In its meeting of 2 December 2022, the Federal Council opened the consultation on individual taxation. Should individual taxation come into force, each person would have to submit their own tax return, even if they are married. The bill serves as an indirect counter-proposal to the Tax Fairness Initiative.
Current regulation
Currently, married couples and couples in a registered partnership are taxed jointly. This can mean that married couples may be worse off than unmarried couples, as income and assets are added together when they are jointly liable for tax. So if both partners work and earn a certain income, they fall victim to the tax progression.
What would change?
In order to counteract the above-mentioned inequality, the Federal Council has opened a consultation on individual taxation as an indirect counter-proposal to the tax justice initiative. Individual taxation means that each person is taxed individually and has to fill out a separate tax return. It does not matter whether they are married or not. In this way, the Federal Council would like to create the highest possible incentives for second earners to work and promote equal opportunities between the sexes. In addition, the Federal Council proposes various accompanying measures to ensure balanced taxation.