IBKR and foreign brokers on your Swiss tax return: getting the statement (2025)

Key takeaways

• A Swiss bank gives you an electronic tax statement (eSteuerauszugeSteuerauszugElectronic tax statementFRrelevé fiscal électroniqueITestratto fiscale elettronicoA securities statement in the Swiss eCH-0196 standard that every canton can import directly, filling in your securities for you. Swiss banks issue one; foreign brokers do not.Where you see itDownloaded from your Swiss bank's e-banking, usually from January.Open in the glossary →) your canton imports directly. Foreign brokers do not, so you produce the figures yourself. A statement covers the securities schedule only, never the whole return.
• Everything you need is in your broker's year-end export. For Interactive Brokers that is a Flex Query XML file.
• Some Swiss brokers issue the statement free; others charge. Prices run from free to about CHF 97 a year and move every season.
• You can convert a broker export into the Swiss eCH-0196 format, or type the positions in by hand. Which is right depends on how many positions you hold.
• Use the year-end tax report, not the December statement. Position values must be the 31 December figures.

This is Part 1 of 2. It covers getting your data out of the broker and into a form Switzerland accepts. Part 2 covers putting it on the return: the securities schedule, the DA-1 reclaim, and crypto.

Figures are for Canton Zurich and the federal rules, tax year 2025. Other cantons differ, and broker prices and app labels move every season, so verify before you rely on them.

Which brokers give a free tax statement?

The eSteuerauszug is a securities tax statement in a Swiss standard called eCH-0196, which every one of the 26 cantons can import. (For what it contains and who maintains it, see Common questions.)

A statement is not a finished return. It fills 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 →) for that one account and stops there. If those holdings paid foreign dividends with tax withheld, you still complete the DA-1 form to reclaim that tax, and the rest of your return is untouched.

One rule explains the whole table: Swiss-domiciled banks and brokers can issue an eSteuerauszug; foreign brokers do not. That is why an IBKR or DEGIRO user has extra steps a Swissquote user never sees.

Prices below were checked against each provider's own page on 5 August 2026. They move every season, so check before you order.

Broker	Native eSteuerauszug (eCH-0196)?	What you do	Cost
Saxo (Swiss entity)	Yes, free from tax year 2025	Delivered to your platform inbox; upload it	Free
Swissquote	Yes, for Swiss residents, digital only	Order it in the portal	CHF 85 incl. VAT on a Trading account; CHF 25 on Invest Easy
PostFinance	Yes	In your account; e-trading users pay a flat fee	Free for most; CHF 97.30 incl. VAT for e-trading users
Yuh	Yes, on request	Order in the app under Account → Documents	CHF 25
neon (neon invest)	Yes	Download the tax document	Free, no extra cost for invest customers
Cornèrtrader	Yes	Charged annually to Swiss-domiciled clients	About CHF 20 a year plus VAT; higher for a one-off request
Interactive Brokers	No	Export a Flex Query and convert/enter it	n/a
DEGIRO	No	Use the annual reports; convert/enter	n/a
Charles Schwab	No	Export data; convert/enter	n/a

Two traps, both at Swissquote. Its eTax statement is digital only for Swiss residents: the CHF 100 and CHF 125 figures quoted elsewhere are a different document, not eCH-0196, for clients living abroad. And it only issues the eTax version if your account currency is Swiss francs.

Worth paying? With a many-position portfolio the time saved can justify CHF 20 to CHF 97.30. With a handful of positions, or a tool that reads the underlying data anyway, skip it. On a "No" row you assemble the data yourself, which is what the rest of this guide covers.

Swiss-domiciled broker

• Issues an eSteuerauszug in the eCH-0196 standard
• Your canton imports it directly
• Free to about CHF 97 a year
• Saxo, Swissquote, PostFinance, Yuh, neon, Cornèrtrader

Foreign broker

• Issues nothing Switzerland reads
• You produce the figures yourself
• No fee, but the work is yours
• Interactive Brokers, DEGIRO, Charles Schwab

Either way, the statement only fills the securities schedule for that account. The DA-1 reclaim and the rest of the return are still yours to complete.

Exporting your IBKR data

One document does the job: the Activity Flex Query, exported as XML. IBKR's everyday Activity Statement (PDF) is for reading, and its US tax forms (1042-S, 1099) answer a different country's questions. Using those is how people end up declaring the wrong figures.

Building the query takes about ten minutes once, and you reuse it every year. Exporting your Interactive Brokers data, step by step walks through the seven sections to include and the date-range setting that most people get wrong.

Turning the export into a Swiss statement

Three routes exist, and they differ mostly in who does the work.

Route	Cost	Trade-off
Do it by hand in the cantonal app	Free	Fine for a handful of positions; hours of typing for a real portfolio
Open-source converter (opensteuerauszug)	Free	Actively maintained, and you run it yourself. Its own documentation says it is provided "as is", with no formal audit or warranty, and that checking the output is the taxpayer's job
A paid service	About CHF 15–50 per statement	Fastest, but you hand your full position history to a third party

Two questions come up about self-generated statements:

• Does it need a digital signature? No. A securities statement is judged on its figures and the evidence behind them. The question comes up because bank-issued statements carry a signature.
• Will the canton accept it? Zurich has accepted self-generated eCH-0196 files in practice. Not every canton behaves identically, and some use their own tax values rather than market values, so if you file elsewhere check before you rely on it.

Whichever route you take, the numbers stay your responsibility. A converter transcribes your data; it does not check it.

DEGIRO and other foreign brokers

No foreign broker issues the statement, so the workflow mirrors IBKR's, with the broker's own exports in place of the Flex Query.

For the Wertschriftenverzeichnis you need, per holding: the ISIN, the value at 31 December, dividends received, and any foreign tax withheld. With DEGIRO:

1. Get the year documents. DEGIRO's annual statement plus the transaction and dividend overviews. Check which report carries the withholding-tax column; DEGIRO's exports change.
2. Build the securities schedule. Enter each position: ISIN, year-end value, dividend. The app values most listed securities for you once it has the ISIN and quantity, using the official year-end 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 →).
3. Reclaim foreign withholding tax with the DA-1 for the holdings that paid foreign dividends with tax deducted.
4. Claim the custody-fee deduction. What the broker charges to hold your securities is a deductible cost; in Zurich a flat option means you need not itemise. See the asset-management fee deduction.

The same workflow covers Charles Schwab and other foreign brokers.

Which option should you choose?

IBKR does not issue an eSteuerauszug to Swiss residents, so every IBKR investor faces the same question each spring: how to get the data into a return. Five options are realistic.

Option	Covers	Effort	Rough cost	Best when
By hand	Whatever you type	High	Free	Few positions, confident filer. You are on your own for the DA-1 and the import limits
Open-source converter: opensteuerauszug, ibkr-to-etax	One broker → e-statement	High (command line)	Free	You produce a valid file yourself and are comfortable on a command line
Paid converter: eTaxify, datalevel	One broker → e-statement	Low	eTaxify CHF 14.90 up to ten transactions, CHF 44.90 unlimited; datalevel around CHF 50	You only need the statement and will do the rest yourself. Checked 5 August 2026; datalevel asks to link your IBKR account read-only
Fiduciary (TreuhänderTreuhänderFiduciary / tax preparerFRfiduciaireITfiduciarioSomeone who prepares returns for a fee. The title is not legally protected in Switzerland, and you remain liable for the return regardless of who filled it in.Where you see itOn page 1 of the Zurich return, in the representative block — the field is labelled Treuhänder-ID.Open in the glossary →, tax agent)	Your whole return	Low (hands-off)	CHF 200–500+	Complex affairs, and you are willing to hand over your paperwork and wait
PaperTax	Your whole return, guided	Low	One flat fee	You want help across the whole return, not only the broker file

If all you need is to turn one IBKR file into an e-statement, and you will do the rest of your return alone, a converter is the cheapest route. The broker file is rarely the whole job, though. 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 →), pillar 3a, deductions, the DA-1 reclaim and the cantonal app's own labels are all still ahead of you. PaperTax covers those in one place. It does not file for you and does not produce a finished return.

Common mistakes

• Using the December statement instead of the year-end tax report. Position values must be the 31 December figures your canton expects.
• Assuming last year's export format still works. Exports and import limits change every season.
• Exporting only trades. You need positions, dividends and withholding tax too.
• Paying for a statement you could get free. Several Swiss brokers issue the eCH-0196 statement at no cost. Check before ordering a paid one.
• Leaving it until March. Some brokers only publish the year-end tax report weeks into the new year, and a paid statement can take longer still.

Common questions

Does IBKR give a Swiss tax statement?

No. Interactive Brokers does not issue a Swiss electronic tax statement (eSteuerauszug), the securities summary in the eCH-0196 standard that cantons import directly. You export your own data as a Flex Query XML file and convert or enter it yourself.

What is eCH-0196?

It is the Swiss standard for an electronic securities tax statement. It lists your holdings, their year-end values, your dividends and the tax withheld, in a form every one of the 26 cantons can import. It is published by the eCH association, the Swiss e-government standards body; the current approved version is 2.2.0. The Swiss Tax Conference (Schweizerische Steuerkonferenz, SSK) is the contact point for banks and cantonal tax administrations introducing it.

Do I have to convert my broker file at all?

No. Converting produces a file your canton can import, which saves typing. If you hold only a few positions, entering them into the securities schedule (Wertschriftenverzeichnis) by hand is perfectly acceptable and often faster than setting up a conversion.

Which export do I need from Interactive Brokers?

A Flex Query covering the full tax year, including open positions at 31 December, dividends received, and withholding tax deducted. A trade-only export leaves out the year-end values, the dividends and the withholding tax.

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. eCH-0196 e-tax-statement standard, version 2.2.0, approved 7 June 2022 — eCH, the e-government standards association — ech.ch
2. eCH-0196 version 2.3.0, still marked "in progress" — ech.ch
3. Swiss Tax Conference (SSK) — its stated role as contact point for banks and cantonal tax administrations on the eSteuerauszug and on testing against eCH-0196 — ssk-csi.ch
4. Interactive Brokers — creating an Activity Flex Query in the Client Portal — ibkrguides.com
5. Interactive Brokers — Activity Flex Query field reference, section by section — ibkrguides.com
6. Saxo Bank (Switzerland) — tax and other statements: e-tax reports free of charge from fiscal year 2025, delivered to the platform inbox — home.saxo
7. Swissquote — tax statement fees: CHF 85 incl. VAT (Trading) and CHF 25 incl. VAT (Invest Easy) for Swiss residents, digital only; CHF 100 / CHF 125 for the non-eTax statement for clients outside Switzerland — swissquote.com
8. Swissquote — what an e-tax statement is and how to order it — swissquote.com
9. PostFinance — account, interest and tax statements: free electronic tax statement, CHF 97.30 incl. VAT for e-trading — postfinance.ch
10. Yuh — e-tax statement at CHF 25, ordered under Account → Documents — yuh.com
11. neon — tax statements free of charge, in eTax format for neon invest portfolios at no additional cost — neon-free.ch
12. Cornèrtrader — cost of the tax declaration service and how it is charged — support.cornertrader.ch
13. opensteuerauszug — the open-source converter and its "as is, no formal audit" disclaimer — github.com/vroonhof/opensteuerauszug
14. eTaxify — pricing per e-tax statement — etaxify.ch
15. Canton Zurich — ZHprivateTax — zh.ch

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