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In October 2021, Switzerland’s government created a law requiring online streaming services to pay money into a Swiss cinema fund. Under the law, from 2024, streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ will need to pay a levy equivalent to 4% of their Swiss turnover into the fund, which would be spent on producing Swiss films. © Bekirugur Bekir Ugur | Dreamstime.comA group of young politicians objecting to the 4% surcharge on streaming services decided to organise a referendum to have...

Over the last few years mortgage interest rates have been exceptionally low in Switzerland. However, since mid-December 2021 they have risen and are at levels last seen in 2018. © Clement Mantion Pierre Olivier | Dreamstime.comAccording to recent data collected the newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft, Swiss mortgage interest rates are 0.25 percentage points higher than a month earlier. 10-year guide rates at large banks such as Credit Suisse and Raiffeisen are now over 1.6%, according to the...

On 12 January 2022, the Federal Council decided to implement the minimum tax rate for companies that was agreed by the OECD and G20 member states last year. The 15% minimum tax rate is to come into force on 1 January 2024. © Marekusz | Dreamstime.comThe new minimum 15% tax rate, which will apply to multinational companies with turnover of more than EUR 750 million, was agreed by 137 countries. Under the agreement, if a country maintains lower tax rates then other countries can impose an...

In Switzerland, Gruyère is a cheese with a strict recipe originally produced in a region (with a town) of the same name in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. On 7 January 2022, a judge at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia affirmed a ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that Gruyere is a generic word that cannot be exclusively reserved for Switzerland’s distinctive Gruyere cheese. Swiss Gruyère AOP – © David Tonelson | Dreamstime.comThe name...

The Swiss housing market continues to rise with no signs of weakening, reported RTS this week. © Alyssand | Dreamstime.comAccording to the real estate platform immoscout24, the average price per m2 for a family home in Switzerland has risen from CHF 6,700 to CHF 7,200 over the last 12 months, a rise of 7%. Apartment prices have risen even further in some places. According to Roxane Montagner, who works for CiFi, a company that advises real estate professionals, the trend is not about...

From 1 January 2022, the cost of posting a standard letter for next day delivery (A-class) is 10% higher and a B-class letter 6% higher. These price hikes are the first of their kind in 18 years, reported RTS. © Christin Millhill | Dreamstime.comThe cost of posting a standard A-class letter is now CHF 1.10, up from CHF 1.00, the cost until 31 December 2021. The price of posting a standard B-class letter is now CHF 0.90, up from CHF 0.85. The price rise, announced in mid-August 2021,...

In some parts of Switzerland, welfare payments are sometimes considered more like bridging loans to help someone through a financially difficult period rather than a one-way payment. A recent case in the canton of Bern shows this system in action. © Andrey Anisimov | Dreamstime.comAccording to 20 Minutes, a man who received welfare over 20 years was asked to repay the money he’d received after an inheritance windfall in 2020. During the summer of 2020, the man received CHF 261,000 in...

The tax burden is set to rise in 10 Swiss cantons and fall in 16 in 2022, according to data published this week by the Federal Finance Administration (FFA). Nationally, the tax burden in 2022 will represent 24.6% of Switzerland’s tax potential, down from 24.8% in 2021. © Francisco Javier Zea Lara | Dreamstime.comWhile the national tax burden percentage offers some indication of the average rate of income tax, it can differ significantly because of the complexity and incomparability of the...

On 1 January 2022, new laws aimed at helping Swiss consumers will come into force. © Alexey Novikov | Dreamstime.comFrom 1 January 2022, foreign companies and brands will no longer be able to use geographic blocking to force consumers with Swiss IP addresses to shop on local Swiss web pages with different prices. Laws aimed at ending the practice of foreign brand and product owners forcing higher wholesale prices on Swiss retailers and consumers will also come into force on 1 January...

On December 2021, the Swiss government allocated CHF 45.4 million to three hydro projects. © Asdf_1 | Dreamstime.comSwitzerland’s electricity production was once dominated by hydro. In 1970, 90% of the electricity produced in Switzerland was generated using hydro. The remainder came from nuclear (5%) and fossil fuels (5%). Roll forward to 2020 and hydro makes up only 58% of production, with 5% produced from other renewables, 33% from nuclear and 5% from fossil fuels. Between 1970 and...