Hi all,

I recently started a part time MBA course in Zurich in August 2018 and the course costs about CHF30k. The payment is to be paid in 2 installments: September 2018 CHF10K and March 2019 for CHF20k. For tax reduction, I was told that i could deduct the study cost from my salary.

I was not working before and I got a new job since 01 Oct 2018. For tax declaration 2018, can I still deduct the study cost since the bill of CHF10K is dated 01 September 2018 and my job started in 01 October 2018? Must the date of the MBA bill be after the start date of my employment in order to deduct the study costs from my salary to reduce tax payment ?

I look forward for your opinions.

Thanks!

Taxes are done on a calendar year basis here so yes you should be able to claim the deduction, assuming you were a resident the whole time.

Thanks for your Information. Must the job related to the studies in order to deduct the study cost from the salary for tax reduction?

Can one work as a Waitress or Cleaner but deduct the MBA cost from the salary? I know this is an extreme example but just want to better understand the tax system here.

Look forward to hearing from you.

It needs to be work related and you need to be eligible to complete a tax return.

I did a part time MBA when I first moved here in summer 2009. I wasn’t eligible to complete a tax return in 2009, so my work funded tax accountants wrote a letter to the tax authorities to try and get the fees deducted and make some other changes to lower my taxes. The tax office asked for so much proof and repeated their questions in slightly different ways for so long that it got to the point where the accountants ran out of company budget to carry on arguing with them. I could have paid them to carry on fighting, but the benefit to me would have been marginal after I’d paid the accountants, assuming I won of course.

In the following years when I completed a tax return the fees sailed through without question, as have my girlfriends.

This was all in ZH.

In Ct. Schaffhausen up to CHF 12'000 can be deducted for educational costs per year insofar as the coursework is occupational-oriented. Hobby and self-development courses are not considered occupational-oriented. See 15.11 on p. 32 of the 2017 Ct. Schaffhausen tax instructinos at this link for support:

https://www.sh.ch/fileadmin/Redaktor...Wegleitung.pdf

There's a form for underpaid taxed-at-source people to request tax corrections for extraordinary items, this probably qualifies. Just beware of very tight deadlines, March 31 in ZH or you're out of luck

Hi there,
I live in Lucerne and work in Zurich. Those anyone knows if an online course can be tax deductible? and if its, does it need to br from a EU academy? or can be for example from an academy in the US

thank!

Yes it can. No limitations on the what, only on the who (i.e. can be from anywhere as long as you meet the conditions).

Interesting. I am planning on studying with the OU, I guess I can deduct this from my tax then?

normally only courses from berufschulen, hochfachschule, fachhochschulen and similare are tax deductible.

https://steuerbuch.lu.ch/index/band_...bildungskosten

for more exact information please contact the Steueramt in Luzern