Would anyone help with the following question please: A U.K. citizen lives in Switzerland and has Permit C. At the same time, he/she keeps a flat in the UK, without letting it out, for personal use. I understand that this flat is subject to a wealth tax in Switzerland. Does this person also need to report "Eigenmietwert" (imputed income) of the UK flat on the Swiss tax return, even if this concept does not exist in the U.K.? Thank you so much.

No...

I was told the same by a tax guy. As I liked the answer I didn't question it further.

Lucky you! Have to report my flat in Berlin for tax purposes. I was told that you need to report when you own the property abroad more than 10 years....

You have to report it as an asset.

You don't have to report the "Eigenmietwert".

Thank you, I agree, but my accountant insists I have to report both. He already made some mistakes in my return, I worry that he is wrong, but need a confirmation.

What she said.

Enter Meiteinkommen as 0, and enter Hypothek, and you could probably also deduct "Unterhalt" - use the pauschal.

Then traipse through this website:
http://www.gr.ch/DE/institutionen/ve...liegenschaften

In Kanton Aagrau you don't. But maybe the rules are different in Graubünden?!

If you don't have to pay any tax on it, then why do you need to report it at all?

The OP is reporting to Swiss tax authorities.

If you own property abroad, it counts as an asset you own, therefore you pay "value" tax - it affects your overall worth. The Swiss do not have "off-shore" assets. You are legally required to report all global assets and include them in your tax returns.

My accountant says I also need to report Eigenmietwert on my UK flat. I think he is wrong, but I need proof to show to him. He says there is no tax on it as such, but this imputed income (not the real one) puts one in a higher tax bracket in Switzerland, so one ends up paying more tax.

I have income from my UK property which I declare, so to be honest, I am not 100% sure on your situation... but it does sound like you might need to change accountant.

The value tax is generally a small % charge, so a UK property would not massively change this. Income tax, however, is another matter and does change your overall tax rate much more as I understand it.

A Google search for "eigenmietwert ferienwohnung ausland"
shows that the Eigenmietwert for a foreign property is not added as income, but still used to determine the tax rate. (Which support your accountants view)
Some cantons allow to deduct expenses which may be higher than Eigenmietwert, some other put a limit on it.

For a clear answer contact your cantons tax office: www.stv.gr.ch

Eigenmietwert is a value added to your income. The amount is issued by the Swiss Gemeinde in which the property lies. How can a property outside Switzerland be valued? It can't.

Also I was advised by my Swiss tax office to halve the value of my UK property for their tax form. It certainly should not be the market value - perhaps the price you paid, less wear and tear....

Thank you very much. Your answer has been very helpful.

Thank you very much, this has been very helpful. Thank you also for taking time to research this.

Thank you very much.

So in 2015 when I first did a tax return I declared my flat in the EU (not let out) and put a value of zero as Eigenmietwert. Surprise surprise, the Zurich tax office corrected it and added a an Eigemietwert of 4.6% of the declared value. Nothing was added for a piece of land I also own.

Yep, that's how it works. You either start with the value and they impute an effective rental income or you rent it and the value is calculated from the actual rental income. It might in some cases be beneficial to "rent out" a property at the lower end of the rental range in order to decrease the book value of the house.


There is no tax on the income or imputed income but it is used to bump up your tax rate, so effectively there is tax on the income and it can be quite high. I get the feeling I make no money at all out of renting my UK property.

The teax office will probably correct it anyway if you do it wrong.

This happened to me. I have a holiday house in Spain which I don't have any income on (I considered doing AirB&B or something but decided it wasn't worth the bother). During the first few years I reported Eigenmietwert. Then i stopped as like you, I understood that it wasn't required. In my last tax return I saw they actually corrected it back for me. I haven't checked the earlier years.

Anyway, the sum is pretty much peanuts either way.

My tax office told me to state a value that I thought it was worth, nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen. I was never asked to justify that value or produce any documents backing anything up. In Switzerland a lot is still based on trust.