A practical guide to tax returns in the canton of Zurich
Zurich tax return – what do I need to consider?
Dispatch of tax returns in the canton of Zurich
The tax office of the Canton of Zurich sends out the tax forms to all taxpayers in the canton in mid-January on behalf of the municipal tax offices. In January 2024, only C5 envelopes with a letter containing the code for the online tax return were sent. Taxpayers can proceed as follows:
- Use the code and complete your tax return with ZHprivateTax. With the improved stability of ZHprivateTax, this is not a problem in most cases, but it is time-consuming and you are not sure whether all deductions are correct. The built-in guide is helpful, but often refers to legal texts and is not always understandable for the layperson.
- Confidentially hand over the code to a professional service provider and thus delegate the work and tax optimization. With Simpletax, this can be done using a secure upload form. You have all the advantages of a paperless office. In most cases, however, there are still a few receipts on paper, but these can easily be submitted electronically, uploaded, sent by e-mail or sent by post. Once the tax return has been completed, it can be submitted electronically.
- Professional software is used, whereby the code is not used and the output is usually only a pdf file and therefore submission to the canton is not possible electronically. Such software is also used by trustees, professional tax consultants and service providers. It has the advantage that it is usually better optimized, but is tied to expensive licenses.
- If you cannot cope with the browser software, you can still use PC software (also free of charge) in the canton of Zurich. The disadvantages here are also the installation effort and the printing and submission on paper.
- Many taxpayers want to delegate the problem completely and bring their documents to a tax service provider. Simpletax has 10 branches available for this. As a client and regular customer, you can focus on current changes in the consultation and quickly receive the complete tax return by post or pdf file for signature. Even if you are a new customer, the registration process is quickly completed on site by experienced branch employees. If supporting documents need to be submitted, this can be done at any time using the form or by post.
- If you want to do without the help of software or services altogether, you can still obtain the blank forms from the canton (online), print them out and fill them in. However, this is not recommended except in a few exceptional cases. Even simple calculation errors can be made quickly.
Simpletax practices in the canton of Zurich
Delegating your tax return saves taxes and time. We recommend that our clients visit our tax offices in Dübendorf, Regensdorf, Bülach or Wetzikon. Further branches are available for appointments in Kloten, Schlieren, Zurich-Oerlikon and Winterthur.
Software for completing your tax return Zurich
In general, it is not advisable to fill in the tax return by hand, as software carries out the calculations and some checks automatically.
There are several software programs for completing your Zurich tax return. On the one hand, the canton offers the ZHprivateTax software free of charge to make the process more efficient and error-free for taxpayers and the tax office.
The traditional guide with all the new features, the information sheet for the self-employed and other tips can also be found on this page. In 2024, the following points are noteworthy for the Zurich 2023 tax return:
- Marriage, divorce, separation or death for married couples in 2022 lead to 2 separate assessments and tax returns
- Review of the withholding tax situation and conditions for a possible new ordinary assessment. This means that a tax return must also be completed retrospectively. This applies to income over CHF 120,000, but other income or residence status can also influence the decision.
Deadlines and deadline extensions for tax returns
Documents and receipts are best collected when they are sent by banks, health insurance companies and other companies. Depending on the procedure, paper can be collected in a central location or a secure file repository can be kept with all scanned documents.
In the Canton of Zurich, the submission deadline is generally March 31. Sometimes the tax office extends deadlines on its own initiative, but you should check this carefully and, if necessary, apply for an electronic deadline extension.
Clients of Simpletax in the Canton of Zurich have this service automatically, so appointments for tax returns can be booked until summer or even fall 2023. Contact us if you have any questions or
Assistance and services
Checklists for tax returns and articles can be found in our collection and in the Simpletax tax return blog.
Property gains tax in the canton of Zurich
The tax return for property gains tax is a major hurdle for inexperienced taxpayers and the official assessment often results in large sums being lost. With the right tax return, you can often save CHF 10,000 or more. We have summarized further information on tax issues relating to the sale of real estate in the canton of Zurich and a comparison with other cantons in a separate article.
Tax advice and financial services
The advantages of a simple but professional tax service are obvious: however, it is important to ensure that the service providers in question have the necessary experience in the relevant canton, use professional and secure processes and software and are familiar with the subject matter of taxes.
Taxpayers thus delegate the task at affordable prices and receive an optimized tax return, i.e. full deductions and correct, timely filing. What’s more, filling out tax returns can often simply be nerve-wracking and take up valuable time. With Simpletax, service has never been so easy. Start with a binding appointment booking and choose the best way for you to collect the documents and send them to us.
