Nathan,

Each employer will withhold the taxes at source based on the salary of one of the spouses (their employee), computed on the rate which is applicable to a single person (without any children). At the end of the year you should inform the tax authorities of the total salaries of the couple. At this occasion, the tax authorities will add both revenues, apply a few limited deductions if you inform them (re-purchase of pension plans, contributions to a personal "3a" pension plan) and compute the taxes due based on the rate for a married couple (with children if any).

The employees who have management reponsibilities may received certain tax-free representation allowances (if agreed with their employer) and the expatriates may receive certain tax-free indemnities of residence (subject to conditions). These tax-free amounts also apply in matter of taxation at source.

If someone resides in France, there is in principle no possiblity to file an ordinary tax return in Switzerland, except in a few limited cases (such as a self-employed activity in Switzerland or the ownership of a real estate in Switzerland).

Per

Hi Per,

It has been a long time since you last kindly helped me out on this matter. I am now settled here and looking at things in more detail.

I am now getting the impression that I will have a hefty tax bill at the end of the year because my wife and I both work in Geneva whilst living in France.

At the moment our companies both tax us at source as singles on tax code A. Do you know if it is true that at the end of the year the authorities will add our incomes together and tax it as if we were just one person paying tax code A?

If it is, and my maths is correct, we will owe tens of thousands of francs due to the exponential nature of tax rates in Geneva. This unknown is naturally a big worry for me. It seems hugely unfair to penalise marriage in this way, because ultimately if we lived together unmarried we would be those tens of thousands of francs better off.

I am very grateful for any knowledge or advice you may have on this matter.

Cheers,

Nathan

Hi there, 

There is an option if over 90% of your household income (not sure if that is gross or net) comes from Switzerland for you to file a tax return in Switzerland rather than get taxed at source (also not sure if this applies to cantons other than Geneva). You need to work out the relative benefit of this before applying as you cannot backtrack if you find that it will penalise you further. 

There is more information on this in this article: http://www.eycom.ch/publications/items/tax_news/20100812_taxalert/20100812_tax_alert_hc.pdf

Hi all,

i came accross this thread as I have a similar question, maybe something has changed or someone has more info since 2011 on this topic.

Basically both my partner and I live in France and work in Geneva. We are expecting our second child in July and are wondering about getting married. So far we understood that by having one child you're better off not married and now the question is, would we pay more tax as a married couple with two kids and both of us working in Geneva or might it be actually fiscally of advantage to get married?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers