Taxes, AHV, jobs and permits.

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I am a British citizen and my B-permit has just been upgraded to a C-permit. I live in Canton Aargau, but work for a large company in Zurich. I have just received a Quellensteuer bill (tax at source) for the period November 2005, when I started working for the company, to December 2006, for an amount of SFr 1,700.

The Steueramt Kanton Aargau (tax office) claim that my employer has not been deducting enough Quellensteuer, as they've been using the rates for Zurich and not Aargau. My employer says my Wohngemeinde has to inform them of their tarifs; the Gemeinde says that rule applies for Zurich but not Aargau, and that they have little to do with Quellensteuer. The Steueramt couldn't tell me who is responsible for the mistake, just that many other employers in Zurich are capable of using the correct tariff. Who made the mistake? Who should have informed whom? And is my only option to pay the bill? Nobody made a mistake here. Your tax rate depends on the canton you are resident in, which can vary a lot between the cantons. Your employer deducts the Quellensteuer from your salary. Your employer can choose which tax office they want to deal with: they can either use the tax office in the canton the company is domiciled in (in your case ZH) for all employees affected by Quellensteuer, or they can deal with all the cantonal tax offices where each employee is resident.

If the employer goes for the first option, which is obviously much simpler, they have to use Zurich's Quellensteuer tariff for everyone, but the cantonal tax office will then inform the canton of your residence. If the tax in your canton of residence is higher, the cantonal tax office will charge you for the difference directly; if it is lower, you get a refund. Therefore, your only option is to pay the bill.

You should ask your employer if they are willing to make the Quellensteuer declaration for you with Aargau in order to avoid further unpleasant surprises, but in the end, it is up to the employer to decide if they are willing to do the extra work.

I'm trying to figure out if t will be entitled to a small AHV pension when I turn 65. I am 62, and have been living in the United States since 1976. Previously I was employed in Switzerland and paid AHV, though as a student and teacher it was not that much. Where can I get the relevant information about AHV payments for Swiss living abroad?

If you have paid AHV contributions for at least 12 months in total, you are entitled to a Swiss state pension. The amount depends on the number of years you have been working in Switzerland and the contributions you paid. For Swiss nationals living abroad, the Schweizerische Ausgleichskasse in Geneva is the office to contact.

Their address is:

Schweizerische

Ausgleichskasse

Av. Edmond-Vaucher 18

Postfach 3100

CH-1211 Geneva 2

For more information also check out: www.avs-ai-international.ch

I am a Swiss national, but spent the last 30 years overseas. Except for a few years, I have unfortunately never paid much AHV contribution in Switzerland. I am now 61 years old and have only part-time jobs. When I retire around age 65, I will have only a very small pension from a British company, but won't be able to live just on that. When I retire, will I receive anything at all? Is there a minimum AVH payment regardless of how long I have contributed?

If you have not paid any AHV contributions in Switzerland, unfortunately there will be no pension. As a Swiss citizen you are entitled, however, to come back to Switzerland at any time and bye in your Heimatgemeinde (the town or village you are a citizen of) who will have to support you financially.

I am a U.S. citizen living and working in Switzerland, soon to be on a C-permit. My question regards my ability to find a short-term job (a few months to one year) in other EU countries. Would I be treated just like other Swiss citizens when I apply for jobs in EU countries? The Swiss C-permit does not have any validity outside of Switzerland. If you apply for a job in an EU country while you are resident in Switzerland, the country will treat you like any other U.S. citizen resident abroad.

My South African girlfriend has a B-permit, and has been working in Switzerland for the past five years as a teacher. We would both like to travel across the border to shop or just spend the day in Germany, Italy France or Austria. in the past, she has always been required to obtain a special Schengen visa from one of these countries. This has always been a long and tedious process and sometimes she's only been granted a two-day pass. I have recently read about a new open border policy in effect (five-day transit visa) and perhaps even complete open borders in 2007. So, can she now make a short trip over the border with her B-permit and without a special visa?

The transit Schengen visa is only valid if you use it to leave the Schengen area, for example if you have to get to Frankfurt airport in order to fly to South Africa. It cannot be used for a short shopping trip from which you come back to Switzerland.

Switzerland has voted to become part Of the Schengen area but the agreement has not been put into force yet; optimistically, we think this might happen some time at the end of 2008 at the earliest. Once the agreement is in force, a Swiss B- or C-permit will be valid for travelling in the whole Schengen area without any further visa being needed.

My daughter is an Italian citizen and came to Switzerland to study. She has been here five years and has recently married a Swiss man, her former university classmate. He insisted on marrying her with a contract establishing the separation of wealth/assets and she accepted. She loves him and trusts him however, as a mother.

I want her to be aware of the legal implications of such a decision before she is disappointed.

She is working in a well-established company that pays her a salary, which is reflected in a monthly statement. On the other hand, he has his own company. Their current arrangement is that they split all utility bills and rent in haft, regardless of what each one earns, and whatever he or she buys is 100 per cent his or her property.

What does separation of wealth/assets really mean in legal terms and what does she need to know and do? Separation of income and assets is one of the matrimonial statuses a married couple can opt for in Switzerland and basically means that each spouse owns and manages his/her own income and assets and has no entitlement to the other spouse's funds. It is often chosen if one spouse has his/her own business so there are no financial implications for the other spouse in case anything goes wrong with the business.

In case of a divorce, the assets stay with the partner that owns them (but there still might be an entitlement to maintenance if one of the spouses had a much higher income and therefore paid for most of the household bills anyway),

I would advise your daughter to keep receipts for anything she bought that is used jointly, so in case of a separation or divorce, she could prove it is hers. If anything is bought together, she should again keep a record of what part she contributed to the costs. As long as both partners are earning a more or less similar amount and both contribute towards the costs of the household, the separation of income and assets usually is not a problem.

It becomes more difficult when there are children and one partner, for example, stops working. In such cases, the spouses should sit down and discuss how the financial situation can be balanced, for example with the earning spouse paying a monthly sum to the non-earning partner.

Legal Advice

Gabrielle Grether, a Swiss lawyer and partner in Grether MacGeorge GmbH, Basel, answers questions on legal issues in Switzerland. Advice is based on the individual information provided. If you have questions relating to work permits or other issues concerning foreigners in Switzerland, please don't forget to tell us your nationality. Please send your questions to: [e-mail]