Quick question about how to complete the tax return for the year of arrival in CH.

Are you supposed to list all interest and dividends received at any point in the calendar year, even if they were received prior to CH arrival? My accountant says yes, but this is surely leading to pretty clear double taxation. The country you leave from will also want to tax that payment as it was received before you left the country...

Second - if the bank makes interest payments on a yearly basis, in April, but you arrived in March, then what to do? Technically I understand you should still declare the whole amount - despite being in the country for just a few weeks prior to the payment, which covered 12 months (and goes back to the previous calendar year)??

Any advice appreciated.

I can't answer your questions but you're in for a world of hurt

I remember getting a tax bill equivalent to 90% of my yearly income for this 'transition' year after some typos made at the municipal tax office

I can imagine you have to fill in the full amounts of interest etc received and that at the end some sort of pro-rata is done according to how many months you spent in CH ?

What are you paying your accountant for anyway if you have to ask questions here on a laymans forum, isn't knowing stuf like this your accountants job ?

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Happiness is a full tank of gas (or better yet, diesel !)

For me the tax authority in Switzerland recalculated my income for the last 2 months of the year to an annual base. Tax % was based on the annual calculation and not the actual income for the partial year.

They tend to err on the side of caution - its not their money, after all...

Fairly good illustration of why it pays to double-check and not simply rely on the 'experts'.

You should hace closed the account in March, many UK accounts have a choice to pay interest in March or April so that you can delay paying higher rate taxation for a year or possibly avoiding it totally in your case. You have to declare the full dividend if you make a tax return, I have heard many people don't bother.

I have a similar question as Eiger (I'm new in the forum)...
when you work for a limited time here in Switzerland (one or two yerars) and you paid all taxes in this period
if you come back are you allowed to ask for these taxes back? especially for those that goesin the previdence program
Tx

I just did a tax return for the year in which I arrived, and it did not include any UK items from before the time I moved to Switzerland.

Similarly, the UK HMRC allows the concession of treating you as non-resident from the time you leave, not the end of that tax year (as long as you're going to be away for a whole UK tax year).

This should be possible; if you get a bonus which only partially relates to work done in Switzerland, you can argue that the non-Swiss part is not subject to Swiss tax (or so I have heard, at least).

If your accountant hasn't answered these questions, then I'm sure there is a thread on EF giving you advice on how to find a new one.