Taxes 2022 – what impact does COVID-19 have?

Melanie Imper Manager, Employment Solutions, PwC Switzerland 20 Mar 2023

Given the much more relaxed situation regarding the pandemic in 2022, the question arises as to whether exemption provisions will still apply for both the salary statements and the tax return for the tax year 2022. The answer to this question can vary greatly by canton.

The Federal Council lifted pandemic-related requirements to work from home and quarantine on 3 February 2022. This was followed on 16 February 2022 by the repeal of the remaining measures – including the recommendation to work from home. However, working from home has since become the new norm and many people would like to see it stay, at least in part. The question now arises as to whether and how working from home last year will have an impact on different aspects of salary statements and individual tax returns, including the reimbursement of expenses, commuting costs and other professional expense deductions.

In this article, we provide an overview of what needs to be taken into account for Swiss salary statements in 2022 and which costs can be deducted as professional expenses in 2022 tax returns. 

Filling out salary statements for expenses incurred in connection with working from home

According to the Guidelines for completing salary statements, any amounts actually paid out by the employer as compensation for expenses incurred in connection with a remote workplace (subject to presentation of an invoice), such as in a home office, must always be reported as a contribution in section 13.1.2. If, on the other hand, a lump sum is paid, this must be declared in section 13.2.3. The amount to be entered is the sum of lump-sum expense allowances related to working from home. 

Alternatively, an expense policy can be submitted for approval that also covers lump-sum compensation for the private infrastructure/home office. 

Professional and Covid-related expenses in 2022 tax returns

In 2022, as in previous years, taxpayers were affected by pandemic-related measures implemented by the authorities or employers. These measures had an impact on the employee’s professional expenses in particular, especially on their commuting expenses, additional costs for meals, lump-sum deductions as well as other professional expenses and education and training. In order to take the special situation during the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting costs into account, the cantonal tax authorities have developed approaches to accounting for these costs in tax returns.  

The way pandemic-related professional expenses are handled varies greatly from one canton to another, and it is worth taking a look at the homepage of the respective canton before submitting a tax return.

Examples from certain cantons

The Canton of Zurich had a rule in place during the pandemic stating that professional expenses could be deducted as if there were no measures in place – in other words, no days were deducted for working from home. The same now also applies for the 2022 tax year.

In the Canton of Bern, on the other hand, the pandemic-related provisions are already a thing of the past. For professional expenses, either a lump-sum deduction or the actual costs can be taken into account (according to the regular rules). With respect to the cost of commuting by public transport, if individual tickets were still being purchased at the beginning of the year and a season ticket was only purchased during the course of the year, both can be deducted as they both relate to actual expenses.

In the Canton Basel Stadt, the allowances for professional expenses and travel expenses are not being reduced in principle, but travel expenses and days working from home are mutually exclusive. An entitlement to an office deduction only exists in certain situations (for example if working from home is necessary as a result of an official order or in the case of particularly vulnerable persons) and only if all conditions (including a separate office where a substantial portion of the professional work is carried out, not voluntary in nature, etc.) are cumulatively fulfilled. The Canton of Basel-Landschaft, on the other hand, merely indicates that the pandemic-related rules will cease to apply from the 2022 tax period onward.

Conclusion

Some cantons embraced the principle during the pandemic that professional expenses could be deducted in the same way as if no pandemic-related measures were in place. Since the 2022 tax year was only impacted by these measures in the first two months, the approach varies greatly from one canton to the next and must be examined individually. Estimating the future tax implications that working from home will have on professional expenses – such as commuting costs or deductions for meals – is impossible at present. It can be assumed that a home office can still only be deducted if no workplace is provided by the employer.

 

Contact us

Melanie Imper

Melanie Imper

Manager, Employment Solutions, PwC Switzerland

Tel: +41 58 792 28 32