Bern and Rome agree on home office regulations for cross-border commuters
Published: Friday, Nov 10th 2023, 22:51
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Switzerland and Italy have reached an agreement on the taxation of home office work. From 2024, cross-border commuters will be able to work up to 25 percent of their working hours from home.
Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter and her Italian counterpart Giancarlo Giorgetti signed a declaration to this effect on Friday following a video conference, as announced by the Federal Department of Finance (FDF).
Keller-Sutter praised the agreement reached. "I am pleased that we have been able to achieve a permanent regulation" for working from home, she said at a media conference in Bern.
Solution brings legal certainty
If the home office limit of a maximum of 25 percent is adhered to, everything remains as before - both for the state, which is responsible for collecting taxes, and for the status of cross-border commuters.
The solution is "good for Swiss companies and their employees", as it provides legal certainty and reduces the administrative burden, the Finance Minister continued.
However, working from home not only offers advantages for employees, "it also relieves the transport infrastructure, be it roads or railways, and therefore also offers ecological advantages".
Agreement reached quickly
According to Keller-Sutter, the solution reached with Italy also guarantees equal treatment for all cross-border commuters affected. This is because the current temporary agreement treats cross-border commuters differently, depending on when they were granted cross-border commuter status.
According to the Finance Minister, the issue of home office taxation was resolved relatively quickly. A joint solution had already been worked out at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ministerial meeting in mid-October. And just one month later, Switzerland and Italy signed a joint declaration, as Keller-Sutter said.
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