E-tax statements: key questions and answers

According to the Swiss Tax Conference (STC), the e-tax statement has been accepted in all cantons since 2023.

The VZ e-tax statement shows the figures for tax-relevant assets and returns in the same master account on a consolidated basis. If you have several client relationships with us (e.g. together with a partner), you’ll receive a separate e-tax statement for each of them.

Pension assets are not shown in the e-tax statement. Any payments into pillar 3 or pension fund buyins are shown in a separate statement. Mortgage relationships are not included in the e-tax statement either. 

You can download the e-tax statement from your VZ Safe in the VZ Financial Portal and then import it into your tax software with just a few clicks. The details of your assets (list of securities and credit balances) are automatically imported into the software. All you need to do is perform a final check on the imported figures and add any interest paid on debts or deductible asset management costs.

In addition to the paper version you received by post, the electronic version of the VZ tax statement is available in your VZ Financial Portal. If you can’t find your VZ tax statement or don’t yet use the VZ Financial Portal, please contact your client advisor or call the bank hotline: Tel. 058 411 88 99.

Please also let us know if you haven’t received a VZ tax statement in paper form but would like to do so.

You can find your e-tax statement (from the tax year 2023 onwards) in the Taxes folder in your VZ Safe.

You can import these data to your tax software with just a few clicks and transmit them in electronic form to the tax authorities.

If you have access to the VZ Financial Portal, you’ll find your e-tax statement (from the tax year 2023) in the Taxes folder in the VZ Safe. Save it to your computer and upload it to your tax software. This will transfer the tax values from your list of securities and credit balances directly to your electronic tax return.

If you don’t wish to use this function, you can enter the tax value as well as the A and B values manually and enclose a hard copy of your tax statement with your tax return.

Each canton has its own regulations on the amount you can deduct for the management of your assets. In addition to the VZ tax statement, you’ll also receive the fee sheet, which tells you which costs you can potentially deduct for the management of your assets. Your tax authority will decide the actual amount of the deduction.

Any interest paid on debts can be found in the summary of your tax statement.

Securities are subject to wealth tax. The Federal Tax Administration publishes the tax values of all securities traded in Switzerland (www.estv.admin.ch). The asset value corresponds to the closing price at the end of the year. If the company is not listed on the stock exchange, the tax administration will inform the Board of Directors of the tax value of the equities. The Board of Directors can report this value to the shareholders.

Real estate funds with direct property ownership may be declared by taxable investors with a reduced wealth tax value, as fund management companies pay tax on the value of the properties directly in the respective canton. In some instances, the tax-relevant price is not published until February. If this is the case, we enter the end-of-year value in your tax statement so that we can provide you with the relevant documents as quickly as possible.

Not all income may be known at the time the tax statements are prepared. The Federal Tax Administration publishes the missing income in its price list (Course listings (ICTax)) on a regular basis. You can search for these values before submitting your tax return and add them or let the tax authority fill them in. 

Due to the quarterly payout of account interest, withholding tax must be deducted, even from smaller amounts, as a precautionary measure. The withholding tax will be refunded to you if you declare it properly in your tax return.

In Switzerland: Investment income, such as interest and dividends, is subject to income tax. In the case of Swiss securities, 35 percent of the investment income is automatically deducted on distribution. By declaring this income in the tax return, you reclaim the withholding tax. You’ll find the gross distributed income on page 1 of your tax statement under Werte mit Verrechnungssteuerabzug (Values with withholding tax deduction).

Outside Switzerland: Other countries also levy taxes on investment income, which they deduct directly in the form of a withholding tax. Countries which have a double taxation agreement with Switzerland reimburse some of the withholding tax on request. Claims for reimbursement can be made in the source country. The necessary forms are published on the website of the Federal Tax Administration (www.estv.admin.ch). Your tax statement lists the tax you can reclaim by country. Please note that fees may apply for reimbursement claims.

Accumulating investment funds reinvest interest and dividends directly without distributing anything. This investment income also counts as taxable income and may be subject to withholding tax under certain circumstances. If the accumulating income is not known when the tax statement is issued, it will be offset by the tax authority in the assessment procedure.

If you’ve been credited with income from securities from countries with which Switzerland has concluded a double taxation agreement and whose withholding tax cannot be reclaimed in full, the non-reclaimable withholding tax is generally credited as a lump sum in Switzerland. The corresponding values for form DA-1 (Antrag auf pauschale Steueranrechnung/Steuerrückbehalt USA (Request for application of lumpsum tax credit/US withholding tax) can be found in the Sammelausweis für Antrag mit Anrechnung ausländischer Quellensteuer gemäss DBA (Collective statement for application with crediting of foreign withholding tax pursuant to DTA) of your tax statement.