Hello,

I'd like to share this information, as it may help others in the same situation and I didn’t find a clear answer in the forum before.

As you know, holders of a B permit are taxed at source, whether holders of C permits (or Swiss) declare taxes at the end of the year.

This causes a problem when someone with a B permit buys a house/apt, and he's therefore entitled to deduct from taxes (by decreasing the taxable income) the amount of interests paid and some types of renovation works. Usually, a C permit or a Swiss would just fill the tax declaration with these figures, and he would pay less taxes.

Being taxed at source, holders of B permits would have a problem doing that. So there is another module, a taxes refund type of declaration, that would allow people taxed at source to receive back what they shouldn’t have paid.

The tax office explained to us that the time line is quite long: concerning solar year 2011, we would need to fill out the form by March 2012, and then wait another year to receive back the money. So interests and renovations paid in 2011 would get a refund in 2013. As it may not seem very fair, they assured me that, in giving back the money, they take into account possible interests and inflation.

Anyway, by any means, it’s not possible to change the type of taxation, or to speed up the process to obtain a C permit, even if you’re a owner. Sadly.

This is for Vaud, but it should work the same way in other cantons.

HTH

On the other hand, tax repayments owed to you bear interest at 2% p.a., which is far better than any bank will give you at the moment. Tagesanzeiger recently reported that some folks in Zurich deliberately pay too much taxes in their provisional payments, then claim back the overpaid tax plus 2% interest (German language source only)