Transferring large amounts of money to Switzerland

I recently sold my parents home in Paraguay for around 200k and want to transfer the money to my Swiss bank account to buy a house here. Is there any thing I have to do i.e. customs, tax forms, special bank declaration? Or can I just order the transfer and that's it?

Hi there,

Residents in Switzerland are required to declare all assets they own for wealth tax purposes, regardless of where it is located. Assuming you declared the property/money in your Swiss tax returns since you inherited or acquired it, you shouldn't have any problems transferring the money to Switzerland.

There is no limit on the amount of money which can be brought into Switzerland in cash and you do not pay customs duties or VAT when you bring money into Switzerland. The same applies to money transferred to a Swiss bank from a bank outside of Switzerland.

What is more important to consider are the costs associated with converting a foreign currency into Swiss francs. If the money is in Paraguayan guaranís, the currency exchange rate used by your bank may be very unfavorable. If the money is in USD, you will get a more favorable rate. You could also consider using an online transfer service like Transferwise, which can work out cheaper than a direct bank transfer in some cases.

Best regards from Moneyguru

More on this topic:
Guide to changing foreign currency in Switzerland