Do you know if the donation to a parent of an apartment located abroad does trigger any taxation on the swiss side?
I guess it doesn't and I guess, as donor, I could just stop reporting the apartment in my next tax return right? Or should I first declare the donation somehow?
I'm very new to the topic, any suggestion is appreciated.

If you suddenly stop reporting something that you previously reported, expect to get a letter asking for an explanation.

No problem.

Tom

Bullshit.

Empty a bank account, even of several 100k, they don't ask what you did with the money.

Tom

Might not have happened to you but they did ask some friends of mine and the numbers were significantly lower than that.

Gift tax might be payable however in the parents' location, even if it's 'sold' for 1 currency unit.

As for the tax return, I'd suppose you'd have to tick the box "sold it", and the letter wouldn't be about the property but might be about what you did with the money.

I realize Ticino is a different planet, but I speak from my BIL's own experience getting a letter from the Bernese authorities. They weren't rude or anything. They requested a written explanation for why his net worth changed. If he didn't want to do that, for whatever reason, okay - but the canton would figure the taxes as if nothing had changed.

The parents might also have a CGT liability based on the market value at disposal rather than sale price, depending on their countries CGT rules.

Sounds very strange indeed.
We sold art years ago and my account rose significantly. I definitely expected them to ask, yet they didn't bother! They just adapted the wealth tax accordingly.

Using your money is not illegal and will not be asked after.
A house disappearing from the taxform could be as they want to know the gain one made on it. Declaring it as a donation is simple.

Donations are taxable in Switzerland for the recipient only. So it depends whether OP's parents live in Switzerland.
And if OP decides to pay the donation tax for the parents as well, he should definitely not declare that as it will be added to the donation and taxable. We once donated shares to someone and paid the taxes privately to her and she paid her bill.

__________________
It's all a matter or perspective.
So move your butt and look at it from the other side

A sort of similar situation:

We inherited the IL’s house in the US, so for a short time it became part of our wealth.

After we finally finished all the legal fol-de-rol with the estate, a bit over a year later, we then donated the house to the IL’s church. That had been FIL’s wish, but he hadn’t got around to putting his wishes it in writing before he died - which is why the house passed to us in the first place.

Since we had already asked the Steueramt for advice on reporting other aspects of the estate, they suggested that we write a letter explaining that we gave the house away. Done and dusted, never heard a peep from them on the subject again.

Honestly, I wonder if Steueramt would even have noticed had we not already been discussing other matters with them.

Great, so no big deal on CH side.
Will check on the IT side.
Thank you everyone.

A theoretical question:

If one were to sell a Swiss property to someone living in Switzerland for CHF 1 - or even CHF 100 or CHF 1000 - a legit sale rather than a gift but a sale for only a symbolic amount, what are the tax consequences?

Could the Steueramt come after the seller for some kind of theoretical capital gains, or any other tax?

Just curious...

If you sell below the official valuation, I suspect there is a very good chance they would investigate. I suspect both CGT & Gift tax issues, they are not stupid. Tax evasion over 300k in 1 year is now a criminal offence in CH, so it's more than a slap for forgetting.

In the UK any disposals below market value attract CGT based on market value, unless donated to a charity. Plenty of people try to avoid inheritance tax this way & surprised when they get investigated & huge fines on top of the CGT.

Seeing as the sale would have to go through the local Notoriat and Grundbuchamt I think that there would be more eyebrows raised. No chance...

I was thinking more along the lines of finding an easy way to give property to a small private charity, one that I don't think is officially registered as such. This would happen (hopefully) well before one kicks the bucket, so not an inheritance tax dodge but rather a way for what is a cumbersome asset to one party to be used to benefit a worthy cause.

So how would one accomplish this in the most cost effective way for both the giver and recipient?