Hi,

After reading a fair bit on this forum, I understand that if one is a Swiss citizen or has C-permit, then one isn't subject to quellensteuer.

However, are there other circumstances under which you can avoid quellensteuer? For example, if you buy a house/property in CH, can you choose to opt out of paying quellensteuer? Is this across all cantons?

I remember reading on an old post that if you put some money as a security deposit with Zurich tax authorities, then you can opt out too (or something to that effect).

Apologies if this has already been answered before here and I haven't looked carefully; in which case, could you please point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

You are not subject to Quellensteuer if you meet one of these conditions I know so far:

- C permit
- salary of 120'000 CHF and more
- owner of a property

I don't know about the deposit condition, you can ask your local tax department.

Wrong. You still pay it up front, but you make a tax declaration and can potentially get some back then.

yes you are right. Since you can request some back, I considered it as "avoidable".

In Geneva, if you are married to a C-permit holder or a swiss, you don't pay Quellensteuer. Maybe it's also applicable in other cantons.

This is the same here, so probably true for all cantons.

According to my tax adviser this isn't the case, at least here in Basel. It could be a Canton dependent thing?

Property must be in Switzerland. It worked for me in Bern, Fribourg and Geneva.
I would check with the Tax department of Basel...I have a tendency not to believe all tax advisor due to previous experiences.


I found a link (in french) and also in German from the federal government explaining the "Quellensteuer" and the exception rules. Apparently you can avoid it in BS if you own a property (Section 163.32)-

True also in Vaud.

My husband and I (both Americans with B permits at the time) are the only exception that I know of. Upon the request of our town, we stopped paying Quellensteuer after the first 3 months.

Our company's HR didn't understand it either.

Also not quite right. With a salary of 120K + You can ask your local tax office to come off QST and it is up to them.

I did just that in 2004 with B permit at the time. I have never paid QST.