Guidelines for 2019 salary statements – updated and clarified

The amended guidelines for 2019 salary statements introduce some limited changes. In addition to clarifications relating to relocation costs and the GA travelcard, the Swiss Tax Conference (SSK) has released a new program for preparing salary statements. This could benefit SMEs with no payroll software, for example. The following is a summary of the most important changes.

Relocation allowance (margin numbers 27 and 71 of the guidelines)

Amounts paid by the employer as reimbursement for relocation expenses (flat-rate or effective) are subject to tax and must be declared in section 3. Flat-rate reimbursements for relocation are always subject to tax. For the reimbursement of effective relocation expenses there are two exceptions. Firstly, if the relocation is necessary due to an external, job-related constraint such as the relocation of the employer. Secondly, in the case of employees on assignment who meet the conditions of the Ordinance on the Deduction of Expatriates’ Extraordinary Professional Expenses (ExpaV). The employer must make a note in section 15 in both cases.

GA travelcard (margin number 9)

If the employer provides a GA travelcard to the employee (which can also be used for business purposes) despite there being no work-related need to do so, the GA travel card must be declared at market value in section 2.3. In this case, it counts towards the employee’s taxable salary. No free transport takes place and field F is not ticked.

eLohnausweis SSK (Swiss Tax Conference)

The new eLohnausweis SSK software can be used to prepare salary and pension statements. The web link can be found on page 3 of the guidelines. The SSK provides the software free of charge. It is suitable for SMEs that don’t have their own payroll software. It has been available as a web-based application since October 2018, replacing the existing download solution from 2014, which can no longer be used. The data for past salary statements can be transferred from the old version to the new one. The SSK has published a data migration guide for this on its website.

No data is transmitted while the program is running. After opening it for the first time, you can continue working offline. The employer must store the salary statements locally due to data protection considerations. They cannot be transmitted to the cantonal tax authorities via the ELM electronic salary reporting system.