Tax Bill Rejected

On February 12 2017, the Corporate Tax Reform III draft (CTR III Draft) was rejected in a national referendum. As a result of that rejection, a new bill will have to be elaborated and agreed on within a short time frame by the Federal Council and Parliament. It is still expected that a new bill will introduce certain accompanying fiscal measures aimed at maintaining the international competitiveness of Switzerland, but the bill also needs to be in a form that attracts majority support and counters reservations of expected losses in tax revenues.

Corporate Tax Reform III

In recent years, Switzerland has been under increasing pressure from both the EU and the OECD to abolish its preferential tax regimes, that is, the existing cantonal tax privileges for holding, domiciliary and auxiliary/ mixed companies as well as certain federal tax practices pertaining to finance branches and principal companies. Switzerland committed to abolishing these tax privileges in a joint