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Completing your tax return is quite a job. But some people make a sport of exploring every possibility: Isn’t there some reason why I can pull the trigger?
Good this way. The tax authorities are in principle obliged to grant certain deductions on their own initiative, provided the conditions are met, even if you forget them. For example, the child deduction if the tax authorities know that you have minor children. But there is no guarantee this will work. It is all the more important that everyone asks themselves the question: am I entitled to this tax deduction?
This article was first published in the “Observer”. You can find more exciting articles at www.beobachter.ch.
This article was first published in the “Observer”. You can find more exciting articles at www.beobachter.ch.
A major budget item in most households is healthcare costs. You can get at least part of it back through the tax authorities.
When it comes to healthcare costs, it is important to distinguish between two types, because from a tax perspective they are two different things. First of all, the premiums for health insurance. And secondly, the actual costs if you are ill or have an accident.
You can deduct the costs of the premiums from your taxes. Even if you are in perfect health and have never been to the doctor. That’s the good news. The bad news is that most people can deduct much less than they actually pay in premiums.
Single people can deduct a maximum of 1,800 francs per year for federal tax – the premium is not that low for anyone. If you have not paid into the pension fund or into pillar 3a (this applies, for example, to pensioners), the maximum deduction is 50 percent higher, namely 2,700 francs. An additional 700 francs is added for each child. However, each canton can set its own amounts and rules for state taxes. In Freiburg it is 4,810 francs for singles plus 1,140 francs per child.
Because for many people the deduction is smaller than the premiums actually paid, there are always political attempts to significantly increase the deductible amount. In Zurich, for example, the population approved such a referendum by the SVP at the end of 2022, but the deduction will only increase from 2,600 to 2,900 francs (for singles).
That is still not enough, especially because the same deduction option actually also includes other premiums, such as supplementary insurance or contributions to daily allowance, life and pension insurance. Even those who have one cannot claim the costs if the maximum deductible premiums have already been exhausted by their health insurance.
Another issue is the costs that actually arise as a result of illness or accident: deductible and health insurer’s deductible, medications that you pay for yourself, treatments and possibly renovating your own house to make it accessible after an illness for the disabled. serious accident. All this can add up quickly. And here too, unfortunately, few people can deduct all these costs from their taxes.
Only costs that you actually have to pay yourself are eligible for tax deduction. Everything that the health insurer, another insurer, the additional benefits, the helplessness benefit, the person who caused the accident or someone else reimburses, is not deductible.
And one more important limitation: you can withdraw only what is prescribed by a doctor. So not the self-organized wellness trip – regardless of whether it benefits your health.
Another limitation: it must be a therapy for an existing disease or condition. Preventive (preventive) measures do not count, nor do purely preventive examinations (unless prescribed by a doctor). The Tax Authorities are therefore canceling the deduction for fitness subscriptions, but not the deduction for rehabilitation physiotherapy. There are two important exceptions to this: firstly, vaccinations (if prescribed by a doctor) and secondly, dental hygiene (no order is necessary here). The costs for this are deductible.
So there are a lot of restrictions, but unfortunately that’s not all: you can only deduct the part that exceeds 5 percent of your net income. What counts as net income (also called net income in some cantons) varies depending on the canton. As a rule, this is the total of all income minus all other deductions, but before deductions for charitable donations and party contributions.
The residents of the following cantons, where the threshold is lower, are better off:
Here is an example: A taxpayer with a net salary of 75,000 francs has a net income of 60,000 francs with all deductions. He has medical expenses of 5,000 francs. If he lives in Zurich, he can only deduct 2,000 francs from this, because the threshold for him is 3,000 francs (5 percent of 60,000). In St. Gallen he can deduct 3,800 francs (threshold 2 percent of 60,000 = 1,200), in Liestal the full 5,000 francs.
But what if you are not only sick, but permanently disabled? The costs that you then have to bear yourself can be exorbitantly high. A nursing home can easily cost five figures per month. Such so-called “disability-related costs” are not tax deductible at 5 percent. This increases the deductible amount and significantly reduces the tax bill.
The condition is that a “physical, mental or psychological impairment that is expected to be permanent” makes it difficult or impossible for a person to carry out daily activities, maintain social contacts, travel, attend training and further education or perform paid work. , as it is called in civil service language. This deduction therefore primarily applies to recipients of a disability pension and/or helplessness benefit and to residents of a retirement home or nursing home, provided that they receive at least 60 minutes of care per day (care level 4).
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
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