How PaperTax works: from a pile of documents to your finished Zurich tax return
PaperTax is a copilot for your Swiss tax return. You upload your documents, write a few lines about your year, and we tell you what to enter in your canton's official tax app — one document at a time. We don't file for you, and we don't replace the cantonal app. You stay in control of the submission; we remove the part where you stare at a form wondering which number goes in which box.
Here is the whole flow.
1. You start a return and tell us the basics
Your canton, your language, your civil status, children, and your situation. This sets which fields and rules apply to you — a Zurich filer with stocks sees different guidance than a Geneva family with childcare costs.
2. You upload your documents — in any order, whenever
Drop in your salary certificate (LohnausweisLohnausweisSalary certificateFRcertificat de salaireITcertificato di salarioYour employer's annual statement of what it paid you and what it withheld. One per job, and the starting point of the whole return.Where you see itSent by your employer in January or February.Open in the glossary →), your pillar 3a (Säule 3aSäule 3aPillar 3aFRpilier 3a (prévoyance individuelle liée)ITpilastro 3a (previdenza individuale vincolata)Tied private retirement savings. What you pay in during the year comes straight off your taxable income, up to a legal maximum.Where you see itYour provider sends a contribution certificate in January.Open in the glossary →) attestation, your bank and broker statements, and anything else. They don't all have to arrive at once. Missing a document today is normal, not an error — upload it later and we pick up where you left off.
When you upload, a short box asks if there is anything we should know about your year. Use it. "I only started this job in November" or "I moved from Vaud to Zurich in July" changes how your numbers should be read, and telling us up front avoids a wrong assumption later.
3. We read each document
We read every document you upload and pull out the figures that matter for your return — the salary, the dividends, the foreign tax withheld, the 3a amount. You don't type these in by hand.
4. We build a guide — one card per document
Instead of a wall of form fields, you get a guide organised the way your paperwork sits on the table: one card per document. Each card tells you what to type, and where, in your canton's app — including the small things, like when the app caps a number automatically or calculates it for you. You work through the cards at your own pace and check them off.
5. You ask questions; we recalculate
The guide sits next to a chat. If something looks off, tap the entry and ask. Change one number and we explain what else moves because of it. Corrections are a conversation, not a form you have to re-submit.
6. You file in your canton's app
When the cards are done, you have entered everything in your official cantonal app (ZHprivateTax for Zurich, and others) — and you file there, as yourself. That is deliberate: keeping the filing in the cantonal app keeps you in control and keeps PaperTax a guide rather than a middleman.
What PaperTax does not do
- It does not generate a finished PDF return or submit anything for you.
- It does not replace your cantonal tax app.
- It is not a tax advisor. Complex situations still need a professional, and we'll say so when we hit one.
Your documents
Swiss-hosted, deleted when you finish your return, and never used to train AI.
Where to go next
- Hold an Interactive Brokers account? Start with IBKR and foreign brokers on your Swiss tax return.
- Want to know what you can deduct? See the pillar 3a guide and Zurich tax deductions and tips.
- Taxed at source and unsure whether to file at all? Read Quellensteuer: should you file a return?.
This article is general information, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Swiss tax rules vary by canton and by personal situation, and they change. PaperTax helps you complete your own official cantonal tax return — it does not file on your behalf. For advice on your specific situation, consult a qualified Swiss tax professional or your cantonal tax office.
Sources
Every figure in this guide is checked against these. Each one links to the issuing document — the article of law, the circular, the cantonal form — not to a homepage, and not to somebody else's summary of it.