Workshop · Note 5
How we estimate taxes for 26 cantons.
Which data FinanzPilot uses, what the estimate covers and where it stops.
FinanzPilot estimates your taxes for all 26 cantons. The calculation runs on your device. Here is where the numbers come from, what the estimate covers and where it stops.
Where the data comes from
The rates, tax multipliers (Steuerfüsse) and municipalities come from the data of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (ESTV, tax calculator, basic data) and from the municipality register of the Federal Statistical Office, each for the tax year the app names. FinanzPilot is not an offering of the ESTV. The ESTV publishes the tariffs of all cantons in machine-readable form, plus the multipliers of every municipality. It is the same data its own tax calculator works with.
This data sits inside the app. Taxes, FIRE and everything else the app works out run on your iPhone or iPad; your figures do not leave the device for it.
What the estimate covers
FinanzPilot works with the tariff and multiplier of the municipality you give: federal, cantonal and municipal tax on income, wealth tax, church tax by your denomination and, since version 3.2.1, the personal tax, as the ESTV tax calculator does. Added to that is the tax on a capital withdrawal from the pension fund and pillar 3a. The estimate starts from taxable income. From it come things like the tax saving of a pillar 3a deposit, the comparison of municipalities and the amount you set aside each month for taxes.
How we checked it
We compared the results with the ESTV tax calculator, for different households and in every municipality. Where we do not model something, the app shows "approximation" ("Näherung"). These cases include reliefs for small incomes in some cantons (for example VD, SZ, OW, LU, AG, BE, FR, NE, SH, VS) that the ESTV data does not describe. There the estimate can be too high. Church tax is similar: the ESTV keeps one rate per municipality and denomination; where a municipality has several parishes with different rates (BE, FR, GR, SG, TG), the estimate can differ.
Why "estimate"
Not every deduction and not every special case is modelled. Only the assessment of your tax authority is binding. The figures in FinanzPilot are estimates made to the best of our knowledge, without warranty, and not tax, legal or investment advice. They are good for planning: to see how much to set aside, whether a deposit is worth it or how a move might change things. Binding figures come from the tax authority.
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