What is stamp duty in Switzerland? When do private investors have to pay stamp duty? What you should know about stamp duty.
Contents
| What is stamp duty in Switzerland? | How high are the stamp duties? |
| When is stamp duty payable? | Who has to pay stamp duty? |
| Where is stamp duty not payable? | Where can I find stamp duty at finpension? |
What is stamp duty in Switzerland?
Stamp duty is a tax levied by the Swiss Confederation on certain financial transactions. The tax is regulated in detail in the Federal Stamp Duty Act (not available in English).
There are three types of stamp duty: issue tax on equity capital, transfer stamp tax and duty on insurance premiums. Only the transfer stamp tax is relevant for private investors. Therefore, this article will focus exclusively on the transfer stamp tax and will use the term stamp duty interchangeably.
When is stamp duty due?
Stamp duty applies when purchasing or selling securities. This means that stamp duty must be paid whenever you buy a security and again when you sell it.
This only applies if you trade securities via a Swiss securities dealer. In this case, the stamp duty is always the same, regardless of which provider you trade with. The situation is different if you trade via a foreign broker. In this case, you are exempt from Swiss stamp duty.
A securities dealer is, for example, a bank, an asset manager, or a broker. The securities subject to duty include
- Shares
- Bonds
- Collective capital investments (ETFs or foreign funds)
- Ordinary shares in limited liability companies
- Share certificates and participation certificates of co-operatives
- Participation certificates
- Profit participation certificates
Where does stamp duty not apply?
Index funds are exempt from stamp duty. This means that if you invest your pillar 3a in genuine pension funds and not in ETFs, you will not pay any stamp duty. The same applies to vested benefits assets or if you invest in index funds in any other way.
There are additional exceptions where no stamp duty applies to private investors. Namely, if you (list not exhaustive):
- receive new shares directly from the company. For example, in the case of an IPO or a capital increase.
- trade subscription rights.
- return bonds. If you hold a bond and get the money back when it matures.
- buy foreign bonds. This applies if the interest payment and repayment are made in a foreign currency or if the trade is conducted via a foreign counterparty.
How high are the stamp duties?
The amount of stamp duty depends on whether you buy or sell domestic or foreign securities. If you trade in Swiss securities, your share of stamp duty is 0.075 %. For foreign securities, your share of stamp duty is 0.15 %.
| Stamp duty on Swiss shares or ETFs | Stamp duty on foreign shares or ETFs |
| 0.075 % of the price paid on purchase or sale | 0.15 % of the price paid on purchase or sale |
Here is an example calculation. Suppose you buy a Swiss share worth CHF 10,000. You then pay the 0.075 % stamp duty on this amount, i.e. CHF 7.50. For a foreign share with the same value, the stamp duty is CHF 15.
How can I distinguish between domestic and foreign securities?
Let’s look at shares, ETFs, and bonds as an example. They all have one thing in common: you can usually recognize whether a security is domestic by the ISIN, as the numbers are preceded by CH (e.g. CH0237935652).
If you want to be on the safe side, you can pay attention to the following:
- A share is deemed to be domestic if it originates from a company domiciled in Switzerland – for example Nestlé, UBS or Swisscom.
- With ETFs, you must pay attention to the fund domicile. The fund domicile can be found in the factsheets.
- A bond is considered domestic if it is issued by a Swiss company, bank, or government.
Who has to pay the stamp duty?
According to the law, stamp duty is split between the investor and the trader. Therefore, as an investor, you do not pay 0.15 % or 0.3 %, as stated in the law, but only half.
How do I have to pay the stamp duty?
Unlike when paying tax on dividends, as a private investor you do not have to worry about stamp duty. Your securities dealer will take care of this for you. They will pay your and their share of the tax directly to the state.
Can I deduct the stamp duty from my tax bill?
No, as a private investor, you cannot deduct stamp duty from your taxes.
Where is the stamp duty shown for finpension?
The stamp duties can be viewed transparently in finpension. In the app, you can see the stamp duty by clicking on Transactions in the portfolio overview and then expanding the individual purchases or sales.
In the desktop view, the display is even clearer. You can view all transactions and how much stamp duty was paid for each individual transaction.
Are stamp duties payable if finpension carries out automatic rebalancing?
As we buy and sell securities for you when rebalancing, stamp duty may be payable. If you do not want automatic rebalancing, you can switch it off with the finpension investment solution.
