No taxes on your Swiss account Home > Swiss bank accounts > Taxation
There are no taxes on the money you invest in Switzerland - not on capital gains, and not on interest. There are only 2 exceptions to this rule: Exception 1 : Swiss franc accounts If your account is in Swiss
francs, you'll have to pay a 35% withholding tax on any interest earned on your account. "Withholding" means that the bank will keep 35% and send it to the Swiss tax authorities (on a no-name basis), and pay you only 65% of the interest earned. We emphasize that most of our clients do not open Swiss franc accounts (but rather US dollars, British pounds, Euros, etc...) and thus don't have to pay this tax. Furthermore, if you really want to have an account in Swiss francs, you can ask your banker to invest the funds in a money market fund which will be exempt from this whitholding tax.
Exception 2 : US persons If
you are a US person you should abstain from investing in US
securities from your Swiss bank account if you want to retain privacy. When
you open your account, the bank will ask you whether you are a US person, that
is, whether you are a US citizen, green card holder or US taxpayer for other
reasons. If you answer yes, you will have to either instruct the bank NOT to
invest in any US securities, or to accept that the bank forwards information
about your US investments to the IRS.
Let us say it once again : Switzerland does not levy any taxes on Swiss bank accounts and in practice the two exceptions to this general rule described above are not problematic. We speak about Swiss taxes only and we advise you to check with your local fiscal laws to see if you would be liable for taxes in your country upon accounts held in Switzerland.
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