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Historically, Switzerland has offered certain foreign companies special preferential tax deals in order to attract them. © Brad Calkins | Dreamstime.com In response to international pressure, the current system is to be phased out replacing preferential tax rates with lower universal ones in the hope that these companies will stay. The central challenge is how to cover the tax revenue lost when companies taxed at the main rate switch to new lower universal tax rates. The federal government...

In May 2014, Switzerland voted against a minimum wage of CHF 22 an hour. At some point voters in the canton of Geneva will get to vote on a similar initiative, which would apply only in the canton. Similar to the federal vote, which was rejected by 76.3% of Swiss voters, the plan calls for a minimum hourly wage of CHF 23 ($US 23.40). Based on a 40-hour week, this works out at around CHF 4,000 per month. Vote organisers in Geneva collected 7,700 signatures, far more that the 5,227 minimum...

On 25 June 2018, the city of Zug, the town at the heart of Switzerland’s crypto valley, started testing a voting system based on blockchain technology. © Denis Linine | Dreamstime.com During the trial, which runs until 1 July 2018, around 200 voters will cast non-binding municipal votes on mock questions in a trial designed to identify any bugs in a system built by the company Luxsoft and the computer science department of Lucerne’s University of Applied Sciences. In the Tweet below, Dolfi...

Currently, across EU and EFTA countries, unemployment benefits are paid by the country of residence. Last week, the EU announced plans to make the country of employment pay unemployment benefits instead. © Meryll | Dreamstime.com This change could be costly for Swiss cantons with large numbers of cross-border workers, workers who live in the EU but work in Switzerland. In March 2018, there were 316,000 workers in Switzerland living outside the country. Cantons with the most cross-border...

The 2017, a wealth report, published by Capgemini, shows there were 389,000 US$ millionaires in Switzerland, around 4.5% of the population, or close to 1 in 20. © Andrii Chernykh | Dreamstime.com If children under the age of 15 are excluded, Switzerland’s millionaire percentage rises to 7.3%. In addition, these figures include only investable wealth, which does not include the value of family homes. If this wealth was included, the number of millionaires would rise further. Switzerland’s...

On 21 June 2018, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced its decision on interest rates, which it left unchanged. Switzerland’s economy has been sailing into the headwinds of a strong currency since the SNB scrapped its exchange rate cap in January 2015 and the Swiss franc briefly went beyond parity with the euro. To weaken the currency, the SNB introduced negative interest rates and went on a spree of asset buying. Yesterday, the Bank said it will maintain its -0.75% interest rate and...

In Switzerland, much in life revolves around the canton. Cantons have their own health, social and education systems, parliaments and tax rates. © Swisshippo | Dreamstime.com Federal government, based in Bern, is a layer that sits over the top, bringing the cantons together as Switzerland. For some cantons, nationhood has a cost. For others it means extra money. Every year, based on a collection of complicated formulae, the federal government calculates how much certain cantons must pay other...

A report by The Boston Consulting Group highlights the size of Switzerland’s personal offshore wealth management sector. © Valeriya Potapova | Dreamstime.com Total personal offshore wealth grew by 6% to reach US$8.2 trillion in 2017. US$2.3 trillion (28%) of this was managed in Switzerland. The top three offshore centres: Switzerland ($2.3 trillion), Hong Kong ($1.1 trillion) and Singapore ($0.9 trillion) made up more than half (52%) of the total. If past trends continue, Hong Kong and...

Yesterday, Switzerland’s National Council, or parliament, voted 95 to 94, with 3 abstentions, to introduce quotas for the management and boards of quoted companies. © Lovelyday12 | Dreamstime.com Boards will be required to have 30% women and management teams 20%. The rules could affect 250 companies. At the same time the quotas will not come with sanctions. Companies would have to explain why the quotas had not been met and set out plans to meet them in the future. Speaking to RTS, Simonetta...

PostBus, the nation’s postal bus service, receives government aid based on its financial performance. © Artzzz _ Dreamstime.com With around 2,200 bright yellow buses operating on around 900 routes, it forms an important part of Switzerland’s transport network and employs around 4,000 people. However, not long after the private PostBus company was created in 2006, it started manipulating its accounts. An independent investigation calculated that unjustified state subsidies paid to it from 2007...