As is known, Switzerland has concluded teleworking agreements with France with effect from 1 January 2023. This allows employees to telework up to 40% in France for tax purposes, including 10 days of temporary assignments in France or third countries, without any change compared to a full work assignment in Switzerland. This agreement could only be concluded if various data is supplied to France once the supplementary agreement to the DTT comes into force. The supplementary agreement is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2025. I have already reported on this in the blog https://www.zulaufgmbh.ch/en/automatic-data-exchange-with-italy-and-france-for-employers-in-switzerland-adjustment-of-swissdec-elm-5-0-standard-and-publication-of-elm-5-3/.
The reporting basically affects all cantons and all employers of employees domiciled in France (employment contract with the company/permanent establishment in Switzerland and those with an employment contract abroad with de facto employer status in Switzerland).
Companies are well advised to organise themselves in such a way that they can provide the information to the responsible canton for 2025 at the beginning of 2026. How are these determined in concrete terms? Detailed knowledge of teleworking agreements is required in order to certify them correctly.
If, for example, an employee resident in France is not granted teleworking and this person is often on business trips outside Switzerland, the taxable days allocated to Switzerland (max. 10 days) must also be taken into account. It is therefore not simply zero.
There are also plans to certify teleworking with 0% or zero days.
As early as January 2025, employees who leave the company will be able to request detailed information in a certificate. As explained in the previous blog, these are
- Period taken into account in the calendar year with limited tax liability
- Average degree of employment in the period to be certified
- Proportion of teleworking in % or teleworking days excluding temporary assignments in France and third countries
- Business travel days in France
- Business travel days in third countries
- Non-return days in Switzerland (for cross-border commuters under the 1983 agreement)
It is therefore worth preparing for this level of detail now. A retrospective survey of employees after they have left the company is likely to lead to considerable difficulties.
The new employer can and should decide on the basis of this data whether and how much teleworking can be granted for the remaining employment period in the calendar year.
And what about social security?
The data to be collected is not congruent.
Firstly, a distinction must be made between employees with Swiss and EU nationality (application of the provisions of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons) and those with a different nationality (no application of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons). While the latter are subject to a division of social security contributions (at least Switzerland and France), further details must be provided for those who are subject to the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons.
- Are the requirements for applying for cross-border teleworking fulfilled and can the materiality limit of 25% or more be extended to <50%?
- Has it been taken into account that all physical activities outside Switzerland / EU were subtracted for the calculation of the materiality threshold?
Need for action in the companies:
- Are there any employees resident in France? If so, please note the other points.
- Gain in-depth knowledge of tax and social security agreements
- Determining which employees should be granted teleworking
- Issuing directives on the recording of the necessary information by employees. Depending on the number of employees concerned, it may make sense to extend the time recording system
- Supplementary contractual agreement regarding the terms and conditions for granting teleworking, including the duty of co-operation of the employees concerned
- Preparatory work for certification obligations such as software updates and software extensions
Link to all seminars in English: https://www.zulaufgmbh.ch/en/events-and-workshops/
