The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has published the updated guidance for filling in the Swiss salary certificate (valid as of 1 January 2022). The most important changes are:
Company car
- The monthly flat-rate for the taxable benefit for the private use of the company car has been increased from 0.8% to 0.9% of the purchase price in order to also cover the gratuitously commuting to work. Furthermore, the minimum amount for the benefit of private use of CHF 150 already applies for a purchase price below CHF 16’667 (previously CHF 18’750) (Recital 21).
- If the taxable benefit for the private use of the company car is determined by means of a logbook instead of using the flat-rate method, the commute to work will newly need to be considered as privately driven kilometers and thus will affect the calculation of the taxable benefit (Recital 23).
Home office expenses
- Cipher 13 of the Swiss salary certificate: Compensations for the use of a private office are no longer mentioned in the section on taxable business expenses (Recital 50). Thus, such compensations can be treated as tax free expenses from 2022 onwards and do not need to be included in the taxable gross salary of the Swiss salary certificate. However, it remains to be seen whether the tax authorities will validate the acceptable tax-free amount during the tax assessment process (especially if a lump-sum is paid).
- Cipher 13.1.2 of the Swiss salary certificate (actual expenses): Other actual expenses now also include compensation for the costs for external workplaces (e.g. home office, co-working space, costs for the private home office infrastructure) on an actual basis, i.e. against receipt. In any case, these costs must be listed by amount and the note “Expenses for external workplace” must be added to the Swiss salary certificate (Recital 57).
- Cipher 13.2.3 of the Swiss salary certificate (lump-sum expenses): Cost sharing of the employer for an external workplace, such as a home office or co-working space, has been added to the lump-sum expenses (Recital 60).