IMF Staff Country Reports

Switzerland : Selected Issues

Author/Editor:

International Monetary Fund. European Dept.

Publication Date:

June 18, 2018

Electronic Access:

Free Full Text. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file

Summary:

This Selected Issues paper analyzes key features of corporate taxation in Switzerland. The Swiss corporate tax system includes many aspects of a territorial regime, is highly attractive to multinational companies, and collects nonnegligible revenues—but the status quo is not sustainable. The proposed reform would eliminate differences in the tax treatment of foreign and Swiss sourced income. Further, cantons are expected to lower their corporate income tax (CIT) rates, bringing the combined (municipal, cantonal, and federal) tax rate (averaged across cantons) to about 13.9 percent. Costs of lowering the CIT rates would be unequally distributed across cantons, and would be costlier for cantons with a large immobile CIT base.

Series:

Country Report No. 18/174

Subject:

Banking sector Corporate taxes Exchange markets Interest rate policy Monetary policy Selected issues Tax reforms