Tag Archives: Personal finance

On 12 January 2022, the Federal Council decided to implement the minimum tax rate for companies that was agreed by the OECD and G20 member states last year. The 15% minimum tax rate is to come into force on 1 January 2024. © Marekusz | Dreamstime.comThe new minimum 15% tax rate, which will apply to multinational companies with turnover of more than EUR 750 million, was agreed by 137 countries. Under the agreement, if a country maintains lower tax rates then other countries can impose an...

© Alyssand | Dreamstime.com The Swiss housing market continues to rise with no signs of weakening, reported RTS this week. According to the real estate platform immoscout24, the average price per m2 for a family home in Switzerland has risen from CHF 6,700 to CHF 7,200 over the last 12 months, a rise of 7%. Apartment prices have risen even further in some places. According to Roxane Montagner, who works for CiFi, a company that advises real estate professionals, the...

The Swiss housing market continues to rise with no signs of weakening, reported RTS this week. © Alyssand | Dreamstime.comAccording to the real estate platform immoscout24, the average price per m2 for a family home in Switzerland has risen from CHF 6,700 to CHF 7,200 over the last 12 months, a rise of 7%. Apartment prices have risen even further in some places. According to Roxane Montagner, who works for CiFi, a company that advises real estate professionals, the trend is not about...

From 1 January 2022, the cost of posting a standard letter for next day delivery (A-class) is 10% higher and a B-class letter 6% higher. These price hikes are the first of their kind in 18 years, reported RTS. © Christin Millhill | Dreamstime.comThe cost of posting a standard A-class letter is now CHF 1.10, up from CHF 1.00, the cost until 31 December 2021. The price of posting a standard B-class letter is now CHF 0.90, up from CHF 0.85. The price rise, announced in mid-August 2021,...

In some parts of Switzerland, welfare payments are sometimes considered more like bridging loans to help someone through a financially difficult period rather than a one-way payment. A recent case in the canton of Bern shows this system in action. © Andrey Anisimov | Dreamstime.comAccording to 20 Minutes, a man who received welfare over 20 years was asked to repay the money he’d received after an inheritance windfall in 2020. During the summer of 2020, the man received CHF 261,000 in...

The tax burden is set to rise in 10 Swiss cantons and fall in 16 in 2022, according to data published this week by the Federal Finance Administration (FFA). Nationally, the tax burden in 2022 will represent 24.6% of Switzerland’s tax potential, down from 24.8% in 2021. © Francisco Javier Zea Lara | Dreamstime.comWhile the national tax burden percentage offers some indication of the average rate of income tax, it can differ significantly because of the complexity and incomparability of the...

On 1 January 2022, new laws aimed at helping Swiss consumers will come into force. © Alexey Novikov | Dreamstime.comFrom 1 January 2022, foreign companies and brands will no longer be able to use geographic blocking to force consumers with Swiss IP addresses to shop on local Swiss web pages with different prices. Laws aimed at ending the practice of foreign brand and product owners forcing higher wholesale prices on Swiss retailers and consumers will also come into force on 1 January...

In Switzerland, the official state pension age is 65 for men and 64 for women. Government plans to make the retirement age 65 for both men and women have met with resistance from groups fighting against gender discrimination in Switzerland. © Ammentorp | Dreamstime.comThe change would not affect women about to retire, and those born between 1960 and 1968 would receive some extra compensatory pension payments. Groups against the move argue that the extra year of state pension women...

Switzerland might not lead Europe on average income (GDP), but it wins on cost, according to recent Eurostat data. © Daniele Mezzadri | Dreamstime.comThe nations leading on per capita income in 2020 were Luxembourg and Ireland. Average GDP per resident was 2.63 times the EU average in Luxembourg and 2.09 times in Ireland. Average residents of Switzerland, came in third with GDP per head of 1.60 times the EU average. However, on costs, Switzerland takes the lead with prices 1.59 times...

The world is getting tougher on tobacco. This week, New Zealand’s government announced plans to make it illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone born after 2008. In Switzerland, where cigarettes are around 40% of the price in New Zealand, an anti-smoking association has called for prices to be hiked from CHF 8 to CHF 14 a packet, reported 20 Minutes. © Jaochainoi | Dreamstime.comAccording to the Swiss Association for Tobacco Control (AT), hiking the price of cigarettes will cut the number of...