Marriage penalty: External expert recommends a broader data basis for the FTA
Silvia Hunziker
The statistical basis for direct federal tax, on which the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) can draw, is insufficient. Therefore, especially the estimation of the number of persons affected by the marriage penalty remains subject to uncertainty. This is the conclusion of an external report commissioned by the Federal Department of Finance (FDF), the results of which were presented to the Federal Council at its meeting on 7 November 2018.
On 15 June 2018, the FDF announced that considerably more two-earner couples are affected by the marriage penalty under the direct federal tax than originally assumed. A new estimation method applied by the FTA in spring 2018 had shown that the marriage penalty would not affect 80,000 two-earner married couples, as previously assumed, but around 450,000. Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer commissioned an expert opinion on the estimation method and the statistical material of the FTA.
At its meeting on 7 November 2018, the Federal Council was informed of the results of this review. The expert commissioned by the FDF, Professor Raphaël Parchet from the Università della Svizzera italiana, concludes that the FTA's new method of estimating the number of persons affected by the marriage penalty is fundamentally correct. However, he criticises the inadequate statistical basis of the estimate. As a result, the information on the financial effects of the ongoing reform of the direct federal tax (balanced couple and family taxation; 18,034) and, in particular, on the number of persons affected, continues to be subject to considerable uncertainty.
According to the expert's recommendations, the FTA should have all elements of the tax return relevant for the assessment of direct federal tax at its disposal, including the income and deductions of individual taxpayers. This data is available at the cantonal assessment authorities, but is only available to a small extent to the FTA. The FDF will examine which measures can be taken to improve the FTA's database in the area of direct taxes.
Independent of the external expert opinion, the FTA has reviewed its processes and introduced various optimizations. As the most important measure, it has decided that in future selected estimates should be submitted to an external expert for plausibility checks.
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