Tag Archives: Editor’s Choice

Foreigners who don’t work in Switzerland can benefit from special tax deals known as lump sum taxation, or forfait fiscal in French. © Gregl87 | Dreamstime.com Instead of paying tax on their worldwide income and assets their tax is calculated based on their living expenses. When someone becomes Swiss they automatically lose eligibility. The regime, which generated CHF 767 million of tax revenue in 2016, is frequently under attack. A federal referendum to do away with it in November 2014 was...

An initiative entitled: zero losses, was filed this week in Geneva. It aims to ring fence current public spending in the face of future company tax reform. The initiative gathered 9,147 signatures, more than the 7,840 required. © Rosshelen | Dreamstime.com Under pressure from the OECD and the EU, Switzerland is being forced to make major changes to its tax system. Currently, some multinationals benefit from special low-rate tax deals, while most other companies pay a higher standard rate. The...

The business and industry association Economiesuisse says the up-coming vote on 25 November 2018 on self-determination puts the Swiss economy at risk. © Nattanan726 | Dreamstime.com The Swiss People’s Party led initiative entitled: Federal law instead of foreign judges, aims to cement the primacy of Swiss law over international law by adding a clause to Switzerland’s constitution. The Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, has said the change would create a legal straight jacket that would...

This week, Bell, a Swiss meat processor, announced an investment in Dutch synthetic meat start-up Mosa Meat. A burger made from Cultured Beef Mosa Meat, a leader in the market of cultured beef, was co-founded by Mark Post of the University of Maastricht, who is considered to be the global pioneer in the production of cultured meat. Rather than a meat substitute, cultured meat is meat grown in vitro. Muscle cells are extracted from an animal and placed in a solution that feeds them and allows...

Net migration into Switzerland from the EU was down by 11% last year, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). © Arturo Osorno | Dreamstime.com In 2017, a net 31,250 people from the EU and EFTA moved to Switzerland. And, with a 4% decline in the number arriving over the five months to May 2018, the fall looks set to continue. For some nationalities the net flow went into reverse. In 2017, more Portuguese left Switzerland than arrived. The fall appears to be related to...

In Switzerland, tax is largely determined by the canton of residence. The range of tax rates is wide. In 2017, a single person earning CHF 100,000 paid only CHF 7,592 in the canton of Zug but CHF 19,233 in the canton of Neuchâtel, more than 2.5 times as much. Someone married with children earning the same amount paid CHF 920 in Zug and CHF 9,249 in Neuchâtel, more than 10 times as much. The chart above shows tax rates by canton in 2017 for single and married people with two children...

With TV recording there’s no need to miss programmes just because they’re on at the wrong time. And, when it’s time to watch them, it’s easy to fast forward through the adverts, something that can’t be done when watching live. ©-Sebastian-L-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge In Switzerland, television recording is offered by big distributers, such as Swisscom, Sunrise and UPC. Broadcasters don’t provide it. While...

With TV recording there’s no need to miss programmes just because they’re on at the wrong time. And, when it’s time to watch them, it’s easy to fast forward through the adverts, something that can’t be done when watching live. © Sebastian L | Dreamstime.com In Switzerland, television recording is offered by big distributers, such as Swisscom, Sunrise and UPC. Broadcasters don’t provide it. While fast forwarding adverts is great for viewers, broadcasters, who claim to have missed out on CHF 87...

© Brad Calkins | Dreamstime.com Historically, Switzerland has offered certain foreign companies special preferential tax deals in order to attract them. 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...

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...