Tag Archives: Personal finance

In Switzerland, an official document showing your debt status from the local debt collection register is required for a number of administrative tasks in Switzerland. For example, when applying for an apartment rental agreement or Swiss citizenship. © Siriporn Kaenseeya | Dreamstime.comKnown as an extrait du registre des poursuites in French or a Betreibungsauszug in German, the document can quickly and easily be obtained online for a fee by applying directly to the relevant office – see...

Switzerland is expensive. The prices of certain items, such as some meats and dairy products are kept especially high by a combination of trade tariffs and import restrictions. A lack of retail competition further adds to prices generally. © Typhoonski | Dreamstime.comFor some, shopping across the border is the preferred way to avoid high Swiss prices. Around CHF 10 billion is spent annually on cross-border shopping, according to one estimate. The current tax free limit of CHF 300 per...

Switzerland’s largest health insurers are poised to refund around CHF 300 million to policy holders, reported RTS. © Yulan | Dreamstime.comSwitzerland’s health insurers have reserves of roughly CHF 12 billion, around 2 times the minimum reserve requirement, and have been under pressure from the government to return the money to policy holders. This week Switzerland’s parliament decided to go one step further and force them to reduce their reserves. Parliamentarian Lorenzo Quadri said...

On 26 September 2021, Swiss voters will decide whether to introduce a tax increase on money earned from company ownership and investments. © Pascal Halder | Dreamstime.comThe initiative named ‘Reduce tax on salaries, tax capital fairly’ aims to have income derived from investments and company ownership taxed at 150% of the rate applied to other income. The argument put forward by the initiators, a group belonging to the young Socialist Party, is that income such as salary reflects...

There are many theories on why the prices of certain goods and services are so high in Switzerland. A well-known economic phenomenon can be added to them. © David Taljat | Dreamstime.comTheories that help to explain Switzerland’s high prices include, import restrictions and tariffs on products in protected industries like agriculture, high Swiss operating costs, anticompetitive deals struck by international companies that impose higher prices on Swiss retailers and prevent local retailers...

The latest UBS Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index published this week shows several regions at risk of overheating property prices. © Annanahabed | Dreamstime.comThe regions highlighted as exposed include Basel, Lausanne, Vevey, parts of the Vaud Alps, Lugano, Nidwalden, Luzern, Zug and the Zurich region, all parts of Switzerland where there is plenty of high paid work. Lausanne, Basel, Zug, Luzern and parts of the Zurich region are described as having fundamental risk, while Vevey and...

© Sergei Babenko | Dreamstime.com In 2016, the social security office in Zurich discovered a concealed bank account containing CHF 1 million belonging to a deceased man who had received welfare payments for 13 years, reported RTS. Over the 13 years, the man had received financial hardship payments, known as supplemental benefits, and health insurance subsidies amounting to CHF 140,000. When applying for hardship payments in Switzerland, all wealth must be declared....

In 2016, the social security office in Zurich discovered a concealed bank account containing CHF 1 million belonging to a deceased man who had received welfare payments for 13 years, reported RTS. © Sergei Babenko | Dreamstime.comOver the 13 years, the man had received financial hardship payments, known as supplemental benefits, and health insurance subsidies amounting to CHF 140,000. When applying for hardship payments in Switzerland, all wealth must be declared. In general, an...

Those with a migration background in Switzerland are on average financially worse off than those without, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office. And those with a migration background pay on average 10% more per square metre of living space than the rest of the population. © | Dreamstime.comIn Switzerland, around 20% of those with a migration background have trouble making ends meet, compared to 7% of the rest of the population. On average, people without a migration...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Switzerland’s four largest buildings insurers estimate the costs of recent weather events could reach half a billion francs across Switzerland, reported RTS. According to Grégoire Deiss, who works for the cantonal buildings insurer ECAB in Fribourg, the cost of recent storms and flooding could be around CHF 500 million across all of Switzerland, a figure he based on claims that have been made so far.