On an estate matter, the deceased owned a property in the Vaud Canton in Switzerland. An assessment of property tax has been made shortly after her death and given an estimated value of the property.
In forum members’ experience, would the estimated value for Swiss property tax purposes represent the open market value or is the basis of valuation different?
Samir Hussain
Gregsons
Hi Samir,
I’m cautiously having a go at answering your question – I don’t have specific Swiss experience in this area, and am commenting strictly informally here; but where I come across land and property in other mainland European countries, the value for tax purposes is almost always lower than the open market value – drastic market conditions and the actual condition of this property notwithstanding. Property taxes are often calculated based on a percentage of the market value, and I believe the same is true in Switzerland.
However, if the issue you’re facing relates to valuation for probate purposes, and you can show you’ve tried to obtain an open market valuation locally but without success to date, you might wish to consider submitting the tax value, with explanatory notes and any supporting documents demonstrating the efforts you’ve already made to try to obtain an open market valuation (e.g. by approaching local real estate valuers or appraisers, or by approaching valuers in Switzerland listed with RCIS: https://www.rics.org/uk/find-a-member/?firstName=&lastName=&town=&countryCode=CH), and take steps to confirm a market valuation and correct the information once that is done.
I do hope that is helpful and bow to any experienced member that can correct any of this.
Louise Levene
Finders International
Thanks Louise – that’s very helpful
