Remboursement de l'impôt anticipé / Personne morale

Case 1: Etendue du remboursement d'une société italienne

1. state of affairs

Company A is a Swiss branch of company B in Singapore, itself wholly owned by company D in Italy following an acquisition. Le 2 février 2021, A SA is transferred for a price of 15 million to société C, having its registered office in Italy and also a subsidiary of D against a credit vendor.

At the time of the transfer of A SA, it has freely distributable funds not required for its operations amounting to CHF 14 million. On April 1, 2023, A SA will pay a dividend to C SA of CHF 14 million. As a result, it will submit an 823C form in order to request to be made a beneficiary of the declaration procedure.

Questions

• C SA can be made a beneficiary of the declaration procedure and benefit from a 0% rate?
• Quelles sont les conséquences fiscales en cas de versement de dividende?

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Cas 2: Etendue du remboursement d'une société suisse

1. state of affairs

Un actionnaire (person physique) résident en France détient une société immobilière suisse A SA. The shareholder sells A SA in full to B SA, another Swiss company, for CHF 9 million. Immediately after the acquisition, A SA sells its only asset, a property, for CHF 18 million. After repaying the debt for CHF 8 million, A SA pays B SA a dividend of CHF 10 million.

Question

• B SA can it refund the tax in advance and, if so, to what extent?

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Cas 3: Holdings personnelles

A. Cas de base: holding personnelle située dans l'Etat de l'actionnaire ultime

1. state of affairs

A natural person resident in France holds, through a holding company whose registered office is also in France (HoldCo), a qualified participation in a Swiss company (SwissCo). The participation in SwissCo was transferred to HoldCo at its nominal value of CHF 10 million. At the time of the transfer of SwissCo, it had CHF 1 million of freely distributable funds that were not required for operations.

The holding company disposes of 100% of its own funds, but has no staff or premises and has no other participation than in SwissCo.

SwissCo will pay a dividend of CHF 2 million to HoldCo. The tax anticipé prélevé s'élève à CHF 700'000.

Question

• Est-ce que HoldCo a droit à la procédure de déclaration?

B. Variant 1: holding personnelle à Luxembourg pour un UBO français

1. state of affairs

A natural person, resident in France, holds, through a holding company whose registered office is in Luxembourg (HoldCo), a qualified participation in a Swiss company (SwissCo). The holding company disposes of 30% of its own funds, but has no employees or premises and does not hold any other participation than that of SwissCo.

SwissCo verse un dividende à HoldCo.

Question

• Est-ce que HoldCo a droit à la procédure de déclaration? 

C. Variant 2: holding personnelle à Luxembourg pour un UBO américain

1. state of affairs

Une person physique, résidente aux Etats-Unis, détient, au moyen d'une holding dont dont le siège est au Luxembourg (HoldCo), une participation qualifiée dans une société suisse (SwissCo). The holding company has 30% of its own funds, but has no employees or premises and has no other shareholding than that of SwissCo.

SwissCo verse un dividende à HoldCo.

Question

• Est-ce que HoldCo a droit à la procédure de déclaration?

D. Option 3: holding personnelle à Luxembourg pour un UBO suisse

1. state of affairs

Une person physique, résidente en Suisse, transfère sa participation dans une société suisse (SwissCo) à une Holding ayant son siège à Luxembourg (HoldCo). SwissCo has a capital stock of CHF 100,000 but a nominal value of CHF 1 million. The shares are ceded at their nominal value of CHF 100,000. In addition, SwissCo will pay HoldCo a dividend of CHF 1 million.

Question

• Est-ce que HoldCo a droit à la procédure de déclaration?

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Cas 4 : Holdings d'acquisition de fonds de private equity

A. Cas de base: Acquisition d'une société suisse par un fond de PE via une holding à Luxembourg

1. state of affairs

Un fonds de Private Equity ("Fund LP") incorporé à Jersey à l'intention d'acquérir une société anonyme domiciliée en Suisse, à Lugano dans le canton du Tessin ("Target").

L'acquisition de la société suisse par Fund LP ne se fait pas directement, mais par le biais d'une société holding entièrement détenue par Fund LP ("HoldCo"). La société suisse est le seul investissement de la HoldCo, Fund LP détenant par ailleurs d'autres holdings pour ses autres investissements.

Due in particular to the existence of a double taxation agreement with Switzerland and the ease of incorporating holding companies, HoldCo has its registered office in Luxembourg.

HoldCo n'a aucune obligation légale ou contractuelle de redistribuer le dividende reçu de Target à Fund LP.

HoldCo has neither offices nor employees in Luxembourg and is financed exclusively by its own funds. It is domiciled with a fiduciary company and its Board of Directors is composed of representatives of the fiduciary.

All functions related to the management of investments(investment advisor, sub-advisor) are located offshore or in other European countries. In fact, the management company relies on an investment advisor established in the United Kingdom and various sub-advisors established in different European countries.

No one knows anything about the identity and the potential rights of the investors to be discharged.

A la suite de son acquisition par HoldCo, Target entend procéder au versement des dividendes.

Questions

• HoldCo can claim the tax relief at source in accordance with the Swiss-Luxembourg Convention and benefit from the declaration procedure?
• HoldCo peut-elle prétendre au taux résiduel de 15%? 

B. Option 1: Acquisition via a holding au Royaume-Uni

1. state of affairs

A la différence du cas de base, le fonds constitue une holding au Royaume-Uni.

La société de gestion des investissements(Fund Manager) is always based in Jersey, where it has a dozen employees mainly in regulatory functions. It relies on an investment advisor based in the United Kingdom. Cette société est une entité régulée par la Financial Conduct Authority, autorité chargée de réguler le secteur des services financiers au Royaume-Uni.

It has around 50 employees, including the main fund managers. Some of them are responsible for the selection of investments and the supervision of the management of the target post acquisition.

Question

• HoldCo can claim the retroactive withholding tax rate in accordance with the Swiss-Royal Agreement and benefit from the declaration procedure?

C. Option 2: Acquisition par un fond luxembourgeois via une holding au Luxembourg

1. state of affairs

A la différence du cas de base, le fonds est établi en la forme d'une société d'investissement en capital risque (SICAR), avec siège à Luxembourg.

The fund is managed by a management company, Fund Manager, which is incorporated in Luxembourg and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier du Luxembourg. La société de gestion des investissements(Fund Manager) employs a dozen employees who perform legal, financial and accounting functions. It is also in Luxembourg that the Investment Committee meets, which brings together the persons formally responsible for the strategy and approval of the investments.

Fund Manager relies on several investment advisors established in different European countries. These companies generally employ between 5 and 10 employees of different levels of seniority. Due to their proximity to the markets, these employees identify the companies in question and then interact with the management in the event of an acquisition.

In the case of the investment in Switzerland, it was the employees of the investment advisor based in Italy who identified the company due to its geographical proximity. However, the structuring and financing of the operation was largely carried out by the fund manager's employees.

Questions

• HoldCo can claim the tax relief at source in accordance with the Swiss-Luxembourg Convention and benefit from the declaration procedure?
• HoldCo peut-elle prétendre au taux résiduel de 15%?

D. Option 3: Acquisition par un fonds luxembourgeois via une holding en Suisse

1. state of affairs

La société d'acquisition HoldCo se trouve cette fois en Suisse.

In contrast to option 2, the fund relies to a large extent on the help of an investment advisor based in Switzerland. This company employs a dozen people, the main investors in the fund.

Question

• HoldCo peut-elle bénéficier du remboursement de l'impôt anticipé?

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