Dear EF,

Over the past few years I have been going in person to a Steuerberater. My situation hasn't changed that much so I would like to switch to an online service, but still have an expert do a review. Does anyone have any recommendations of any online tax services?

Thanks,
Phillip

Try this guy. About as good as most experts [ref], but MUCH cheaper.

@Ivank - Thanks for the response. You're saying an 8 ball or a throw of dice is as just as reliable as a Steuerberater? ��

The reference about Steuerberater Checks was interesting...can really anyone call themselves a Steuerberater? I thought there would be greater control here in Switzerland.

Steuerberater could tell you you're good to go even without looking through your papers, yet still charge you the full rate, and how will you know? The 8 ball or a dice can do the same at a much lower cost to you

The penalty for making errors (and "errors") in a tax declaration is minimal, don't bother paying a guy to double check it. Things only start to get really serious (criminal) from 300k+ of dodged taxes or if you submit falsified third party statements

Making a mistake in tax declaration is no big deal. That's why the tax guys go through your declaration after all. I once missed a 0 in a bank account, the tax guys got back to me, I corrected it and that was the end of the matter.
On the whole I've found them helpful when I've had to deal with them and you're certainly not going to get punished for minor errors. They may be a little less friendly if you're obviously concealing things from them.

I wish I had known this before.
I paid to have my 2015 tax declaration professionally made, and there was a mistake (he/we filed the ordinary tax forms while we were subject to tax withholding). We still don't know if we will get our deduction applied, probably not.

When I then went to the tax office in Zürich I realized how helpful they are. No line at all. They speak English after you show an attempt of speaking German. And they clearly tell you to do your best when filling the form, nothing more. We probably would have avoided the mistake, and saved the tax accountant fees.

@roastedrhino - are you saying the tax authorities are willing to explain how to fill out sections of the paperwork?

P.s. like your name handle (although something else comes to mind when I hear rhino :-) )

The two times I went there there was zero line, I went right into one of the booths (more like small offices, to be onest). No time pressure at all, I could explain my questions and get the answers I needed. Not speaking German made things a bit more difficult, but with a bit of preparation I had a list of keywords to use.

I think that they would be happy to help if you fill the tax forms online, print a draft, and then go there and ask specific questions. Especially if you do it well ahead of time (I just received the code for the 2017 tax forms, so any day is good now).