Tax residency: home office during the corona crisis

Employees residing abroad (e.g. international weekly commuters) are generally only taxable in Switzerland on the part of their employment income that is attributable to Swiss workdays. Due to the corona pandemic, a large part of the working time is spent at home. This also has consequences under tax law.

Switzerland has therefore concluded mutual agreements with Germany, France, Liechtenstein and Italy. According to these agreements, the right of taxation on days spent in the home office solely due to the corona crisis falls to the country in which the work would normally have been performed. If, under normal circumstances, an employee works four days in the office and one day in the home office, the same allocation is taken into account for the period of the corona pandemic, even if all working time is currently spent by working from home.

These mutual agreements will remain in effect until the relevant agreement is not renewed or terminated.

For employees who are resident in a country other than those mentioned above, the rules of the respective double taxation agreements apply.

https://www.zh.ch/de/news-uebersicht/mitteilungen/2021/steuern-finanzen/steuern/quellenbesteuerung-von-im-ausland-ansaessigen-arbeitnehmenden--d.html (only available in German)