Duty-free limit to be abolished completely Eastern Switzerland now wants to get to grips with shopping tourists

Switzerland is reducing the duty-free limit for purchases abroad. In Eastern Switzerland, there are calls for the duty-free limit to be abolished completely.

Switzerland is facing considerable financial losses as many of its citizens make their purchases in Germany. To counteract this trend, the federal government has decided to reduce the duty-free limit for purchases abroad from CHF 300 to CHF 150 from January. This measure is intended to make shopping tourism less attractive.

At the same time, Germany is making shopping easier for Swiss citizens. A digital export receipt is to replace the stamping of receipts that was previously necessary, and the de minimis limit of 50 euros will be abolished. This means that Swiss citizens will soon be able to reclaim German VAT even on smaller purchases.

Shopping tourism is meeting with resistance, particularly in the border regions of eastern Switzerland, such as the cantons of St. Gallen and Thurgau. These cantons have sent state initiatives to Bern to demand the complete abolition of the tax-free limit. However, the preliminary committee of the Council of States has unanimously decided to write off these initiatives, as the reduction of the tax-free limit to CHF 150 is considered sufficient.

Reduction "is not enough"

Despite this decision, the people of Eastern Switzerland are not giving up. Walter Schönholzer, President of the Thurgau cantonal government, emphasized to Blick that lowering the exemption limit was a step in the right direction, but not enough. "We will now observe how the reduction to 150 francs proves itself in reality and, if necessary, relaunch the whole thing at a later date," says Schönholzer.

Brigitte Häberli-Koller, member of the Thurgau Council of States, also sees the reduction as important progress.

A central argument of the politicians from Eastern Switzerland is the distortion of competition caused by the tax exemption. They demand that purchases made abroad should be subject to VAT in at least one country.

The federal government, on the other hand, warns of the considerable administrative burden that would be associated with a complete abolition of the value exemption limit, as all foreign purchases would then have to be cleared through customs.

This article was created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). All content created by AI is verified by the editorial team.