Hello!

I think this is a quite important subject...

I came to know it should also be possible to deduct the amount you yearly invest in pillar 3a, even if you have a B permit and earn less than 120000 CHF

Moreover somebody told me it should also be possible to deduct the amount you pay for eating at lunch, when your company does not have its own restaurant.

But all this information is pure 'voice' heard by colleagues etc...

Does anybody have a better knoeledge on this?

Thanks a lot!

Ciao,

Gianmarco

Hi Fabrizio

If your annual Gross Income exceeds CHF120,000 then your are obliged to file a tax return form . This has to be sent to the regional authorities by March 31  following the end of the tax period you are declaring .

Normally this form should be sent out to you from the regional tax authorities if you have nt received it then I would drop in or call up and request they send you out one.  

 Unfortunately there is no english version from this form .

I would suggest you use a tax advisor the first time especially  if you have no one who can help you with the translation and you are not familiar with the various expenses that can be additionally deducted .

Employees with lower salaries have the option to file a tax return and to pay the assessed tax. But honestly it could turn out that you end up paying more money to the authorities   as all the typical deductions and allowances are standardized and directly included in the tax at source tariff . Though this is not always the case It all depend s on your actual expenses .

There is quite a few expenses that can be deducted . If you are single no kids etc , then its pretty straight forward , if you are married with a family i strongly suggest you see a tax advisor so you don t miss out on anything .

Alimony payments are deductible , travel expenses  (portion) Further education , Life Insurance , portion of medical expenses , children , child minder when both parents are working or a single parent.....

Thanks

Ash

http://www.vd.ch/fr/themes/etat-droit/impots/vaudtax/vaudtax-2008/telecharger/

go to this site and download the tax declaration form and you can select it in english i believe (once it's downloaded) then you can simply fill it out and see for yourself what you may apply as deductions. it does all the necessary calculations automatically. no need to be good at sums :-)

although it's for the canton of vaud, there is also one for geneva i believe. in any case it can give you a pretty good idea. in most cases income taxed at source is always more than what you need to pay.

Hi,

I live in Switzerland and work in Liechtenstein. So I have to do my declaration anyway.

The first year I used the tax advisor and frankly to say I did not like the result or service.  Though it is understandable from their point of view, as once you get how to fill it in, you do not need them anymore.   So this year I did it myself (thought in German) and consulted my collegues re different expenses. Of course I do not have any "special&difficult" expenses.

So if you need some advise you are welcome. You can write me directly.

Regards,

Tatiana