Switzerland: How Switzerland intends to implement BEPS

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Switzerland: How Switzerland intends to implement BEPS

Habermacher-Hans-Rudolf-100
Stocker-Raoul-100

Hans Rudolf Habermacher

Raoul Stocker

Switzerland plans to implement the country-by-country reporting (CbCR) and exchange of information provisions recommended by the OECD as part of its final package of measures to counter tax base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

On October 5 the OECD presented its final BEPS action reports. In parallel, the Swiss Government presented its plans on how it intends to implement any compulsory changes which have not already been incorporated in the latest draft of the Swiss Corporate Tax Reform III (CTR III). The two major changes have been announced whereby Swiss-based multinationals would be requested to prepare and submit reporting on a country-by-country basis (BEPS action 13) and indicating that Switzerland intends to participate in the exchange of information between tax authorities on taxpayer-specific rulings (BEPS action 5).

Both changes will require an alteration of the Swiss legislation. Given the nature of the Swiss federal parliamentary process, the proposed legislations will be submitted to parliament in 2016 and are unlikely to enter into force before 2018. For CbCR in particular, the government plans to give companies and the tax administration sufficient time to implement mechanisms to deal with the new reporting requirement.

The planned timing for CBCR will mean that Switzerland cannot meet the proposed timetable of the OECD. As a result, Swiss-based multinational companies would have to resort to the alternative approach proposed by the OECD and submit their reporting via one of their group entities located in another country until the legislative process to allow this information to be submitted in Switzerland is complete.

Switzerland has a long-lasting tradition that companies may seek unilateral tax rulings which provide them with a unique level of certainty for their tax planning. By participating in the exchange of information the Swiss tax administration in future will need to provide information about existing rulings to foreign tax administrations upon request. The Swiss government has indicated, however, that it would only share information on tax rulings which are still valid on the date when the planned legislative change will take effect.

Besides the planned legislative changes, taxpayers should be aware of the fact that in the absence of specific transfer pricing legislation the Swiss tax administration refers to the OECD transfer pricing guidelines when assessing taxpayers. In this respect it is important to note that reference will automatically be made to the amended OECD TP guidelines when assessing future tax years (BEPS actions 8 – 10 and 13).

We recommend that companies review and assess possible effects of the BEPS initiative as well as the planned legislative changes on their tax and transfer pricing planning and take appropriate measures as necessary.

Hans Rudolf Habermacher (hhabermacher@deloitte.ch) and Raoul Stocker (rstocker@deloitte.ch)
Deloitte

Tel: +41 58 279 6327 and +41 58 279 6271

Website: www.deloitte.ch

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

CIT base narrowing measures remain more prevalent than increased CIT rates, the report also highlighted
ITR's parent company, LBG, will acquire The Lawyer, a leading news, intelligence and data-driven insight provider for the legal industry, from Centaur Media
KPMG UK’s Graeme Webster and KPMG Meijburg & Co’s Eduard Sporken outline the 20-year evolution of MAPAs, with DEMPE analyses becoming more prevalent and MAPA requirements growing stricter
Rishi Joshi, of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, warns of potential judicial overreach as assets are recharacterised to bypass a legislative exclusion
Only 2% of in-house survey respondents said they were ‘heavy’ users of AI for TP, Aibidia’s report also found
There was a ‘deeply embedded culture within PwC that routinely disregarded formal confidentiality obligations,’ the chairman of Australia’s Tax Practitioners Board said
Jennifer Best was most recently the acting commissioner of the IRS’s large business and international division
Section 899’s exclusion from the One Big Beautiful Bill does not mean it has been nipped in the bud, Aruna Kalyanam also tells ITR
Thanks to operational slickness and sheer force of will, A&M Tax will continue hoovering up talent across the globe
Setu Kamal became the first practising barrister to be added to the UK’s tax avoidance promoter list; in other news, UHY expanded its network in Canada
Gift this article