{"id":1722,"date":"2019-05-29T07:59:03","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T07:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiduciaire-suisse.com\/?p=1722"},"modified":"2020-07-22T08:51:03","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T08:51:03","slug":"reform-of-corporate-tax-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"May 2019 &#8211; Reform of corporate tax rules in Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On 19 May 2019, Swiss voters have largely accepted a reform of corporate tax rules that will scrap preferential treatment for multinational firms.<\/p>\n<p>Two years after voters rejected a similar idea to reform corporate tax, the issue \u2013 this time linked controversially to pensions \u2013 was largely accepted.<\/p>\n<p>64.4% of Swiss voters approved the government-backed plan, with none of the 26 regions voting against.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation will bring Switzerland into line with international tax rules by ditching preferential rates offered to multinationals, while lowering baseline rates in an effort to prevent them from fleeing to more attractive destinations.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_67_1 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\"><p class=\"ez-toc-title\">CONTENTS<\/p>\n<\/div><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/#international-pressure\" title=\"International pressure\">International pressure<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/#division-remains\" title=\"Division remains\">Division remains<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/#cantonal-versions\" title=\"Cantonal versions\">Cantonal versions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"international-pressure\"><\/span>International pressure<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Acceptance comes as a relief to authorities, who have been under pressure to comply with OECD and EU rules on fair tax practices.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a press conference on 19 May 2019, Finance Minister and current Swiss president Ueli Maurer welcomed the \u201crobust\u201d result that he hoped would cement Swiss competitiveness as well as bring the country back into the EU\u2019s good books.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, throughout the lead up to the vote, the Government had warned that rejecting the package would compromise Switzerland&#8217;s attractiveness for business and could spark an exodus of firms to low-tax competitors like Ireland, Singapore, or the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters say the new system will thus provide stability and certainty for the 24,000 foreign companies based in Switzerland, which generate a quarter of Switzerland\u2019s jobs and a third of its economic output.<\/p>\n<p>Under the new regime, such firms will lose the \u201cspecial status\u201d allowing them pay less tax than normal Swiss companies, but will still be able to cut costs by claiming deductions on income from patents or spending on research and development.<\/p>\n<p>And though the new rules are expected to produce an initial annual shortfall of some CHF2 billion in lost tax revenues, in the long-term, supporters say, failure to reform would have worked out even more costly.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"division-remains\"><\/span>Division remains<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>While the country&#8217;s main business federation welcomed the outcome, opponents of the plan \u2013 some left-wing groups and NGOs who saw it as too generous to companies \u2013 said the result on 19 May 2019 was bad news for public services, which will suffer from lower tax receipts.<\/p>\n<p>C\u00e9line Vara, vice-president of the Swiss Green Party, which opposed the plan, told public radio that the CHF2 billion drop in tax revenue would come at the expense of ordinary taxpayers. \u201cPublic services, creches, or public transport will have to be cut [to fund the loss],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The Social Democrats, meanwhile, who supported this version of the reform (after opposing in 2017) announced on 19 May 2019 that it plans to launch an initiative to introduce a minimum threshold for tax rates across all Swiss cantons; as things stand, the ability of regions to set their own rates leads to unhealthy competition, it reckons.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"cantonal-versions\"><\/span>Cantonal versions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Alongside the national ballot, the cantons of Geneva and Solothurn also voted on 19 May 2019 on corresponding laws to implement tax reforms at the regional level.<\/p>\n<p>In Geneva, where there is a high concentration of multinational companies, voters accepted a plan to set the baseline corporate rate for all companies at 13.99%. Previously, it had been 11.6% for \u201cspecial status\u201d firms, and 24.2% for others. The reform will come into force on 1 January 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 19 May 2019, Swiss voters have largely accepted a reform of corporate tax rules that will scrap preferential treatment for multinational firms. Two years after voters rejected a similar idea to reform corporate tax, the issue \u2013 this time linked controversially to pensions \u2013 was largely accepted. 64.4% of Swiss voters approved the government-backed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","dlebook_display_in_post_setting":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reform of corporate tax rules in Switzerland - Amedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two years after voters rejected a similar idea to reform corporate tax, the issue \u2013 this time linked controversially to pensions \u2013 was largely accepted...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reform of corporate tax rules in Switzerland - Amedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two years after voters rejected a similar idea to reform corporate tax, the issue \u2013 this time linked controversially to pensions \u2013 was largely accepted...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amedia Pyaterochka Suisse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-29T07:59:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-22T08:51:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/vote.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_agent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_agent\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/\",\"name\":\"Reform of corporate tax rules in Switzerland - Amedia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-29T07:59:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-22T08:51:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6bab99dcf8f2a885c29c680421e3fb74\"},\"description\":\"Two years after voters rejected a similar idea to reform corporate tax, the issue \u2013 this time linked controversially to pensions \u2013 was largely accepted...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/blog\/reform-of-corporate-tax-rules\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fiduciaire-suisse.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"May 2019 &#8211; 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