Hi. My parents (in my home country) just wired some money into my bank account as a gift. The amount is something like my total salary for one whole year.

My question is: will this incur additional tax?

I am taxed normally, and usually I go to a fiduciaire for the tax déclaration, and I have to supply my yearly banking statement. My banking statement for 2014 will have a balance jump, will this incur additional tax, if yes, is that a lot?

Yes it will incur tax. You are taxed on your world wide assets and income, so you had better wire it back straight away! Then accept presents only after you have spoken to your tax advisor!

Aww Sbrinz, don't scare him so much. I thought gifts from parents (under a certain amount) were not taxable as income, but are taxable as part of your total wealth. You just declare it and explain the source on your tax return. I'd think that transferring the money back quickly would raise eyebrows as potential money-laundering.

Or spend it all before December 31st as the balance of your bank account on that date is what is used for the calculation

If you have a double income for one year then the tax office will surely notice, and it will be taxed. How can you spend one year salary without leaving any traces?

All gifts are taxed, so in my opinion it is best to send it back until you have found a way around the Swiss tax laws. Remember, anything over $10,000 is reported, and flagged as possible drug money. It might even be confiscated until the OP can supply a good story!

Dear all
in my opinion the first question is: in which canton do you live. The second one will be: Did the canton skip the inheritance tax or not.

Cheers
Andy

Claim it as inheritance, no tax then.

Tax/free gits are limited to CHF 13000/year as I recall.

Tom

And you think the tax office have access to your bank account details?

Inheritance occurs only on death, no?
Maybe I am wrong. I am now studying the website of financial department of my canton (VS) to see if I can find some information.

Move to Zurich quickly, gifts from parents to children there are tax free!

Lol it's OK as long as I move to zurich before 31 December. And then I move back to valais the 1 jan. Oh no it's public holiday so i move back on 3 Jan...

It seems that in Valais gifts are taxable above a threshold (which in my case is clearly exceeded) and no distinguish is made if the gift is from parents.

I think maybe the best is to ring the fiduciaire though.

Obviously not without a trace (but I don't see anywhere where the OP said he/she wanted to use the money without a trace) - you can easily use it as a part or whole of a downpayment to purchase real estate or other assets. Done. It's got a purpose.

Some general info on gift taxes - I'd still look up the relevant tax laws in your Canton, and also if there are any exceptions in terms of amount, where the gift comes from, etc.

Here in the US, personal gifts received by a US person (for tax purposes) under a certain amount are tax exempt, and the threshold varies depending on whether the gift sender is also a US person (for tax purposes) or a non-US person.

Edit: OP, it seems you're already headed that way. Good luck!

__________________
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Have you googled this at all or just come to the forums?

When I researched this (expecting a sizeable gift of similar size from parents overseas as well), it seemed from all sources that gift tax is levied on the giver, not the recepient.

In any case, in Zurich, the limit for gifts from parents is CHF 200'000 and there's a really simple calculator here

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

You might need to find a similar thing for your kanton. The below can also give you an idea.

https://www.credit-suisse.com/ch/pri...tabelle_en.pdf

FYI (old thread but I'd like to correct the information):

Donations from Parents to Kids in canton Zurich are not taxed at the moment.

It's donations from Kids to Parents that have a free allowance of 200,000 CHF.

Anyways it's best to consult with a tax advisor if you want to be sure (they are cheap in Switzerland). And your parents should also consult because depending on the country they live in they may be liable for taxes as well. Donations and inheritance across countries are not always easy to sort out.

So did you find the definite answer to your question from your fiduciaire about the amount on tax due? The reason we were told to declare our property in the UK, by our Fiduciaire, is that if ever we sell and bring the money into CH, we would have to account for it, and of course pay tax on it.

If parents give money to adult children in CH, above 10.000 CHF - parents have to pay tax on the gift!

Hi Odile,

It depends where the parents live / are domiciled. Indeed, in the UK, I think anything over a relatively nominal amount would be taxed as a gift. Elsewhere, possibly not.

Your fiduciare was probably suggesting that if you sell your house in the UK and bring the money into CH (money you should have already declared as Vermoegen in your tax return!) then you would be liable to pay wealth tax on this extra lump sum.

There is no stipulation that parents in CH giving gifts above 10k have to pay tax - it is a canton by canton thing, and if the parents and child live in different cantons, there may very well be no tax due whatsoever.

UK has zero gift tax, if the person giving the gift dies within 7 years it's potentially taxable only if above the IHT threshold .

I would need to check this, but I believe that in order to be tax free, the gift is only available in the 8th year after being in an inter-vivo trust for that period, i don't believe the gift is available to the giftee on day 1.

Please check, I'm not a tax lawyer, but have done something similar to this in the UK previously.

If it's below £325,000 it's subject to the nil band rate of taxation so always free. Anything above £325k is a potentially exempt transfer.

In any case no declaration of gifts is reported to the revenue

The tax liability rests with the estate of the giver, so it's a moot point.