Here's my situation...... I'm living in Zurich since beginning of November 2011. I work as an air stewardess and commute to London for work at least four/five times a month. I pay uk national insurance but not tax. I have received a tax form for 2011 all in German. I have been to the local tax office to see if there was an English version.. No luck.... Is there anyone out there that can give me a clue as to what do. I know that I only have to fill the forms in for nov/dec, but google translate only gives me the basic translation.... Please help or point me in the right direction

assume you are registered in CH and pay tax at source (your compnay takes tax from you directly) ?

I have a B permit for Switzerland and the company I work for put me in the section 690! I haven't paid uk tax since the end of November and my salary is still paid into my uk bank account

Whilst you may well have a Swiss tax return to fill in I doubt the UK revenue will accept that you have really left the UK permanantly for a settled purpose. They have won cases against 2 pilots one claimed to live in South Africia. If your visiting the UK 4 or 5 times a month there is very little chance that you will escape being ordinarilly resident in the UK inder the new proposed rules.
Do you have any accomadation available in the UK?
UK tax is 'self assesment', it's your responsibility to pay what you owe on time.

Thanks for your quick responses. I don't think I made my situation clear. I am long haul crew and just pass through London and only stay in a hotel maybe one or two nights at the most in the airport area a month. I do not have any property in the uk. I understand that I cannot be in the uk more than 92 days in a year averaging over three. My company used to pay my tax at source and I have never been asked to self assess, my company advised me I wouldn't be paying tax in the uk because I fall under this section 690. Basically on my days off which roughly amount to 12 per month I am here in Switzerland, I am not earning in Switzerland, I just need to know what tax/taxes I should pay here in Switzerland and why.

http://www.steueramt.zh.ch/internet/.../software.html

You can download the software in German, there was a thread last year how to fill in a Zurich Tax return, each section of the form was explained in English.

You might prefer to take a tax advisor, again the search function will help, the lady everybody recomends is Denise.

Thank you for your help

If any individual entry is unclear, then raise it here.

I think some should be self explanatory even with minimal German and Google translate whereas others may be more tricky.

I guess the OP doesn't earn enough to make a tax accountant worthwhile.

It could be that her HR dept could provide some support though.

This thread is nothing without fotos

And welcome to the forum.

I can give you some tips - this is with Bern experience, so it may slightly differ than Zurich.

1) If you live in Switzerland for less than 5 years and stay more than 180 days a year - then you have to declare your income, where they accordingly will decide if you have to pay taxes or not.

2) less than 5 years stay for EU citizens, is same like less than 10 - 12 years for non EU citizens except of some exceptions, where taxes are atsourced from them, means automatically deducted from their salary.

3) There is an exception to point 2 which is if you earn more than 120'000 CHF a year, then you need to declare your income and your expenses - where you may pay more than tha deductable amount that was taken automaticaly from your salary or you will get some of it that they took as an extra amount based upon your expenses.

4) the simplest thing, is to download the software and use its defaults, if you are lucky enough, you will see at the end that you will get from them some money back.

5) Some things may also be deducted from the deduction they made and returned back to you - which is your transportation to work (percentage) - your medical treatment, charity payment and some family support (parents) that exceeds 4100 CHF per year.

If the Software is not so clear to you - write down what parts are not understood ( copy the German parts the way they are) and hopefuly will help you with understanding them,

I have very limited experience, but I just had the same issue you had last year that is why I still remember all that stuff.

Good luck.

Whilst your advice is generally good, the OP does not work for a Swiss company or works in Switzerland so unfortunately it's not relivent. The OP lives here & has a B permit so is liable to pay taxes on her world wide earnings in Switzerland

@flygirl13

Welcome to the forum.

Have a look at this very helpful "Sticky" by EF Moderator, Longbyt - Taxes - Advisors/Accountants / Cantonal Offices / ZH Tax forms / Expat US Taxes - and which should hopefully provide you with some, if not all, of the answers to your questions. In particular, the threads on How to do your tax return Kt ZH and Finding a tax advisor, consultant or accountant.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Thank you everyone for all your posts. They have been really helpful. Also thank you for welcoming me to the forum