - and strictly speaking this does not fit within the rules - its worth a try though - I would do the following:

1. call the contract "International Assignee Contract"
2. get the relocation expenses set out in the contract
3. state the contract term as a number of years less than 5!
4. slip in a clause which allows that term to be extended by agreement

good luck - let me know how you get on as I am about a month behind you!!

Undercover,

Appreciate the speedy reply, and the 4 step recommendations, but can anyone who has actually lived in Switzerland add to these comments, particularly if there is variation from Canton to Canton and has qualfied for this allowance? I picked up this link from another thread

http://www.taxation.ch/File/PDF/Expat_allowances.pdf

- is this article still relevant? Or has it been ursurped by more recent legislation?

My take on it the article above is that I believe that I could be eligible based upon the conditions described. Thoughts?

cheers,

Moe.

Fixed-end permit = restrictions in job-hopping + no access to unemployment (applies to non-EU people).

That by all means should be balanced against the tax savings...

not sure what you mean here Shorrick - can you explain? are you saying that the expat tax allowance can limit one's permit?

MoeJoe - I have asked about this allowance before on here, and it is difficult to stimulate a response from anyone who has first hand experience - I am not sure that many people on this forum are actually claiming this allowance - I also saw the legal advice from v.Fischer and found that quite positive for my (and your) situation... best bet might be to get that firm to advise on your specific situation - would be worth a few hundred francs for an initial chat.

What I'm saying is that if you're non-EU and you show up with a time-limited contract (so as to satisfy "expat provisions") when applying for a permit, you're very likely to get a time-limited, employer-bound permit... with the drawbacks I mentioned.

My hubbie worked as a freelancer through an agency (as his employer doing his payroll ect.) They paid him 20k per year as expat allowance. His contracts were just over 1 year each time. He did this for 5 years in Zug and it was allowed. Other colleagues in Zürich working through the same agency for the same client (same contract terms and durations) had their allowance disallowed after one year, so it could depend on the Kanton you live in. We have waited for this decision to come from the Zug tax authorities but it never has. We rent out our UK flat and declare everything on our tax declation too.

Hello Marie,

good to hear someone who has experience with expatriate provisions. One question though - I believe we are talking about the same thing, but you say they 'paid' him expatriate allowance?

This may sound pedantic, but I didn't think this was an 'allowance' we were discussing but in fact a 'tax deduction' that could be claimed by an individual as a result of being on an 'expatriate contract.'

So by being paid the 'allowance,' I assume you mean they automatically reduced his monthly tax liability deducted from his paycheck under Pay As You Go (PAYG) provisions?

It can be 'paid' as in appear on the payslip as a tax free item i.e. expenses pre-agreed with the kanton.

I was allowed this in ZH, not in SG so it does appear to be kanton related.

An amount appeared on the monthly pay slip as "Expatriate tax free amount". On the yearly Lohnausweis the total amount was under Andere Spesen. The total amount was 18,000 from 2002-2005 and 20,000 in 2006/2007.

Hope this clears it up. It is standard thing that most IT agencies sell to freelancers comming from the UK. Think of it as a meat allowance

As a non-EU, even if you are not on time-limited contract, you get a time-limited, employer-bound permit. So, what's the drawback??

Do you know if such thing is accepted in Geneva canton? Also, it's been 3 yrs now that I am in Geneva and I didn't ask such thing before.. Is it too late to ask for it now?

Thanks,

my head hurts after reading through all the useful tax info on here! i have considered moving to a Ltd company but it seems like it might not be the best solution for the short term.

from what i have read, working as an employee of a Swiss company on a short-term contract (initially) means that i might be eligible for the expat allowance (assuming certain conditions are met per the link).

http://www.taxation.ch/File/PDF/Expat_allowances.pdf


is this scheme still valid?

i may have missed the answer to this, but i have tried to search out before posting...honest.

Be careful about the wording of any employment contract you sign!

Despite being a specialist on a short term contract with an L permit (less than one year) and maintaining a property abroad, I have been denied thousands of CHFs owed to me because the agency contract I signed had the line "can work on any number of tasks or projects for the client" (somewhat paraphrased).

I should add that a tax advisor said that I would qualify for all the expat expense claims. Yet she was sadly wrong. (We appealed it and still lost)

Make sure that any contract you sign specifically ties you down to a fixed project or set of tasks and is not as vague as mine was.