Selling your house in Zurich while you live abroad

Yes. As the seller, you need no permit, not even as a foreign national or a Swiss citizen abroad. The Lex Koller, the federal law on the purchase of property by persons abroad, requires a permit only for the purchase. So it concerns the buyer.¹⁷

For tax purposes, you stay tied to the house. Anyone who owns property in the canton is taxable here, even without living in Switzerland.¹ In the Canton of Zurich, the municipality levies property gains tax (Grundstückgewinnsteuer), the Swiss capital gains tax on property. The seller is the taxpayer.²

What is taxed is the sale price minus the investment costs: the purchase price plus deductible expenses, such as an extension. The law has no separate formula for sellers abroad.¹² The federal government levies no income tax on this gain, as long as the house is private property.³

What this means for you: the sums are the same as if you lived in Zurich. Only the routes differ: signature, delivery of post and tax security.

Not necessarily. A house sale contract is only valid if the notary’s office records it as a public deed (öffentliche Beurkundung), drafting and certifying it itself.⁶ You may be represented. If an authorised person signs in your name, you yourself are bound.⁶ The contract names that person with their personal details.¹⁹ Ask the notary’s office beforehand which form of power of attorney it requires.

A certification (Beglaubigung) only confirms that your signature is genuine, not the content.⁹ There are two routes. First route: the Swiss embassy or consulate general. You attend in person, with an appointment and valid ID. You bring the document unsigned. The embassy may ask for further documents.¹⁰¹¹

Second route: have your signature certified by a notary in your country of residence, in Germany also by the local citizens’ office (Bürgeramt). As a rule, an apostille follows, that state’s confirmation of authenticity. So you obtain it there, not in Switzerland.⁸¹²¹³

What this means for you: first agree the form with the notary’s office. Only then sign.

In Switzerland: in the Canton of Zurich, to the municipality.² The rates are fixed by law; your municipality’s tax multiplier plays no role. They rise in bands from 10 to 40 per cent of the gain. Gains below CHF 5,000 are tax-free.²

The biggest lever is the length of ownership. From five full years, the tax falls by 5 per cent; from twenty full years, by 50 per cent. Under two years, a surcharge of 25 per cent applies; under one year, 50 per cent.²

If you inherited, the last purchase before the inheritance counts for gain and ownership, usually your parents’ purchase. If it lies over 20 years back, the market value of 20 years ago may replace the original price.²

What this means for you: in the example below, the parents’ long ownership halves the tax. If the heir lived in Zurich, the figure would be the same. For a first estimate, use the calculator for the Canton of Zurich.

Tax security means the tax is guaranteed before the tax office has finally set it. If the seller does not live in Switzerland, the tax office can require this. It does not have to.² There is no fixed percentage. What counts is the tax presumably owed. It takes the form of cash, safe securities or a guarantee.²

The order takes effect at once. An appeal against it (Rekurs) does not stop it.² That sounds harsh. But the house itself is liable for the tax anyway. The municipality holds a statutory lien (gesetzliches Pfandrecht), a security right on the property.² If the seller does not pay, the buyer must pay in the end. That is why, in practice, the tax is usually secured at the sale itself, wherever the seller lives.⁴

What this means for you: plan the presumed tax as tied-up money from day one. In the example above: around CHF 194,700. What remains after tax, mortgage and selling costs is your net proceeds.

Switzerland may tax the gain because the house is located here. That is what the double tax treaties with Germany, France and the US say.¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶ Such a treaty is an agreement between two states on who may tax what. It does not give Switzerland an exclusive right.

Against a double burden, the treaties provide for a tax credit: the tax paid in Switzerland is taken into account in your country of residence. The treaties with Germany and France expressly cover municipal taxes on such gains too. The Zurich property gains tax therefore falls within them.¹⁴¹⁵

Germany credits it under German law.¹⁴ France credits it, capped at the French tax on this gain.¹⁵ The US credits Swiss taxes for its residents and citizens under US law. Whether this covers the Zurich municipal tax is not expressly stated in that treaty.¹⁶

What this means for you: whether and how your country of residence also taxes the gain is governed by its own law. Clarify this there with your tax adviser.

Heirs become owners when the deceased dies, even if they live abroad.⁷ But they can only transfer it once entered in the land register (Grundbuch). This requires the certificate of inheritance (Erbbescheinigung), official proof of who the heirs are.⁷⁸

Several heirs generally act together. Every co-heir abroad must take part, in person or by power of attorney.⁷ An executor (Willensvollstrecker) keeps their own powers: the person the deceased named in the will to settle the estate. So does an heirs’ representative, which any co-heir can request from the authority.⁷ If one of you takes over the house, the land register needs the written consent of all co-heirs or a written partition agreement.⁸

Two points help. The inheritance itself triggers no property gains tax; it is deferred.² And a co-heir who takes over the others’ shares needs no Lex Koller permit, even if they live abroad.¹⁷

What this means for you: collect the powers of attorney of all co-heirs early. How joint heirs decide together has its own page.