There is a certain sum that you can deduct without having to explain it or provide receipts. This is the Pauschale. If you actually spend less than the Pauschale it is still OK to deduce the full Pauschale. If you spend more then you have to break it down. Ditto for health costs, travelling expenses, work-related clothing etc. etc.

And finally: how did you learn all this?? Is there a guide that I can buy (in English)?

All charities I've ever donated to have sent me a receipt and I use this rather than the bank statement.

Traveling costs to and from work?! Wow, how does that work?

how much is the Pauschale? Where can I find all this for Kt Zurich?

I don't know about English but if you use the cantonal tax software all this stuff is in the online help. It's also interesting to just play around and enter different figures and see how this effects the final tax sum. This gives you some feeling of which areas are worth spending some time on to optimize properly and which areas deliver so little saving that it isn't worth investing the time to optimize.

Fantastic! How can I download the Kt Zurich tax software?

http://www.steueramt.zh.ch/html/steu...g/software.htm

You can deduct the price of a year ticket for public transport for that journey.

In certain situations you can alternatively deduct the costs of driving (on the basis of a per kilometer allowance) but in Kt Zurich that only works if you can reasonably claim that you don't have public transport or that using it would take you considerably longer or cause you excessive discomfort. I don't know how strictly they check these claims up.

Only if you work too far from home to return there for lunch.

Tom

While I live too close (1/2 mile) to deduct car or public transport, I can still deduct CHF 700/year for bicycle expenses.

(and yes, I do have one)

Tom

You might be better off deducting the Pauschale though (unless that is where the 700CHF figure comes from?).

there's a sign on a advisors door near me which also quotes 50chfs for a tax return.

I think I narrowly escape this one, but just in case, is the Paschaule in the software?

Well actually under section 16.3 you can only deduct third party costs related to managing your wealth ("externe Vermögensverwaltung"), and filling out the tax form does not belong to this (cf. also Ktipp).

You can, however, deduct 3 Promille of the amount of securities you own and are being managed by a third party (i.e. they are not at home in your safe) as a Pauschale for external management costs without having to submit further proof. So if you have a CHF 100'000 worth of shares, you can deduct CHF 300...

The tax forms come with a 48 page explanation of every clause, this is where I found all this info...

we were quoted 180 CHF per hour....

Abfab - where (what line...) does one claim the 500 CHF for filing own taxes on the Zurich Canton tax software?

for charities, there is an automatic 300 CHF deduction...

cheers,

I always put it under 16.3. But apparently this is wrong as this should be third party costs, however the figure has never been questioned in 20 years...

You've been here forever though.
Not really an option if you're just in country.

For the CHF 1000 we were quoted I thought that I would give it a go myself.

In my second year here, I downloaded the eTax program and translated all the fields. The biggest problem was finding out what rates to convert the different currencies and the different rates for year end (assets) and incomes/expenses - and the tax office helped me with that.

You need to submit copies of all your forms with the tax declaration and they do check all what you have entered. I put the wrong figure for a couple of mortgages that year (I had 6 that year) and they corrected it.

Finding out what I can and can't claim is invaluable. I know now that I can basically do any course and claim it and my office at home, provided it is used 3 days every week. Now I know why all my neighbours have an office at home.