Declaring foreign securities on your Zurich tax return: DA-1 (2025)

Key takeaways

• US dividends are withheld at 30% by default. With a W-8BEN on file the treaty rate is 15%, which is what you claim back in Switzerland.
• You claim it with the DA-1, but only once your total non-recoverable foreign tax passes CHF 100, and only if you declared the dividends gross.
• You still declare Swiss dividends to reclaim the 35% anticipatory tax (VerrechnungssteuerVerrechnungssteuerSwiss anticipatory taxFRimpôt anticipéITimposta preventivaA 35% tax withheld on Swiss dividends and interest. It is a deposit, not a cost: declare the income on your return and you get all of it back.Where you see itOn Swiss bank and broker statements, next to each dividend or interest payment.Open in the glossary →). Declare it or you lose the refund.
• R-US 164 applies only to US securities held through a Swiss bank with Qualified Intermediary status. For an ordinary IBKR account it stays empty.

First get the data out: our broker statement converter turns an IBKR, DEGIRO, Schwab or Swissquote export into the eCH-0196 statement Zurich accepts.

Canton Zurich and federal rules, tax year 2025. Other cantons differ.

Line by line, or one total

Practice differs by canton. Some offices accept a single total with a statement attached; others want every position listed.

In Zurich, list positions individually. The securities schedule (WertschriftenverzeichnisWertschriftenverzeichnisSecurities scheduleFRétat des titresITelenco dei titoliThe list of everything you own in securities and bank accounts, with year-end values and the income each produced. It is also where you reclaim the 35% anticipatory tax.Where you see itA main section of the tax return itself, in ZHprivateTax.Open in the glossary →) is built around one row per holding, and a lump figure gives the assessor nothing to check against.

There is also a correctness reason:

A single total underreports accumulating ETFs. An accumulating fund reinvests its income instead of paying it out, so no cash lands in your account. Federal law taxes it anyway, at the moment the income is credited to the reinvestment account. The figure comes from the ESTV price list (KurslisteKurslisteOfficial price list (ICTax)FRliste des cours (ICTax)ITlistino dei corsi (ICTax)The federal tax administration's year-end valuations for securities, published at ictax.admin.ch. For accumulating funds it is the only place the deemed income exists.Where you see itLooked up per security when the value is not on your statement.Open in the glossary →, at ictax.admin.ch), never from your broker statement. Declare the position value alone and you have omitted taxable income without noticing.

Distributing funds do not have this problem: the dividend appears in your account and in your export.

If ICTax has no figure for your fund yet. The list fills through the year, and a newer or smaller fund can still be missing when you file. Either ask your municipal tax office for a filing extension and check again later, or work the figure out from the fund's own annual report (reinvested income per unit × units held) and note in the return that ICTax carried nothing for that ISIN. Do not leave it empty: a position value with no income against it is what an assessor will query.

Declaring VT, VOO and VTI

VT, VOO and VTI are US-domiciled, and what counts is the fund's domicile, not the countries its companies operate in. VT holds shares worldwide, yet the US still treats its distributions as US-source. The route is the same for all three: W-8BEN on file → 15% withheld → claim it back via the DA-1.

In an IBKR Flex Query the payment and the tax both sit under Cash Transactions, as a Dividends line and a Withholding Tax line against the same symbol and pay date. Pair them, then divide: about 15% means your W-8BEN is working.

If you see 30%, there is usually no valid W-8BEN. Fix it with IBKR for future dividends. For the past year the part above 15% is reclaimable from the US and not through the DA-1, which is a case for a specialist.

Into the securities schedule. Zurich's Wertschriftenverzeichnis (form 340) has two sections: A for holdings that had the 35% anticipatory tax deducted, B for those that did not. Section B names "foreign securities of every kind", so US positions go there. Each row wants the Valoren-Nr. (Swiss security number), quantity, description, currency, any purchase or sale, the 31 December tax value and the gross income.

The DA-1 is not a separate filing and there is no "foreign tax" tick-box. It is a supplementary sheet (Ergänzungsblatt): list the US positions again with the tax withheld, and its totals carry back on the line Übertrag ab Formular DA-1 (carry-over from form DA-1).

How do you reclaim the 15% with a DA-1?

Two different taxes are called "withholding", and mixing them up is the usual first mistake. Swiss anticipatory tax that you never declare is forfeited, though an oversight can still be corrected before the assessment is final.

	Swiss anticipatory tax (Verrechnungssteuer)	Foreign withholding tax
Rate	35%	15% on US dividends with a W-8BEN (30% without)
Taken by	Switzerland, on Swiss dividends and interest	The source country, on its own dividends
How you get it back	Declare the income in your securities schedule	File a DA-1 with your return
Minimum to claim	None	Non-recoverable foreign tax must exceed CHF 100 in total
Deadline	3 years from the end of the calendar year	3 years from the end of the tax period
You get back	All of it	Up to the Swiss tax on the same income

The DA-1 goes in with your cantonal return as the Antrag auf Anrechnung ausländischer Quellensteuern (application to credit foreign withholding taxes). Older posts call it the pauschale Steueranrechnung (flat-rate tax credit): same form, renamed when the ordinance was rewritten in 2020.

Three rules decide whether you get anything:

• Declare gross, not net. Declare the income in full. Enter the dividend after deducting US tax and the entitlement is gone.
• The credit is capped at the Swiss tax on that income (Maximalbetrag). Nothing else caps it: if it cannot be set against a tax bill, it is paid out.
• At CHF 100 or below, no credit is granted. You may instead ask to be taxed on the income after deducting the foreign tax (Nettobesteuerung).

R-US 164, and why an IBKR holder can usually ignore it

The same form has a second section for an additional US retention (zusätzlicher Steuerrückbehalt USA). It is deducted in Switzerland by a paying agent with Qualified Intermediary status, usually a Swiss bank. The CHF 100 floor does not apply to it, and neither does the cap at the Swiss tax you owe. Zurich rejects it for any position submitted without a bank statement, so claiming it on an ordinary foreign-broker account is a common reason a DA-1 claim comes back refused.

Held at IBKR — not a Swiss QI

• USD 1,000 dividend, W-8BEN on file
• USD 150 withheld in the US
• Claim the 150 in the ordinary DA-1 section
• Leave R-US 164 empty

Held at a Swiss QI bank

• USD 1,000 dividend, W-8BEN on file
• USD 150 withheld in the US, and a further USD 150 held back in Switzerland
• Claim the first 150 in the ordinary section
• Reclaim the second 150 in full through R-US 164

Where does crypto go?

Crypto sits on the same return as your securities: the holding at its 31 December value, sales normally tax-free private capital gains, staking and airdrops taxed as income at receipt. The rates and the wallet-evidence problem are in crypto on your Swiss return.

Employee shares are salary at vesting, so they are taxed before they reach this schedule: RSUs, options and ESPP.

Getting it into ZHprivateTax

Cantonal app behaviour changes every season. Labels, import formats and limits all move, so check against the live app.

A Swiss bank's eCH-0196 statement is a PDF with an embedded barcode: drop it in and the fields fill themselves. IBKR does not produce one, and the barcode holds a limited amount of data, so a long position list may not fit. Prefer a structured file import where the app offers one.

When ZHprivateTax cannot find a security

The app looks up securities against the online price list (Kursliste), and a foreign holding is not always in it under the identifier you have. Turn the online lookup off and enter the position manually. The option sits beside the search field. Supply the identifier, quantity and value from ictax.admin.ch or your broker statement. Manual entry is a supported path, not a workaround.

Where the DA-1 supporting documents go

Attach them under the securities documents slot (Weitere Belege für Wertschriften), not as a separate DA-1 upload. Since tax period 2022 Zurich no longer wants the DA-1 and its receipts on paper: the form and all its statements go in with the return.

That slot has an upload limit, reported as ten pages, so check before you assemble. A year of IBKR dividend confirmations plus a second broker can exceed it. Attach a consolidated year-end statement rather than one confirmation per payment, or send the remainder to the municipal tax office quoting your reference. Ask the office rather than leaving pages out.

US citizens: the PFIC warning

US citizens and green-card holders file US tax on worldwide income wherever they live, plus FBAR and FATCA reporting. Two points:

• Non-US funds can be PFICs (passive foreign investment companies), taxed punitively and heavily reported. This is why US persons are pointed toward US-domiciled funds, and why a Swiss pillar 3a is awkward: 3a invests through exactly those funds.
• US reporting sits on top of the Swiss treatment, not instead of it. Tax-free private capital gains and the DA-1 are Swiss rules only.

This is not US tax advice: use a cross-border specialist, including for pillar 3a.

Common mistakes

• Filing a DA-1 for CHF 100 or less. Ask for net taxation instead.
• Entering the dividend net of US tax. Netting it out removes the entitlement.
• No W-8BEN. The US withholds 30%, and the extra is not reclaimable here.
• Leaving Swiss dividends out because a foreign broker holds them. The 35% is refundable only if you declare the income.
• Filling in R-US 164 for an IBKR account. It is for Swiss Qualified Intermediaries only.
• Declaring crypto gains as income. You declare the holding, at 31 December value.

Common questions

How long do I have to file a DA-1?

Three years from the end of the tax period in which the dividends fell due, so end of 2028 for 2025. The Swiss anticipatory tax refund runs its own three years, counted from the end of the calendar year.

Can I import an IBKR file into ZHprivateTax?

Not directly. It imports a Swiss bank's barcoded eCH-0196 statement, which IBKR does not produce. Either convert your Flex Query into one, or enter the positions by hand.

How PaperTax helps

Upload your documents and PaperTax reads them, then walks you through your own cantonal tax app one document at a time. It tells you what to type and where, in English. It does not file for you. How it works.

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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. US citizens and green-card holders: US filing rules (FATCA/PFIC) can override the general guidance here, so get specialist advice.

Sources

Every figure in this guide is checked against these. Each link goes to the issuing document itself, not to a homepage or to somebody else's summary of it.

1. Canton Zurich — securities schedule 2025 (form 340, Wertschriften- und Guthabenverzeichnis): sections A and B, and the line Übertrag ab Formular DA-1 — zh.ch
2. Canton Zurich — guidance notes to forms DA-1, DA-2 and DA-3, tax period 2025: gross declaration, the CHF 100 rule, the three-year deadline, and the additional US retention — zh.ch
3. ESTV — form DA-1, tax period 2025 (605.040.03d), Antrag auf Anrechnung ausländischer Quellensteuern — estv.admin.ch
4. Federal ordinance on crediting foreign withholding taxes, SR 672.201 — Art. 7 (CHF 100), Art. 8(2) (the maximum amount), Art. 14(2) (three years), Art. 19 (paid out or set off) — fedlex.admin.ch
5. ESTV — leaflet DA-M; §3 requires gross declaration, §4 sets out the exclusions and the net-taxation fallback — estv.admin.ch
6. Switzerland–United States double taxation agreement, Article 10(2)(b) — the 15% dividend rate, applied expressly to a US Regulated Investment Company (US Treasury/IRS text of the convention) — irs.gov
7. ESTV — leaflet S-02.142: the additional US retention through Swiss Qualified Intermediaries, 15% of the gross dividend where 85% of gross is received — estv.admin.ch
8. VStG Art. 13 (the 35% rate), Art. 23 (forfeiture if not declared) and Art. 32 (three-year refund deadline) — fedlex.admin.ch
9. ESTV — Kreisschreiben Nr. 25, Besteuerung kollektiver Kapitalanlagen und ihrer Anleger: distributed and accumulated fund income is taxable, and the figures that count are published in the Kursliste — estv.admin.ch
10. ESTV — price lists (Kurslisten, ICTax), where per-security income and tax values are looked up — estv.admin.ch
11. ESTV — cryptocurrencies, working paper Arbeitspapier Kryptowährungen — estv.admin.ch
12. IRS — Form W-8BEN, certificate of foreign status for withholding — irs.gov

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