Changes at federal and cantonal level (Geneva).
Corporate taxation in Switzerland becomes more attractive. The Swiss population accepted ‘The Federal Act on Tax Reform’ on May 19th 2019. This vote sends a clear signal of cooperation to the European Union and the international community.
Switzerland has been on the grey list of the European Union since December 2017. This list includes States that have promised cooperation and improvement with regard to tax practices that are no longer accepted by the European Union. In particular, Switzerland agreed to abolish special tax regimes applying to holding companies and companies which had no trading activity in Switzerland. In order to counter-balance the loss of attractiveness linked to the abolition of these tax regimes, Switzerland has now voted to lower its corporate tax rate.
The tax reform will effectively be implemented through cantonal tax laws. This applies in particular to the cantonal tax rate reductions, which are also part of the reform strategy but which do not affect the Federal corporate tax rate. In Geneva, the corporate tax rate will now amount to 13,99%, whereas the tax rate until now amounted to 24,2% including Federal, Cantonal and Municipal corporate tax on profits.
Furthermore, additional measures are included in the swiss tax reform, such as:
– Implementation of the patent box allowing qualifying net profits from patents and associated IP rights to be included in the assessment basis to a reduced extent of at least 10%;
– Additional deduction for expenditure on research and development;
– Reduction of capital tax.
The measures have been very well received by all actors of the Swiss economy.
For further information, please contact: Niels Schindler (niels.schindler@dgepartners.com)