Cross-border commuters from Italy and Switzerland will be eligible to work from home for more than 25 per cent of their working hours starting January 1 next year.
The announcement comes following the declaration regulating the taxation of home working for cross-border commuters, which has been signed by the Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter as well as the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti.
The new decision means that cross-border commuters will be eligible to work from home for 25 per cent of their working hours without affecting their country, which is able to collect tax on income from salaried employment or cross-border commuters’ status, as noted in the statement provided by Switzerland’s government.
The same revealed that the interim solution agreed between these two states in April this year will be further expanded. By the end of this month, both countries’ authorities will agree on rules for the taxation of home working for cross-border commuters from February 1, 2023, until December 31, 2023.
The solution that Switzerland has agreed with Italy for the future taxation of cross-border commuters is good for Swiss businesses and their employees. It brings clarity and security to the taxation of home working, reduces the administrative burden and guarantees the equal treatment of all the cross-border commuters concerned. – Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter
In addition to Italy, Switzerland has cross-border commuter agreements with several countries, such as Germany, Liechtenstein, and France.
The rules for cross-border commuters at present are applied from the agreement reached between Italy and Switzerland in 1974. The same emphasises that if an employer is located in the Swiss canton of Grisons, Ticino, or Valais and an employee resides in Italy, working days in Swiss are subject to tax in Switzerland, while Italian and third-country working days must be taxed in Italy. It means that working days in Italy from home are not taxable in Swiss territory but in Italy.
Starting from January 1, 2024, the new agreement signed by authorities in Switzerland and Italy will become effective, thus replacing the current one.
The new agreement defines a cross-border commuter as an employee who resides near the border in one country and is employed by an employer located in the border zone of the other state. The border zone includes the cantons of Grisons, Ticino, and Valais, and also the areas of Piedmont, Lombardy, Valle d’Aosta, and the province Bolzano, according to a report from the International Tax Review.
