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If you've ever tried declaring your investments on a Swiss tax return, you know the drill. Pages of securities. Endless ISIN numbers. Dividend calculations. Withholding tax columns. And the nagging worry that you've made a mistake somewhere that'll cost you money or worse, trigger a letter from the tax office.
There's a better way. It's called an e-tax statement, and it turns what used to be a weekend consuming chore into a 3 minute upload.
Here's everything you need to know about e-tax statements in Switzerland, and how to get yours from Alpian for just CHF 25.
What is an e-tax statement?
An e-tax statement (eSteuerauszug in German) is a PDF document with an embedded barcode that contains all your tax-relevant financial data from your bank. When you upload this PDF to your canton's tax software, whether that's ZHPrivateTax, VaudTax, or other cantonal system, the barcode does the heavy lifting. Your account balances, security values, dividends, and withholding tax amounts flow automatically into the correct fields.
No manual typing. No hunting for December 31st valuations on ICTax. No risk of entering CHF 12'450.30 as CHF 124'503.00 and giving yourself an accidental heart attack.
The technical standard behind it is called eCH-0196, developed by the Swiss Tax Conference (SSK). As of tax year 2023, every Swiss canton accepts e-tax statements, so where you live no longer determines whether you can use one.
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Everything you need to know about your e-tax statement in one place.
What's included in an e-tax statement?
Your e-tax statement typically captures everything you'd need to declare your banking and investment accounts. This includes your account balance as of December 31st, the market value of all securities in your custody account on that date, any loans or mortgages (which count as deductible debts), yields earned throughout the year such as interest and dividends, the Swiss withholding tax (Verrechnungssteuer) already deducted at 35%, buy and sell transactions during the tax year, flat tax credit information for US withholding tax, and deductible banking costs where applicable in your canton.
What it doesn't include: details about transfers into and out of your account. The tax office sees your balances and earnings, not who paid you or who you paid.
Why you actually need one (And when you don't)
If you're investing and especially if you hold multiple ETFs, stocks, or funds the equation changes fast.
Consider a portfolio with fifteen different positions. Each position has a December 31st valuation, potentially a dividend (or multiple dividends throughout the year), a portion subject to Swiss withholding tax, and possibly foreign withholding tax you can reclaim through the DA-1 form. Manually entering all of this takes hours. Miss something, and you might forfeit a withholding tax refund you're entitled to. Make a transcription error, and you risk an inquiry from the tax authorities.
The e-tax statement eliminates this friction. Import the PDF, verify the data, submit.
If you're actively building wealth through investments which, let's be honest, is exactly what you should be doing if you want to benefit from Switzerland's tax, free capital gains, an e-tax statement isn't a luxury. It's a time-saving necessity.
How much do e-tax statements cost in Switzerland?
This is where Swiss banking's legacy pricing model gets interesting.
Traditional banks treat e-tax statements as a profit center. UBS charges CHF 100 for up to 5 positions, CHF 250 for more. Zürcher Kantonalbank? CHF 54 to CHF 324, depending on your portfolio size. Swissquote takes CHF 91 flat.
Some banks waive fees for clients with expensive advisory mandates, essentially making you pay either in statement fees or in ongoing management fees. It's the Swiss banking equivalent of "choose your poison."
The newer players have figured out this doesn't have to be a high-margin product.
Most robo advisors, Findependent, True Wealth, Finpension, Viac Invest,offer e-tax statements free of charge. Yuh charges CHF 25 flat.
Alpian's price? CHF 25 flat. One price, regardless of how many positions you hold.
Cost comparison at a glance
If you're an Alpian client with a diversified investment portfolio, you're paying a fraction of what traditional banks charge-and getting the same standardized, canton-compatible document.
How to get your e-tax statement from Alpian
Here's the process, start to finish.
Step 1: Request your e-tax statement in the Alpian app. Go to your Documents section and look for the option to order your tax statement. To be able to order your e-tax statement you need to have at least CHF 25 in your cash account. The document is free for Signature members.
Step 2: Download the PDF once it's ready. This typically takes up to 5 minutes, as the document needs to compile all your year-end data and generate the compliant barcode.
Step 3: Import into your cantonal tax software. Whether you use ZHPrivateTax (Zürich), VaudTax (Vaud), or other cantonal platform, simply upload the PDF. The system reads the barcode and populates your securities declaration automatically.
Step 4: Verify and submit. Double-check the imported data, tax offices remind us that taxpayers remain responsible for accuracy, then complete the rest of your return and file.
That's it. No spreadsheets. No ICTax lookups. No second-guessing whether you declared everything correctly.
The bottom line
Filing your Swiss tax return with investments doesn't need to consume your weekend. An e-tax statement automates the most tedious part, declaring your securities-and ensures you don't leave money on the table by missing withholding tax refunds.
At CHF 25, Alpian's e-tax statement costs a fraction of what traditional banks charge and delivers the same canton compatible format that works everywhere in Switzerland.
If you're already an Alpian client, order your e-tax statement in the app when tax season approaches. If you're not yet with us, well, competitive e-tax pricing is just one small example of what "Banking Upgraded" actually means in practice.
Because your time is worth more than copying ISIN numbers.
Ready to simplify your tax season? Experience banking that respects your time.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax advice. For questions about your specific tax situation, consult a qualified tax professional or your cantonal tax office.
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