IT Actual Working Days Abroad ST

This field is used to record monthly days actually worked abroad for the calculation of correct Income tax deduction.

The days worked abroad each month reduce the Income tax base, but not the rate-determining income. The calculation is done every month on a 20-working-days base. If an employee subject to Income tax has worked abroad for 5 days, the IT salary base is reduced by 25%.

Taking of ‘Days abroad’ or ‘Days actually worked in Switzerland’ into account is not a new topic. We have adjusted the handling in SwissSalary.

If an employee liable to pay withholding tax is delegated abroad for one or more days (e.g., for a trade fair or further training or a visit to a customer on site), the number of these days is to be reduced in the Income tax wage proportionately. The idea is that the employee only has to pay Income tax for the days s/he actually worked in Switzerland.

A new salary type must be created to automatically settle this in the system (employer salary type). It is to be stored in the ‘ST actual workdays abroad ST’ field in the ‘Income tax’ tab of the Payroll Setup. The fixed value of 20 (days) must be stored directly below in the ‘IT workdays in CH’ field. Therefore, each month is billed with a maximum of 20 workdays. 20 working days per month apply to all cantons.

We recommend recording individual workdays abroad positively in the Report journal with the document date so that you can see more easily what these days are based on. You must be able to disclose these days to the tax administration. If you record the days in another tool, for example in a time record-ing solution or in a work report, then you only can record in SwissSalary the total days abroad.

For example, if an employee earns CHF 10'000 and has worked for 5 days abroad and for 15 days in Switzerland respectively in the corresponding month, the wage subject to withholding tax should be reduced from 20 to 15 days.

ST salary = 10'000 ÷ 20 × 15 = CHF 7'500.00

ST Rate Determination (unchanged!) = CHF 10'000.00

The provision states that days of travel also count as days abroad if at least half of the day was commute time. Other details (e.g., home office) are not defined. Please contact the tax administration for final clarification. From our point of view and interpretation, a home office of your choice is not days abroad.

NOTE

This provision applies to all employees liable to pay Income tax, not just to those having other occupations.