Hello all,

I understand that the tax rate reduces significantly if you are married in Geneva (and further still wif you have children).

Does anyone know if the married rate only applies if one of the couple is not working? Or does the married rate apply to the couple's joint income?

Many thanks.

hi

as i understand its a bit more complicated.. as you appear to be living in france which changes it again?

if you are both working in switzerland and are married with kids the tax is still at the full rate. i beleive it only changes if one of you is not working here.

Your username is interesting too? From the IOM?

Hi. Thanks for your reply.

Yes I am from IOM! We will be married living in France but both working in geneva. So will be both pay the equivalent of single persona tax then?

If we live in Switzerland would it be different in terms of paying married persons tax?

Thanks.

yes , you will pay the equivalent of single person tax so no tax breaks for living in france. (but no increase either)
your employer will calculate everythign for you and tax you at source so you dont have to worry about it.
you do have to fill out a french tax return every year though

where abouts in france did you end up`?

Do you guys know what's considered working? We live in Switzerland, and there are some benefits to one of us not working. Do these cease to exist once both of us have contracts, even if one of the incomes is like tiny?

We have a similar question - which has only been added to by reading this board! We are getting married next year in Geneva, and cannot understand whether we will pay tax as if we were married for the whole of 2011, or not until 2012, and also how our taxes will change once we are married. From my reading of the Geneva canton tax website, it seems that the higher income earner will pay a bit more tax, and the lower income earner will pay a lot more tax! We are both Permit B holders.

I think the reason there are so many questions on this topic is that it varies by Canton, and it really isn't clear cut.

This is the same all over Switzerland now: your family situation at the end of the year determines the applicable tax rate and taxation method for the whole year. Therefore if you get married on December 31, 2010, you are taxed as a married couple for the whole year 2010. Same if you have children, if you change domicile in CH, etc.

As a married couple without children, you pay more tax compared to being taxed separately. This difference comes from the old idea that as a married couple you are supposed to benefit from savings in your daily life (appartment, insurances, car, etc.) compared to a single person. As more and more people live together without being married, this creates an inequality of treatment which the State is fully aware of but no appropriate solutions has been found yet. The federal state introduced a special deduction for married couple recently and also for married couples with children. The aim is to reduce the inequality between married and non married couples. Though this is at the federation level and not at the cantonal level, which keep their autonomy to decide whether they want to introduce such benefits in their tax laws. Currently neither Geneva nor Vaud have introduced such deduction.

Thank you Syt - helpful post.

We are both B permit holders, and had been informed by one of the companies we work for that B permit holders pay less tax than someone getting married to a C permit older (permanent resident), or Swiss national.

We are investigating this a bit more, and will post the results/details when we have more information.

Even speaking fluent French, German & English between us, it is quite difficult finding out this information! Hence a trip to the canton tax office beckons...

If you have a B permit, you are subject to taxation at source in Geneva, unless your gross income exceeds CHF 500'000 per year OR if you have taxable wealth in Geneva (which you probably have). If you are in one of those situations, you have to file an annual tax return, which will put you in exactly the same situation as C permit holders (which are no longer subject to tax at source).

The rate is different as the tax at source rate already includes some lump-sum deductions and is calculated on your gross salary whereas the ordinary rate is computed on your net taxable salary, i.e. after all effective or lump-sum deductions. It is usual to say that after a salary of CHF 100'000, it is more advantageous to file a tax return, especially if you contribute to a 3rd pillar or make additional contribution to a second pillar (which will be taken in account only if you file a return). This is why in most of the canton the limit for the mandatory return for people being taxed at source is CHF 120'000. Whereas Geneva, as always, follows its own rules...

Comparing tax rates won't help you any further (not computed on the same base), you need to compare the total of taxes for people exactly in the same situation (same salary, same transport costs, meal costs, etc.), which is likely not not exist...