Hello
I have been offered a position in Zug by a brokerage firm as a US Tax Specialist. They are still working out final details of the offer, but my salary is going to be around CHF 112,000/year + bonus. I am a single guy, just have a dog. I will be moving from east coast USA to Switzerland. Is this enough salary to have a decent life in Switzerland?

Thanks for your help!

Hmmm.... tick, tock, tick, tock .....

I think you mean - "A US Tax Specialists Salary".....or only US tax Specialists will answer your question

The answer is yes, just....but if you use the search function at the top of the page you will find that there are EXACTLY 112,000 similar threads that you can use to waste an entire morning on the East Coast!

yes I mean US Tax Specialists Salary... thanks for the clarification. I guess should ask for more from what you are saying! Thanks!

If it was just you, I'd say that the salary was about right -- but when you factor in the dog, it becomes clear that you can't survive in Switzerland on less than CHF120K per year.

This fact is well-documented on numerous threads on EF.

Kidding aside, have a look at these threads:

1. Are you getting paid the right amount for the role? Here's your answer:

FAQ: A brief guide to salaries in Switzerland

2. Is 112K + bonus enough to live on in Switzerland? Here's your answer:

FAQ: Is CHF100'000 a good salary?

Welcome to the Forum, BTW!

No, I didn't say that. Actually, and trying to be cruel to be kind, anybody that has no idea what they are worth in their respective market doesn't seem to me to be worth a good salary. You should know what you are worth far more than we do.....if you don't then you aren't worth a whole heap

Ah, we trot this out every once in a while, but the truth is that people are pretty close-lipped about salaries in Switzerland. When I moved here, I was very clear about what I salary I commanded in my home market, but I had no idea what I was worth on the Swiss market.

Turns out I low-balled myself on my first job offer; luckily I didn't take it and got a more realistic offer on my second job offer, which I ended up taking.

So I don't judge the OP for not knowing his market worth in Switzerland. But I've also pointed out that we probably won't have a much better guess than he does, and I've pointed him towards some tools for making a better guess.

Single bloke on 112 000 a year = loaded.

Be happy.

Sorry....fair point....I was more meaning that if somebody can't compare their livestyle and salary in their current country and spend 5 minutes making an educated guess whether it will be enough for a new country, then its not very good.

I agree that you won't know if its in the top quartile in the industry or sector, for example, but you should know if the offered figure is "enough"

I'm on my way over to Zurich for about a year soon since my wife got a position over there. I did a lot of cost analysis.

That would be a very good salary in the US based on what things cost in the US. I'm assuming you are a US citizen and thus still liable for US income tax. You obviously know the deal. If you are not a US citizen, that changes things radically since your disposable income will be higher.

We live in the NYC metro area. We can go out to dinner here to good local restaurants and leave with food for $60 total. You will pay double that and eat way less. Supermarket prices are insanely expensive and when we mentioned this to Zurich residents their answer is "we shop in Germany". If you are a meat eater you're screwed much as we are. Today's special at Coop, Fine Food Angus sirloin steak 200g at 22:15 CHF. Assuming I did my math right $55/lb. Go to http://www.coopathome.ch for typical prices.

Check your apartment prices and sizes too. You could be in for another shocker. comparis.ch will get you going. People/Realtors are generally pretty poor with keeping their apartment availability up to date and you will frequently find places that are already gone continuing to be listed.

If you are planning on a car, check the prices, you will be shocked. I've seen two to three times the price. I looked on eBay. Maintenance is insane from what I read. Then there's all the other issues like gas costing quite a lot more than here.

Good luck!

Just to make this perfectly clear, Coop Fine Food Angus Sirloin Steak is almost certianly one of the more expensive you can buy here, apart from Kobe beef.

Good steaks can be obtained from any of the independant butchers for about Chf 50-55 per kg. Sure it's more expensive than elsewhere, but thern as you remark, so is your salary and i guess a Swiss butchers' salary is also more than elsewhere. A supermarket checkout girl will get somewhere between Chf 3'800 - 4'500 per month x 13 for a 40-45 hour week.

i get a little bit more than that in zürich. i send home 2k USD to debt obligations there. i am married here. we live in a one bedroom and its not much left over but its enough. we dont own a car.

you will spend 200 CHF a week doing nothing. Like.. going to the grocery, picking up dry cleaning, eating lunch out, maybe the odd beer with a friend (beers are 7CHF each about).

i would think from a 115k salary youd bring home around 7k a month. your rent will be at least 2 to 2.5.

keep in mind the taxes change significantly one canton to the next. Zug is tax cheap but dull and small and kinda lame. if you live 20mins away by train in Luzern youll have a lot more eye candy as far as neat places to see; the town is gorgeous and the rents are less but the taxes are quite a bit higher.

goodluck and welcome to God's Garden.

and ps. this forum is filled with cantankerous brits. never ask a question without searching for it in the search portion and google and researching at your local university library for 87 hours before asking or you will get loads of snarc dumped on you.

how many years exp? if you are a recent grad, congratulations. if you are more experienced, low offer.

First question, why "per month x 13" or is that a typo? A supermarket checkout girl here would make about 40% of that.

You're also ignoring the fact that US tax rates are way higher than that of Switzerland. His base salary of 112'000 turns into something like 70'000 after all the various taxes and deductions which will still be taken out if he's a US citizen. Granted, ignoring the bonus here.

Steaks here, Angus, can be had for the equivalent of about Chf 8 per kg so that's 6-7 times more expensive than the price you mention for "good" steaks. I've even managed to get prime sirloin for that same price but I have no idea how they sold it at that. While the multipliers are not as high, I see 2x, 3x, etc for chicken (Chf 4.0 / kg here) and pork. Eggs are like 3-4x, etc.

I found this website months ago and I think it's fairly accurate. Some of the US prices are a little high as these are Newark city prices versus a suburban environment (15 mins outside of New York City) like I live but not a lot.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...J&city2=Zurich

It is not bad at all if your work experience in the range of 5-8 years, middle manager level and speaking no German …adds paid for having German and French.

It's almost weekend so I'm interpreting this very optimistically: when I finally find my place in Switzerland, I'll be losing a lot of kilograms Back to the shape I was in when I was still playing ice hockey 5 times a week

Advice:
1) Visit a website such as www.jobs.ch
2) Do a search using the word "tax"
3) You'll get quite some and this should get you on track towards an informed benchmark of salaries (for instance, contacting some of the recruiting firms who also have roles on it and discussing your qualifications, reasonable salary level for it, etc.) - who knows, you might even get a better (paying) job out of it

I've also done my homework on what range of salary I should be looking for in Switzerland - both by speakig with people I know who work there and getting feedback from headhunters. A few reference points quickly helps you narrow down the range to what one could reasonably expect.