DietmaR
Hi DietmaR
From my experience, I can tell the following. If you have a simple, straightforward case, you can try it by yourself. If you speak German, you can use the official guidelines of the tax office of your canton of residence. You can find and download it online for free. Moreover, there is a lot of tax information in German on the web. Just google. Perhaps, someone from your colleagues can help you.
If you then get stuck, you can ask someone to help. In the end, you will have a completed tax declaration. You can use it next year to prepare it by yourself this time, if your income and asset situation will not change significantly.
Regards,
S_Asser

DietmaR

Hi DietmaR

Of course, you should fill in your tax declaration in all conscience.

Be really careful with your income and assets. You have to declare every single item. If you forget to declare some positions of your income and the tax office discovers it, you probably will be accused of tax evasion. However, if you forget to declare a bank account with a low amount, there shouldn’t be any huge problems and there are a few ways for you to fix it.

In the case of deductions, it is usually much easier: the tax office just cancels all deductions you are not really eligible for and estimates your tax payable based on its own calculations. You won’t have to pay busses or other penalties for this. The only thing that changes is your tax burden. Since one or some deductions are canceled, your taxable income will be higher. Thus, your tax bill will be also higher.

DietmaR

Hi DietmaR,

As I moved to Switzerland, I had rather a complicated tax situation, since I had properties in my home country. One of them I rented out. My wife with our children lived in another one. I was told by a colleague I can make huge mistakes when filling in my tax return and overpay taxes. For this reason, I contacted a tax consultant to assist me in preparing the tax declaration. It worked well, I’ve made a positive experience.

Regards,
Swen

DietmaR

I filled in my tax return completely by myself. Actually, I don´t think, it’s difficult. Especially in Switzerland, where the tax office gives you a comprehensive guideline. If something is unclear, you can always call and ask them.

A lady on the phone spent about 30 minutes with me answering all my questions.

Best,
Marie

Hi guys

I can’t completely agree with Marie. If you’ve never prepared a private tax return, it can quickly get very complicated and time-consuming. For instance, in my home country, we don’t need to fill in private tax returns. If I had done it in Switzerland by myself, I would definitely have made a bunch of mistakes. My tax consultant asked me things, I would have never thought about. Another huge hurdle is German language. Yes, I do speak a bit, but still it’s pretty hard to read complicated texts and in such things, I can’t just rely on google translate.
If your situation is like mine, I would recommend to obtain assistance.

Regards
Lee

Lee

OK, from this point of view, it is true. I am from Germany, so German is my mother tongue. And I also had an experience with tax declaration before.

Best,
Marie

It has been 5 years since the last comment, has anything changed?
I mean, is it still that difficult to fill ut tax returns even if trhere are AI tools like ChatGPT?