Tax return: Get it done faster and get more money back

Are you already thinking about your tax return for 2025? You will need to submit it to your tax office by the end of March. Or at least contact them to request an extension of this deadline. In any case, it is important to gather all the necessary documents.

It's good to know that your True Wealth account includes an electronic tax statement. This is provided automatically and at no extra cost – something that is not yet standard practice with many other providers. You can upload it directly to your online tax return and the individual items will be transferred automatically. This gives you all the information you need to reclaim withholding taxes in Switzerland and abroad.

Fulfill your obligations with ease

The e-tax statement is structured in such a way that you no longer need to manually transfer data to the securities register. Simply upload the PDF to your online tax return – and you're done. If your tax commissioner wants to take a closer look at the details, they will find all the information they need in the detailed list of your holdings and transactions.

Transparency down to the last detail

Thanks to machine readability, you can complete your tax return with minimal effort. You are also perfectly prepared for all eventualities and avoid follow-up questions. We take the official values of the Federal Tax Administration from the price lists for your tax statement. This means that all information about your securities is automatically correct. And not just for your holdings at the end of the year. But also for dividends paid out throughout the year. And for all transactions with which we have adjusted your portfolio during the year. Always at the official price, converted into Swiss francs.

Get more money back

Whether electronically or manually – by entering the information in the securities directory, you have not only fulfilled your obligation, but also already begun the optional part: claiming back Swiss withholding tax. The 35 percent on dividends that the state has withheld is now automatically offset against your tax liability.

With the templates we provide you with at True Wealth, you can easily extend the bonus. Have you ever reclaimed foreign withholding taxes? The first step towards higher refunds is form DA-1, which you can fill out, but don't have to. Many investors find it complicated, so they miss out on cash every year. If you hold foreign securities, you will find all the information you need to quickly complete the DA-1 form on the cover page of True Wealth's tax statement. This allows you to secure the flat-rate tax credit in one fell swoop. Your entries in the securities directory and the DA-1 form in your tax return are sufficient to have withholding taxes from Switzerland and the US credited to you.

That is why we at True Wealth mainly use ETFs from these countries (as well as Ireland, where withholding taxes often do not apply at all) for your portfolio. With just one tax return in Switzerland, you can get back at least part of what you are entitled to. We therefore refer to these securities as «tax-efficient.»

Deductions for wealth management costs

In many cantons, the actual management costs or a flat-rate deduction of one to three per mille of the assets under management can be claimed. Certain upper limits have been set for this. For details, please refer to the official guidelines for tax returns in your canton.

You can also get money back for previous years

If you haven't done so in previous years, you can also claim withholding taxes retroactively. The flat-rate tax credit can still be claimed three years later in Switzerland using the DA-1 form. However, the minimum amount for a refund is 100 francs.

The tax certificate for the 3rd pillar

If you made contributions to pillar 3a in the past calendar year, you can deduct these from your taxable income up to the maximum permitted contribution. We also make the 3a tax certificate available for download at the beginning of the year.

A better service, automatically

A tax statement is so useful that banks usually charge a fee for it. Most Swiss custodian banks charge a basic fee and an additional fee per item.

If you diversify your portfolio properly across asset classes with ETFs, you will quickly have ten to twenty different securities in your portfolio that must be listed individually. Such a tax directory often costs 100 francs or more. If you diversify with individual securities, you may even have to report over a hundred positions. In this case, the cost of a tax directory can quickly reach 500 francs or more.

At True Wealth, the tax statement costs nothing extra; it is automatically included and is already available for download in your account. This is a service that customers are otherwise only familiar with from private banking. Only significantly cheaper – just as you would expect from True Wealth.

Links

• Forms for the refund of foreign tax at source (ESTV)
• Blog «The crux of withholding tax»
• Blog «Greater transparency in terms of performance»

Note: For some accumulating funds, the taxable income is not yet known at the beginning of the year, which is why this information is initially missing from the tax statement. As soon as it is published by the Federal Tax Administration, it will also be entered in our tax statement. However, experience has shown that the tax authorities also accept the first versions of the tax statement for tax returns.