Taxes

Tax fraud in Switzerland uses forged documents to deceive authorities, unlike tax evasion, and can lead to imprisonment. Tax offenses include violations of procedural obligations and result in fines of up to 10,000 Fr.

Tax avoidance through legal means reduces the tax burden, while tax evasion through incorrect or missing information results in legal penalties. Distinguishing these terms reveals methods to legally save on taxes or minimize the consequences of tax offenses.

The EU is examining the introduction of a "virtual permanent establishment" for the taxation of digital companies, based on the number of users, revenue, or contracts. This could serve as a short-term solution while the OECD is working on a global regulation.

Digitalization is changing corporate taxation, as transactions can be conducted without a physical presence in the customer's country. Some countries have introduced short-term "Netflix Taxes" to minimize tax losses.

Digitalization facilitates tax declarations, but the fully automated process still needs to be optimized. Job loss due to automation poses a challenge.

Zurich now allows companies to deduct operating losses from the property gain tax, thereby putting them on an equal tax footing with other cantons. The change occurred after a public vote on June 10, 2018, with 53.6% approval.

The Council of States has expanded the Tax Proposal 17 with measures for pension provisioning to secure broader approval. Each tax franc less results in an extra franc for the AHV.

In Switzerland, the trade of cannabis products with less than 1% THC is legal and booming, yet their taxation as a tobacco product is controversial. In 2017, the federal government collected 15 million francs in taxes on CBD products, although there is no legal basis for it.

Switzerland has transmitted 82 tax ruling reports to 41 countries, including Germany and Great Britain, using the spontaneous information exchange (SIA) for the first time.