Swiss tax returns for expats

Wow, you found me!

Need help with your Swiss tax return?


Dear Sir or Madam,


You got my name/mail/number from a collegue (or found it somewhere else) and want to call me to talk about your Swiss taxes?

That's nice!

But I'd rather mail than call, because my English is better read and written than spoken (and that I'm hard of hearing, doesn't help either, sorry)...

So you still have a tax return to do? Basel-Stadt or an other canton?

Is it your first Swiss tax return ever

or perhaps only the first you have to do yourself - so we can have a look at the last tax return and see what informations we need?


How I do it:

You could send me all your infos/papers per eMail (or snail mail) and when I'm finished I send you your tax return
  • online as PDF, so you have to print it out, sign it, and put it in your original tax return form before you send it to the tax authorities
  • or on paper via snail mail, so you can sign and send the original to the tax authorities (and a copy stays with you)

Or you could come to me (Stein-Säckingen is circa half an hour from Basel) and bring everything* with you - and if nothing is missing we could do it right then so you could take your finished tax return right home with you (if you're married, your spouse has to sign too, before you can send it to the tax authorities)...


Costs perhaps about CHF 200.-


If you get a few months (or half a year) later your tax assessment (Definitive Steuerveranlagung) and aren't sure if it's correct, you can ask me.

(And if you want that all the tax papers go c/o directly to me, so I can have a look, that would be CHF 100.- extra p.a.)


Feel free to send me a mail with your infos - or you can call for a date, if you want to come to Stein... I live ca. 5-10 min. from the train station; and if you come by car, there's a place in front of my garage (Besucher-Parkplatz), so no worries. You have only to worry, if you are allergic - I have a cat!


Kind Regards,

Barbara

*) What do we need:

  • tax return (at least a scan of the first page with your address and tax number etc.)
  • infos about your birthday, job description, religion/denomination (for church tax) etc. - same for spouse and children
  • salary statement (Lohnausweis) - plus the monthly payslips, if the tax return is not for the whole year
  • bank accounts or other stuff: some bank-paper with the balance end of year on it as well as interests/dividends and fees (Steuerbescheinigung, Saldo- und Zinsausweis, Steuerverzeichnis, Depotverzeichnis zu Steuerzwecken whatever the statements are called, could also be a normal Kontoauszug, as long as we can see what we need) - if you have shares etc. we must know, if/when you bought or sold anything (well, it wouldn't matter to me, but the tax authorities want to know everything! ;-)
  • same goes for credits/debts
    (and if you have a credit card or something and you don't get a nice paper with the interest for the whole year, then bring all the monthly invoices where we can see the interest and we will add it up; bonus if we can see the balance end of year)
  • if you have real estate, we need: the address; year of construction; when did you buy/sell the house; the fair market value; income if rented out (Mieteinnahmen oder Eigenmiete); costs for insurance and repairs etc. (Liegenschaftsunterhalt) - if there's not much in costs/repairs/renovations, we can deduct a lump sum for all the normal stuff (and this depends on how old the house is)
  • other wealth items such as cars or life insurance (Lebensversicherung mit Rückkaufswert)
  • other income or deductions?
  • perhaps a Säule 3a (pillar 3a - if you have it, you will know it!) or an Einkauf in die Pensionskasse (pension buy-in)?
  • Please remember: especially if you want to deduct something, the tax authorities want to see proof like invoices or in case of alimony etc. the payments (bank-statements or the like)....


As you can see here - my workplace is in my secondary living room, so I have home-office the whole year round. That's good for me, so I can sleep in, without the need for commuting...

... but if you want a tax consultant with a chic office in the city or people with black ties, you have to look elsewhere.