Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

According to bilan.ch, Geneva’s Council of State, or executive, has put forward a proposed corporate tax rate of 13.79% as part of its tax reform project, work triggered by international pressure on Switzerland and its cantons to remove preferential tax treatment for certain international companies. © Sam74100 | Dreamstime.com This rate is the same as the rate already accepted by the government and voters in the canton of Vaud. The new lower rate would apply to all companies operating in...

Once a business is established, there are many ongoing administrative tasks required by law. The main ones are covered in this article. © Lightpoet | Dreamstime.com The first few relate to employees and the rest to taxation and other essential administrative tasks. 1. Social insurance taxes Businesses that employ people, including independents, must pay social insurance taxes. These are administered by compensation funds and rates vary slightly by fund and canton, but are around 15% of...

On 25 November 2018, Swiss will vote on whether to accept laws allowing detectives to uncover welfare fraud. ©-Dan-Grytsku-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge Currently, there is nothing specific in Swiss law covering the practice. In the past, investigators have been used to gather evidence on disability and accident beneficiaries. Between 2009 and 2016, detectives were used on around 220 investigations a year, of...

The latest figures forecast Switzerland’s federal spending for 2018 will be CHF 0.9 billion less than expected. This and higher than expected receipts of CHF 1.3 billion add up to an extra CHF 2.2 billion on top of an original budget surplus of CHF 0.3 billion, bringing the total forecast federal surplus to CHF 2.5 billion. © Marekusz | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s federal government is now expecting to spend CHF 70.2 billion is 2018, around CHF 8,300 per resident. The extra revenue is driven...

According to the annual wealth report produced by Credit Suisse, Switzerland leads on wealth per adult with US$ 530,240, comfortably ahead of second-placed Australia where the figure is US$ 411,060. The US is third with US$ 403,060. © Sam74100 | Dreamstime.com During the twelve months to mid-2018, aggregate global wealth rose by US$ 14.0 trillion to US$ 317 trillion, a growth rate of 4.6%. Wealth per adult grew by 3.2%, raising global mean wealth to USD 63,100 per adult, a record high. There...

The percentage of Switzerland’s workers working for themselves has been slowly declining. In 2010, 13.7% of workers were self-employed. By 2017, the figure was 12.8% – self-employed includes those working as independents and those working for companies they own. Swiss (14.5%) are far more likely to be self-employed than foreigners (7.9%). This is partly explained by the low number of foreign farmers – farming is the Swiss industry with the highest percentage of owner operators (46%). ©...

On 25 November 2018, Swiss will vote on whether to accept laws allowing detectives to uncover welfare fraud. © Dan Grytsku | Dreamstime.com Currently, there is nothing specific in Swiss law covering the practice. In the past, investigators have been used to gather evidence on disability and accident beneficiaries. Between 2009 and 2016, detectives were used on around 220 investigations a year, of which around two thirds were found guilty of fraud. In 2016, the European court of human rights...

Switzerland exported close to 18% more arms over the first nine months of 2018 than it did in the first nine months of 2017, according to figures published by State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). © Nwanda76 _ Dreamstime.com According to the numbers, in the nine months to 30 September 2018, Swiss companies exported close to CHF 300 million of arms, nearly CHF 45 million or 17.6% more than over the same period in 2017. The largest customers were Germany (60 million), Denmark (51...

Swiss Rail announced on Thursday that it would test free WiFi, named FreeSurf, on certain routes next year with a plan to extend the offer to all major routes from 2020, according to RTS. © Man Nok Ip | Dreamstime.com Train passengers benefiting from the tests in 2019 will be those travelling on InterCity trains between Lausanne and St. Gallen, Geneva and Zurich, and Bienne and Basel. Swiss Rail has not chosen Swisscom as its partner. So far only Salt and Sunrise are involved, however...

Swiss healthcare costs of 12.2% of GDP are the world’s second highest after the United States where healthcare consumes 17.1% of GDP, according to 2016 figures presented by the Federal Statistical Office on 18 October 2018. © Victorrustle | Dreamstime.com Switzerland spent CHF 80.5 billion on healthcare in 2016, the latest figures reveal. This comes out at around CHF 9,600 per resident per year across all age groups. The percentage of GDP spent on healthcare in Switzerland was 5.2% in 1960,...