Hi, I was offered a very nice job in Basel as a software developer. I currently live in German town near Basel (around 45 minutes away) so i will be commuting everyday. I will get paid around 100k/year. I haven't received the contract yet so I don't know more details.

However I'm very reluctant about accepting the offer, mainly because I don't know if it's a good move or not from a financial perspective. My current salary in Germany is 55k/year. But i'm not sure what will happen from a taxes perspective. Is Switzerland gonna deduce taxes as well? Do contracts in Switzerland normally also include health insurance or would I be required to pay one from my salary? What I'm trying to find out if I will be really saving much more money after all by living in Germany and commuting to Switzerland. I can't move out mainly because of my wife and kinds since we have friends and family where we currently live and don't wanna ruin the social atmosphere for us.

I really appreciate any help on this! Thanks a lot.

If you commute every day, the germans will want to tax your swiss salary. German taxes are significantly higher than swiss, easily 40-50% of your salary increase will be lost to the taxes. The swiss will charge some tax at source too, but that should be deductable under double taxation treaties, so that in the end you just end up paying the higher tax of the two, which is obvilously the german.

No

Yes. I think as a non-resident you can freely choose either get a swiss one or keep an equivalent german one, whatever is cheaper.

Thanks a lot for answering this. Can you give me an estimate how much "netto" will end up in my bank account after all of that?

The swiss should take out of your brutto salary just the tax at source and various social deductions. Tax at source rate for "Grenzgänger" is low, I think 4.5% or so. But don't be deceived by it. After your german taxes are processed, you'll still owe the rather high german taxes as if you earned all this money in Germany. Germany's highest marginal income tax rate of 42% kicks in already from 53665 EUR income, so that's what you'll probable pay in taxes on the salary difference. The germans should subtract from their tax bill whatever amount the swiss withheld to prevent double taxation, so effectively you'll owe in total just the german taxes.

Major swiss social security deductions: AHV/IV (state pension) 5.125%, ALV (unemployment insurance) 1.1%, some varying amount for company pension plan (maybe 5-10% or so), possibly some small amount for accident insurance. Cheapest swiss health insurance is around 200-300 Fr/month, but you'll probably be able to keep a german one instead.

So if my salary is 100K a year and considering the high german taxes + whatever swiss taxes, then I should end up with around 50k a year netto. Now if I also subtract 300 Euros monthly for the health insurance I should be around 45k/year.

Well ... that should be pretty good then, right!? My current German salary is 55k/year *before* taxes, and now if I accept the job in Basel then I will end up with 45k/year netto. Am I calculating things wrong?!

Sounds around right. But on the other hand if you'd live in Switzerland, you'd probably get like 75-80k/year netto = 100k - 10k taxes - 10-15k deductions and insurance. Renting will be certainly more costly here, but you'd also save a lot on commute, both time and money. If you have any non negligible wealth in stocks, swiss residence is also much better - lower dividend taxes and no capital gains taxes.

I'm deeply thankful for all your helpful answers!

Most important question though is what nationality are you? If an EU, yes you can do the cross border thing. If a non-EU national it may not be possible and the only way to accept the position would be for you to move to Switzerland if the permit application is approved.

Yes I'm non EU but I have a permanent residence in Germany, so I believe i can do it.

In that case, you most likely can't.

Tom

you change from 55k to 100k. that is the main difference.
you need to look for typical German benefits that you will not receive, like the employer contribution for health insurance.
also, be aware that you have a currency risk with CHF/EUR in your base income.

you have to be careful. first of all have you informed your expected emlpoyer in switzerland that you are non-EU? as they Need to apply for your Permit first. you can not work in switzerland with your German permanent residency unless you have Passport issued by any EU Country.


if you are considering EU Blue Card then please note that switzerland is not part of EU.


so i dont think you have choice. you will have to live in Switzerland only.


HTH

a) Your prospective employer will have to prove they can't find a Swiss/EU national who can do the job. Your permanent status in Germany means nothing in this respect.

b) You must have lived in the border zone next to Basel for at least 6 months. Whether you do or not, you'd need to check with Basel's migration office as I can't find a map to show exactly what area in Germany this covers.

No.

Same rules apply for non-EU working in Switzerland whether you live in Germany or not - i.e. lengthy justification by the employer as to why you're the only one able to do the job, proof there are no qualified CH/EU candidates etc.pp. And for someone who wants to live in Germany, on top of all that, you need to have lived in the border zone (everything with a postal code 79***) for a certain period of time, not sure how long, used to be a couple of years or so, now it's less I think.

If that town 45mins away is in the above postal code, then maybe it's possible. If they can prove everything else they're supposed to prove of course. Your residence permit for Germany doesn't make you eligible to work in Switzerland - the only thing that counts for that is your nationality.

Hi Guys,

Decided not to start a new thread as the most of information is here already. I am going through an interview process with one of engineering companies north of Baden.

I am planning to live as above in Germany whilst working in Switzerland. I do understand all tax calculations and contributions however health insurance isn't clear to me at all.

My wife would look after our little boy no she wouldn't work

Sorry ignore last line....

My wife would look after our 2 months old boy so she wouldn't work to start with. We are EU citizens and we don't know how to calculate how much we will need to spend on health insurance for all 3 of us.

Can't really start negotiating without knowing if it's likely to be 300e or 800e.

Is there anyone who can explain or give us some advise?

Many thanks in advance
Michal

Would we need to get it in Germany ?
Is it possible to use state health insurance ?
How much could it be?

Really appreciate your help

Here the information from the Swiss goverment.
https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home...rinnen-ch.html

You and all non-working family members will need either at Swiss health insurance or optionaly German health insurance. You must request an exemption from Swiss health insurnace if you get German health insurnace.

https://www.kvg.org/en/application-a...--1--3097.html

Here the information from a Swiss health insurance company:
https://www.swica.ch/en/private/insu...-insurance/faq

You will have to check wich option is cheaper / provides better coverage. Be aware that you cannot easiliy switch from one country's helath insurance to another.

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"I think so, Brain. But where are we going to find a gallon of whip cream and three yards of lederhosen at this time of night? Narf!"

Hi,

Really helpful. Thanks a lot. If I decided to go for German family package is this just a private policy or it needs to be a certain one for a grenzgangen?

Really appreciate your help.

Many many thanks,
Michal

Not quite sure why you want to live in Germany and work in Switzerland. Living near the German border in Aargau I can tell you that the traffic to commute is brutal. This is what you want to be facing everyday???

Affordable housing can be found in Aargau. This isn't Zurich where people queue up for apartment viewings. In fact there are many empty apartments in Canton Aargau, though this varies by location. If apartment living is not for you, (in case you have pets, for example) houses can also be found, though it can, but not always, be more expensive than an apartment.

Health insurance premiums in Switzerland you can compare on line. There are many options, so the premiums can vary.

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