zsis) - Center for Swiss and International Tax Law

Combating the misuse of letterbox companies

On 22 December 2021, the European Commission published a draft directive to combat the abusive use of letterbox companies within the EU. The directive, which is to be classified under ATAD III, imposes reporting obligations on letterbox companies and leads to the loss of tax benefits if certain substance criteria are not met.

Taxation of the Digital Economy - OECD Agreement on Global Tax Reform (Pillar One and Two)

137 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - including Switzerland - agreed to a comprehensive global tax reform on 8 October 2021. The global tax reform aims to introduce a worldwide redistribution of profits of multinational corporations with a turnover of more than 20 billion euros (Pillar One) and a global minimum taxation of 15% for multinational corporations with a turnover of more than 750 million euros (Pillar Two). The implementation of the reform will pose major challenges for companies, but also for states. Pillar One will result in multinationals becoming taxable in a state even if they have no physical facilities such as offices or premises in that state. At least 25% of profits exceeding 10% of turnover will be taxed in the states where the turnover is generated, irrespective of the existence of a physical presence. Pillar Two will introduce a global minimum tax of 15%. The tax rate will be calculated at the state level and not at the individual company level. In addition, the calculation of the global minimum tax will be based on taxable profit and taxable net income, an international accounting standard and not local legislation, such as Swiss commercial law. This article explains how Pillar One and Two work, the currently envisaged implementation of the reform in Switzerland, its impact on global tax and location competition and on Swiss-based companies.

Extraterritorial change of status through the introduction of the Income Inclusion Rule

With the introduction of the Income Inclusion Rule (IIR), Switzerland must in future also tax previously untaxed hidden reserves and goodwill of low-taxed or non-taxed foreign subsidiaries upon realisation that were created before 1 January 2024. This will result in a change of status analogous to STAF. This paper is a thought experiment on whether this change of status would not also have to result in a step-up for profit tax purposes from a constitutional and tax system point of view.

Tax avoidance through offshore structures

On Sunday evening, 4 October 2021, various media around the world simultaneously published the so-called "Pandora Papers", which once again accuse various individuals of tax evasion and tax avoidance through structures, be it in the form of foundations, trusts or companies based in so-called tax havens. There have been similar revelations before, namely in April 2016 in the "Panama Papers" and in November 2017 in the "Paradise Papers". What all these revelations have in common is that they are based on data leaks and target prominent people from politics, business, sports and entertainment with media attention. The revelations have led to an increased call for transparency and increasingly strict compliance regulations. However, the media also reveal that these offshore companies are legal structures used to optimise taxes, but not to evade them. Foundations and trusts are indeed legal structures that are usually not set up for purely tax considerations. Nevertheless, such (offshore) structures can lead to under-taxation if they are treated as fiscally transparent by the Swiss tax authorities and the founder/trustee and/or beneficiary resident in Switzerland has not declared the assets and income.