[pavlov]

Thanks for the clarification! I edited my reply.

I have to say, this blows the mind for Americans who assume European countries are tax hells. The IRS will tax everything, sometimes before you’ve sold it: I had to pay mark-to-market capital gains tax on unrealized gains in a foreign mutual fund I’d bought before moving to USA.

[_zoltan_]

Then you'll be surprised to learn that Switzerland doesn't even have capital gains tax on any security (crypto, ETF...).

[pavlov]

Not really surprised about that. Switzerland, Luxembourg - they're well known as attractive tax regimes. The surprising aspect is that there's so many options in the middle. Even in the EU, every country has a unique combination of tax features, and knowledge about one or two of them doesn't translate. Portugal is unlike Italy is unlike France is unlike Germany is unlike Sweden is unlike Finland.

My humble opinion is that some of this should be harmonized on the EU level. There's no reason to leave so many tax loopholes for those able to exploit them, other than each country's wealthy lobbying to maintain their own peculiar benefits.

[mbeex]

But property tax AFAIK (contrary to Germany)

[_zoltan_]

That depends on which Kanton you are in. In Kanton Zürich this doesn't exist, but you get a wealth tax.

[SZJX]

They are tax hells. Crypto has been such a special case in Germany, which feels much more an exception than the norm.