Maybe you should move to Andorra? We have NO taxes.
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Is there anybody here from France ?
- Thread starter letom13eur
- Start date
Maybe you should move to Andorra? We have NO taxes.
Quote from science_trader:
I live in Switzerland. No capital gains here.
science_trader,
You must be joking! If you live in Switzerland, you never must have traded - maybe perhaps only a few times a year!
" Switzerland does not apply capital gain taxes, except for professional equity and real estate traders."
http://www.isyours.com/e/taxes/personal/
I give you only a summary here. If you do a search on ET you will find details of what it means to be classified as "professional" under Swiss tax law. Many online Swiss sites will help you further with this.
[I mercifully did not get in to the other possibility that you haven't been caught yet!]
Quote from nononsense:
science_trader,
You must be joking! If you live in Switzerland, you never must have traded - maybe perhaps only a few times a year!
" Switzerland does not apply capital gain taxes, except for professional equity and real estate traders."
http://www.isyours.com/e/taxes/personal/
I give you only a summary here. If you do a search on ET you will find details of what it means to be classified as "professional" under Swiss tax law. Many online Swiss sites will help you further with this.
[I mercifully did not get in to the other possibility that you haven't been caught yet!]
There is no 'professional' classification in Switzerland. Capital gains taxation depends if they are realized on private or commercial wealth. Private aren't taxed.
Do you live in Switzerland yourself ?
Quote from science_trader:
There is no 'professional' classification in Switzerland. Capital gains taxation depends if they are realized on private or commercial wealth. Private aren't taxed.
Do you live in Switzerland yourself ?
If you do hunderds of trades a year and/or don't hold for 6 months or more it doesn't matter wether you are "private" or not. YOU ARE PROFESSIONAL. I posted some Swiss references on this. Do your homework, you'll find out.
Quote from science_trader:
By the way, for your information, not declaring revenues or wealth in Switzerland is not a penal offence...
That's right. You'll get screwed for it anyhow.
Quote from nononsense:
If you do hunderds of trades a year and/or don't hold for 6 months or more it doesn't matter wether you are "private" or not. YOU ARE PROFESSIONAL. I posted some Swiss references on this. Do your homework, you'll find out.
I know, this is not the first time I tell you that you're wrong.
You're mixing with EU/US concepts. I repeat it to you : the only distinction in Switzerland is between commercial and private. That's it.
Just answer my question : are you swiss yourself ? Have you refered to a decent lawyer here in Switzerland ?
I researched this extensively and decided not to trade in Switzerland. You are correct that on the books it says that private capital gains are not taxed.Quote from science_trader:
I know, this is not the first time I tell you that you're wrong.
You're mixing with EU/US concepts. I repeat it to you : the only distinction in Switzerland is between commercial and private. That's it.
Just answer my question : are you swiss yourself ? Have you refered to a decent lawyer here in Switzerland ?
However, many (all?) cantons go by the ruling given by the Bern canton court of law classifying private trading transactions as "professional" based on 3 criteria: either total yearly profits; frequency of trading; holding period.
A nice paper was available on this at "Grüninger Hunziker Roth Rechtsanwälte, Bern/Zürich". Shouldn't be difficult for you to find out about the details. Can't tell you how this is actually enforced, but it scared the hell out of me.
Private tax-exempt capital gains in Switzerland
I. Preface
Income tax law in Switzerland is based on the system of taxation according to the ability to pay. Profits and components of income must be declared for tax purposes by the economic beneficiary.
Private capital gains on transferable assets are an exception to this rule because they are exempt from income tax liability at both federal, cantonal and local level.
This "flaw in the system" has led to the creation of complex structures by taxpayers and also by the tax authorities; while taxpayers have tried to ensure that as much income as possible is treated as capital gains, the tax authorities have endeavored to achieve the exact opposite.
The purpose of this Newsletter is to give an overview of the present state of practice and case law in the matter of the exemption of private capital gains from tax liability. We confine ourselves to the question as to the conditions under which capital gains can still be treated as private and therefore tax-exempt and when a securities transaction is deemed to have been made by way of trade and is therefore taxable.
We do not consider aspects of direct and indirect partial liquidation and transposition and holding arrangements between heirs as a special case of transposition. All these transactions have one feature in common: the securities are transferred from private assets into the business assets of third parties or companies controlled by the owner himself (instances of system changes). In such cases, it is essential to seek professional advice.
II. Dealing in securities by way of trade
1. Legal basis
Since the entry into force of the Federal Law on Direct Federal Taxation (DBG) of 14 December 1994, the rule has been that all income from a commercial, industrial, trade, agricultural and forestry business, from a profession or any other self-employed activity is taxable. This also includes all capital gains on the sale, disposal or book revaluation of business assets. On the other hand, capital gains on the sale of private assets are tax-exempt.
All assets which are used in whole or in part for self-employed gainful activity are treated as business assets. The Federal Supreme Court has likewise ruled that the sale of assets - in particular securities - is to be treated as self-employed gainful activity in so far as the sale does not form part of the ordinary management of own assets.
The decision as to whether the gain made on the sale of securities by private individuals is taxable or not will therefore depend on whether the trade is part of ordinary private asset management or whether it must be qualified as a self-employed gainful (secondary) activity.
The concept of "self-employed gainful activity" requires interpretation. That fact has been acknowledged by the Federal Council and Parliament. In the context of the 1998 stabilization program, they therefore proposed a supplement (with a different wording in each case) to the DBG and the Federal Law on the Harmonization of Direct Cantonal and Local Taxation (StHG), giving a more precise definition of the notion of "self-employed gainful employment" as it applies to securities traders. The proposed legislation was, however, abandoned, not least because, in a ruling of 08.01.1999, the Federal Supreme Court confirmed that the practice of securities trading developed under the old tax law continued to apply under the DBG.
The matter remains highly topical. Firstly, the question as to the equity of taxing work and capital gains differently arises. Secondly, the discussion takes on a particularly high profile against the background of the present stock market situation, because the taxation of capital gains automatically implies tax-deductibility of losses made on securities transactions.
[Continued in next post]