Direct federal tax

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Tax rates for direct federal tax 2012
Tax rates 2012 for incomes up to CHF 125,000

Under the direct federal tax is meant one in Switzerland by the federal government on income of natural persons and on income of legal persons collected tax. The legal basis is the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxes (abbreviated “DBG”). The constitutional basis is Article 128 of the Federal Constitution . However, due to the federal structure of Switzerland and its tax system , federal law only exists for a limited time, currently until the end of 2020 ( Art. 196 para. 13 Federal Constitution ). After VAT , direct federal tax is currently the second most important source of federal income.

history

The federal government has only been levying direct taxes on income and assets since 1915. After the state had been financed in advance from customs revenues from its foundation in 1848, additional revenues were necessary with the First World War . In 1916 and 1917, the state therefore imposed a "war tax". From 1921 to 1932 the levy was called “extraordinary war tax”, in the course of the global economic crisis from 1934 “crisis levy” and after the outbreak of the Second World War finally “ defense tax ”.

The attempt of the Social Democratic Party after the First World War to enshrine the tax in the federal constitution through a popular initiative failed in the referendum in 1918. This became reality with the referendum of May 11, 1958. Since then, the direct federal tax has been included in Art. 128 regulated by the federal constitution.

The vote on March 4, 2018 was about the ninth extension, which was approved by a majority of the voters and the stands . 

Übersicht über erhobene Bundessteuern im Zeitablauf
seit 1849: Zölle
seit 1878: Wehrpflichtersatzabgabe (früher Militärpflichtersatz)
seit 1887: Besteuerung der gebrannten Wasser
1915–1920: Kriegsgewinnsteuer
1916–1917: Kriegssteuer
seit 1918: Eidgenössische Stempelabgaben
1921–1932: Neue ausserordentliche Kriegssteuer
seit 1933: Tabaksteuer
seit 1934: Getränkesteuer (Biersteuer)
1934–1940: Eidgenössische Krisenabgabe
1939–1946: Kriegsgewinnsteuer
1940–1942: Einmaliges Wehropfer
seit 1941: Direkte Bundessteuer (vor 1983: Wehrsteuer)
seit 1941: Mehrwertsteuer (vor 1995: Warenumsatzsteuer)
1941–1945: Auswanderer-Wehrbeitrag
1941–1954: Ausgleichssteuer
1942–1959: Luxussteuer
seit 1944: Verrechnungssteuer
1945–1947: Neues Wehropfer
seit 1997: Mineralölsteuer und Automobilsteuer (früher Fiskalzölle)
seit 2000: Spielbankenabgabe

Basic functionality

The direct federal tax is a tax designed according to the principles of the performance principle , which is linked to a person's net wealth.

The federal government raises them as

Natural persons are subject to this with their global income if they have their tax domicile or residence in Switzerland ("personal affiliation"). In principle, all recurring and one-off income is tax-relevant. You can also become taxable if your sources of income are in Switzerland (“economic affiliation”).

Legal entities are generally subject to income tax due to their personal affiliation if their registered office or their actual administration is in Switzerland. The subject of the profit tax is the net profit, which results from the commercial transaction with balance sheet and income statement. As with natural persons, tax liability can also arise from economic affiliation.

Foreign employees who do not have the residence permit issued by the Aliens Police (“C-ID”), but who have tax domicile or residence in Switzerland and other natural or legal persons without tax domicile or habitual domicile in Switzerland, become Swiss Income tax deductible at source.

particularities

For natural persons, capital gains in private assets, i.e. profits from the sale of assets, are tax-free ( Art. 16 Para. 3 DBG ). Example: The sale of securities in private assets at a profit.

Procedure

The tax is administered by the cantons under federal supervision.

Taxpayers must submit an annual declaration of their income from the previous year (“ Postnumerando System ”). The tax authorities check the tax return and formally determine the relevant parameters with an assessment ruling. To this notice may the taxpayer within 30 days of delivery objection raised.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Fiscal Income 2017. Website of the Federal Tax Administration . Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  2. ↑ Federal decision on the new financial regulation 2021. In: admin.ch , accessed on January 15, 2018
  3. ↑ Can the federal government continue to collect taxes? In: swissinfo.ch , accessed on January 15, 2018
  4. ↑ The following data was taken from: Swiss Tax Conference - Information Commission: The Swiss Tax System , 17th edition 2017, s. 8 (PDF, accessed April 15, 2018).