Selling privately: do you have to declare it?

Okazio editorial team

In brief

Clearing out your cellar is not a profit-making activity. Reselling, every week, items you bought in order to resell them is. Between the two there is a line — and it does not depend on an amount, but on the nature of what you are doing.

This guide explains a principle, not your situation. Your tax return is a matter for your canton, and only your cantonal tax administration can answer for you.

The principle

Selling items that belonged to you and that you are parting with falls under the management of your private assets. A bike, a sofa, a phone you have replaced: that is ordinary second-hand selling.

What changes the nature of the transaction is intention and repetition. Buying with the aim of reselling, regularly, with some organisation, sometimes with stock: at that stage, the activity looks like a business, and it is treated as one — for tax purposes, and sometimes with regard to VAT.

The indicators that tip the balance

None is enough on its own; it is the combination that counts.

Frequency. A few sales a year, or several a week.
Intention when buying. Did you part with an item, or did you buy it to resell it?
Organisation. Stock, bulk purchases, systematic listings.
Volume. Turnover that becomes significant.
Specialisation. Always the same type of item, which suggests expertise being put to work.

What it changes in practice

If your activity is considered self-employment, you must declare it as such. Above a certain annual turnover, VAT liability also comes into play — the threshold and the rules are a matter for the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung / Administration fédérale des contributions), and you need to check them at the source rather than rely on a figure you have heard.

What is not affected

Selling personal items you are parting with.
Selling at a loss things you had bought for yourself.
Giving things away.

The practical advice

If you sell regularly and the question arises, keep a record: what you bought, when, at what price, and what you got for it. It is not a declaration; it is what lets you answer if you are asked.

And if you are unsure, put the question to your cantonal tax administration, free of charge, before the volume becomes an issue. An answer obtained in time costs less than putting things right afterwards.