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How to file your taxes with Swiss and foreign securities in 2024

Baptiste Wicht | Updated: |

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)

One question I get often is how to file taxes with stocks and dividends. And this especially gets popular when we add foreign stocks and dividends into the mix.

Many people are afraid of investing because they think it will make it complicated to file their taxes. But in practice, it is not complicated to file taxes even with a large ETF portfolio.

In this article, we see how to file your taxes with Swiss Stocks and dividends, which is very simple. And with U.S. Stocks and dividends, which is slightly more complicated.

Filing taxes

In Switzerland, taxes are different for each canton. Each canton has its software and forms to complete your tax form. However, most of the forms are very similar and have similar names. So, if you can file your taxes in one canton, you should not have many issues filing them in another.

Since taxes differ in each canton in Switzerland, I need to take an example. So, I will take Fribourg as an example with the Fritax 2020 software. You can use this example to file your taxes for your canton. The concepts should be the same for each canton, but the software to fill them will differ slightly.

Some of the Swiss tax apps are better than others. I have not tested many of them, but from what I have seen, Fritax is probably average. It is not always intuitive, but it is relatively easy to use.

Unfortunately, Fritax is not available in English. So I will use the French version for my screenshots. The forms will be the same in German as well.

If you do not know why I am using U.S. ETFs, you may want to learn about the advantages of U.S. ETFs. They are related to how you will file your taxes with U.S. securities.

Swiss Securities

First, we start to see how to declare Swiss securities. These are the securities that are subject to the Swiss dividend withholding taxes. Indeed, the Swiss tax office will withhold 35% of the dividends. Your broker will do this directly.

In your tax declaration, you will have a form to enter all your assets (bank accounts, bonds, stocks, and lottery gains). In my French software, this is called “Etat des titres”, which translates to “Status of the securities”.

Here is the form before filling it:

Filing your Swiss Taxes "State of securities" form
Filing your Swiss Taxes “Status of securities” form

In this form, you must list all of your Swiss securities, whether stocks or ETFs. Since I am recommending investments in ETFs, I will take an ETF as an example. But you would do exactly the same with a stock. For example, I will use CHSPI, the Swiss ETF I use in my portfolio.

You must indicate this is a security (choice 3) in the first column on each line. You must then indicate that this is a private asset (choice P) in the second column.

Then, you can press the “Listes des cours” (Lists of prices) to search for the prices of a security. This assistant will help you with your dividends and prices. You can enter the ISIN number of your ETF and press search (Chercher). For instance, the ISIN number of CHSPI is CH0237935652. You can find the ISIN number of each ETF on the website of the fund provider.

Then, you will see all the taxable income for this security. You can enter the number of shares, the buy date, and the taxable value, and the taxable dividend will be calculated for you. For instance:

Compute the dividends of a security when you file your taxes
Compute the dividends of a security when you file your taxes

The date will be considered to compute the dividends for this security. If you enter a date that is after some dividends have been issued, they will not be considered. And they will automatically compute the taxable wealth with the security value at the end of the year.

Here is an example of what this could look like.

An example of securities for your taxes
An example of securities for your taxes

The totals are automatically done at the end of the form. And these values are propagated into the rest of the forms.

If you already have securities before the beginning of the year, you have two options. If you file your taxes right after the year without losing your tax declaration, you can keep all the buy operations from the previous year. Or you can use the total number of shares at the beginning of the year with a single entry and a date like the last year of the previous year. I have already done that in the past, and I have never had any issues.

If you have sold securities during the year, you must also declare them. You can use a purchase date and sold date to let the software compute how many dividends you received before selling the shares. In that case, the software will automatically set the taxable value to zero.

Using ICTax

Unfortunately, not every Swiss taxes software allows you to get all these numbers inside the app. So, in this case, you will have to use the ICTax website. This is the reference for all the official end-of-year prices and currency conversions to file your taxes. One good thing is that this website is available in English, contrary to the tax software.

You can go to the website and search for the ISIN again:

File your taxes with ICTax: Search the ISIN
File your taxes with ICTax: Search the ISIN

And then, you can click on the ETF of your choosing. After that, you must do the same as before with the tax software. You will be able to enter the number of shares and purchase date. The website will automatically compute the tax value and the gross return. You can then copy these values directly into your tax declaration.

How to use ICTax to help you file your taxes
How to use ICTax to help you file your taxes

It is much less practical to file taxes like this than having the software do it for you. But in any case, it should not take you long to complete your Swiss securities.

It is also a good reason to keep your trading limited to a few ETFs. If you are buying many securities during the entire year, you will have to enter many lines. But it is not as complicated as many people believe.

If your ETF is not on ICTax, you can ask them to add it to the system. But most well-known ETFs should already be there. I have never had an issue so far.

U.S. ETFs / Securities

For U.S. ETFs and securities, it can get a little more complicated because there are a few possible cases.

First, it will depend on which broker you are using. If you are using a Swiss broker, you will pay two deductions:

  • 15% withheld by the Swiss broker
  • 15% directly withheld at source by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

If you are using a broker like Interactive Brokers, you will only see the IRS’s direct deduction. This is a foreign tax.

You need to use the DA-1 form to claim back foreign tax. You need to use the R-US 164 form to claim back Swiss withholding if you use a Swiss broker.

These forms are attachments to the form we covered in the previous section. And they are extremely similar. The difference will be in setting the percentages that you can claim back.

If you use other foreign securities, the idea remains the same, except that the percentages will differ. You will have to find the percentages for both columns for your situation.

In this case, Fritax did an excellent job since they put DA-1 and R-US 164 together. Therefore, there is only a single form to fill for foreign securities. This is a great idea!

Here is the empty combined DA-1 / R-US 164 form:

Empty DA-1 R-US form to file your taxes with foreign securities
Empty DA-1 R-US form to file your taxes with foreign securities

As we can see, it is extremely similar to the previous form. And it works exactly the same way. You must still select that this is an action and part of your private net worth. Then, you can use the same assistant to get all the tax information by pressing the “Liste de cours” button on top of the form.

They have all the information, even for U.S. ETFs, such as Vanguard Total World (VT). Here is an example of how to fill it with VT:

Get information Vanguard Total World (VT) for your DA-1 form
Get information Vanguard Total World (VT) for your DA-1 form

Once you have filled a line, you still need to select the country in column 3. This will be the US in our case.

Then, you need to update columns 7 and 9 with the percentages for your case. If you only fill the DA-1 form (with Interactive Brokers), you must set column 7 to the value 15. If you are filling the R-US 164 form (with a Swiss broker, for instance), you must set column 9 to the value 15.

Then, the tool will automatically compute how much taxes were withheld in both cases. And Fritax will automatically fill in the total.

Here is a filled DA-1 form with both sides filled:

Example of a fille DA-1 form with Vanguard Total World
Example of a filled DA-1 form with Vanguard Total World

If you use Interactive Brokers and only pay 15% of dividends withholding, you can change column 9 to the value 0.

All the other details are the same as for the Swiss securities, so you can look at the previous sections to get all the information. But with the Fritax software, it is not that bad to file your taxes with foreign securities. As you can see, the DA-1 and R-US 164 forms are almost the same as the standard securities form.

Using ICTax

If your tax software does not support getting the values directly from it, you can use the ICTax website for foreign securities too. It will give you all the dividends in CHF and the tax value of your securities at the end of the fiscal year.

This will be done exactly like we did for Swiss securities. For instance, you can search for Vanguard Total World on the website:

Vanguard Total World on ICTax
Vanguard Total World on ICTax

Make sure you choose the Stock version and not the bond version (unless you have both, of course). And then, you can fill it up like before. For instance:

Use ICTax to file your taxes with foreign securities
Use ICTax to file your taxes with foreign securities

Then, you will only have to copy these values into the DA-1 or R-US 164 form and select the correct withholding percentages. It is not more complicated than for Swiss securities.

Attachments

The tax office will request documents attesting to your dividends, capital gains, and net worth.

Some Swiss brokers will propose some special documents for taxes. And some people believe that only these reports are valid. But that is not correct. Even foreign brokers have documents that Swiss tax offices accept.

For instance, I use an annual activity statement report with Interactive Brokers. This contains all operations, all dividends, and the status of my shares at the end of the year. I have never had any issue with that. You can get this from the Reports tab. In there, you can generate an activity statement for the entire year.

Conclusion

There you have it! Following these simple steps, you can file taxes with Swiss and foreign securities! It is not as complicated as many people believe.

Even for U.S. Securities, it is not complicated. You must fill out an extra form (DA-1) in the best case and two in the worst case (DA-1 and R-US 164), but these forms are almost the same as for Swiss securities. So, I do not think this is a big deal.

If you are wondering why we need to fill all these lines, it is for the system to compute exactly how much you got from dividends. Since dividends are taxed as income, this must be precise. And only by indicating each buy and sell date will you get a precise amount.

Hopefully, this will help you file your taxes with securities.

If you want more tax information, I have an in-depth guide about Swiss taxes.

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Baptiste Wicht started thepoorswiss.com in 2017. He realized that he was falling into the trap of lifestyle inflation. He decided to cut his expenses and increase his income. This blog is relating his story and findings. In 2019, he is saving more than 50% of his income. He made it a goal to reach Financial Independence. You can send Mr. The Poor Swiss a message here.

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183 thoughts on “How to file your taxes with Swiss and foreign securities in 2024”

  1. Good Morning!
    I have an accountant (Switzerland) that takes care of these things for me but it seems like I am not capable of giving her the right document to declare my IB account. She keeps asking for a “relevé fiscal”. Do you by any chance know what this is in IB?

    Thank you!

    1. Hi,

      I am only using the annual activity statement for my taxes, never another document.
      IB does not provide tax statements that are specific to Switzerland.
      I am not aware of any proper “relevé fiscal” on IB.

  2. Hi Baptiste,

    Thank a lot for your very thorough article on Swiss tax filing of foreign securities!

    As I understand, US securities are the most foreign tax efficient out there.

    My question is: Is a Swiss domiciled index fund investing only in US securities would be as tax efficient as a US domiciled one? In a sense, that fund provider would already have a tax treaty with the US (W-8BEN-E). And that they do all the work with the US and Swiss tax authorities, and so one would only have to report it like on its tax filing without going through the DA-1 or so.

    Which would make that fund as tax efficient as a US one and more efficient than an Irish.

    I hope my question makes sense. :-)

    Thanks a lot!
    Best,
    Alex

    1. Hi Alex,

      They are indeed the most efficient for a Swiss investor.

      No, that would not as efficient. The dividends withholding would indeed be 15% but you would not be able to reclaim these 15% while you could do it with a DA-1 on your tax declaration.
      At least, that’s my understanding.

      The advantage of the US fund would be that it’s much cheaper to trade than the CH fund.

      1. Hi Baptiste,

        Thanks a lot for your quicky reply! Hugely appreciate it :-)

        Your answer makes sense since it would be the same tax structure as an Irish one. I thought CH institutional investors would have a better trick in their sleeve to recoup these 15%. Hélas nope, or not anymore or publicly haha.

        Anyway, let’s cross our fingers that FinSA will let us keep buying US ETFs beyond 2022.

        Thanks so much for kind help.

  3. Brilliant blog! Thank you Mr. The Poor Swiss for thourough analysis and great support. Much appreciated! Good luck and all the best for you.

  4. Thank you for this Article! Would I declare crypto investments such as BTC and ETH the same way? Do you happen to know if crypto-crypto trades (buy BTC with ETH for example) are taxable events in Swizerland or do I only declare it for my taxes once I convert back to CHF? I know you don’t cover crypto on your blog but maybe you can still help me out!
    Have a nice day

    1. Hi,

      Yes, I would declare them in the exact same way. As for cypto-crypto trades, I have no idea. The value at the end of the year will be in CHF. But the value of each trade, I don’t know.

  5. Thank you so much, Mr. The Poor Swiss! That’s a very useful and interesting article… Who says that paying taxes is boring?

    I’m wondering if in the future you’ll write an article also about how to fill the DA-1 and R-US 164 forms. I searched for it in your blog but I didn’t found it!

  6. Could you please explain us the difference between taxing/paying in Switzerland cumulative and noncumulative dividends?
    Does it work the same way?
    Thank you
    Cris

  7. Hi ! Would it be the same procedure if you invested in european ETFs as the swiss explanation? Thanks in advance

    1. Hi mette,

      Yes, I think it should be the same except that nothing will be withheld and you do not have to fill the DA-1 form. You can file it with the standard form and indicate that none of the dividends were subject to withholding.

  8. Good morning,
    nice article! What about someone who doesn’t work in Switzerland (just the wife), and still wants to start investing? ¿does the wife’s income counts towards the rule of non tax on capital gain? and what about the rule of no more than 50% dividends in case someone doesn’t work, but the partner?
    please keep going…

    1. Hi,

      This rule applies to your tax declaration. So, if you pay taxes in Switzerland and you pay taxes together (should be the case if you are married), then the total income applies (yours and your wife’s) to the calculation.

  9. Mr. the poor Suiss,
    Hi. I am wondering to know in cases of shares/ ETFs, dividends loss (from actual or previous year), how to you tax/declare them? do you have any deductions in your tax system? would you please explain how it works.
    Also, I did not get how to declare Cumulative dividends in Switzerland…
    Do you maeby hold a referred link for a new account opening with Ib that may benefit both? Im planning to open one…
    Cheers,
    Cris

    1. Hi Cristiana,

      What are dividends loss? I don’t understand your question. We have plenty of deductions in our tax system, but nothing related to dividends.
      If by cumulative dividends, you mean an ETF that accumulates dividends, they are declared exactly the same way as for distributing.

      1. Than you again for this valuable information.
        Sorry, I meant whenever you have losses in one fiscal year in your portfolio, can you declare them in yous Swiss system? How does this deductions work, at 100%?

        Thanks in advance!

      2. Oh, I get it now!

        No, they are not deductible. Since capital gains are usually tax-free, it makes sense that capital losses are also usually not tax-deductible.
        I say usually, because if you are a professional investor, capital gains will be taxed.

  10. Thanks a lot for this article and many others.

    It seems like a big hassle to file the taxes when it comes to securities. Would you need to file all of this information if you would be considered a non-professional investor?
    Currently I hold a bunch of smaller positions to be well diversified, but that would make taxes a nightmare. Also, would compiling an Excel sheet and attaching that be sufficient?

    It’s a shame the relatively wealthy Swiss people cannot do easily partake on buying fractional shares like the many US platforms offer. There’s a lot more money to be made than holding a few ETF’s.

    Cheers,
    Mark.

    1. Hi Mark,

      It’s indeed a hassle. And yes, you are supposed to file that even though you are not a professional since this data is used to define whether you are a professional investor.
      I have no idea about Excel, I just drop the entire annual statement from IB and it works.
      There are quite a few platforms that allow fractional shares such as IB and FlowBank at least.

      1. Good morning MR. P. Suisse.
        I am planning to fill up the next tax declaration in Switzerland, and would like some help with the documents needed to be send to the tax office from IB. As you hold an account, I would like to ask you if the Tax Information Statements for 2021 is the only thing to present attached to the administration and to be used to fill up the Fritax or Getax form.
        Also, How I deduce the cost spent at the time of buying the shares in IB. (CHF currency exchange and commissions, for instance), and where to see the this resume for the total cost 2021 in IB?

        Last thing is to know if you have any post about margin loans from IB and if you can also have deductions from a margin loan from IB (interest or debt capital ) , within the Swiss tax system.

        Thank you very much in advance for answering! your guidance is highly appreciated since this is the first time and it looks like a nightmare… :). You have a lovely and very informative blog!

      2. Hi Anton,

        I am not using the tax information statement from IB, this one is more related to US investors. I am simply using the annual activity statement. And the tax office never said anything about it.
        I don’t understand the question about the cost spent at the time of buying. Do you mean the buying price? The buying price is actually not very important since it only matters when you sell. So, if you have not sold anything significant, you only need the price on the 31.12 and that number is provided by the tax software.

        I don’t have any article about margin loans. But I believe that you have to announce the margin loan as a debt like you would a mortgage and then you can deduce the interest paid from your income.

        I hope this helps.

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