Features

Chile plans to overhaul its tax regime by amending corporate income tax provisions, capital gains tax rules, permanent establishment provisions and introduce a digital services tax. Sandra Benedetto and Gregorio Martínez of PwC Chile explain the changes.

Withholding taxes are commonly applied in Switzerland to certain debt issues, even though many foreign jurisdictions have abolished such taxes. Bär & Karrer’s Christoph Suter and Susanne Schreiber discuss how Swiss issuers are increasingly limiting their tax exposure through foreign subsidaries and observing lender limits.

Switzerland has accepted a greater number of exchange of information (EOI) requests from global actors since 2009, harmonising the otherwise private nation’s banking policies with the OECD’s more transparent standards. Lenz & Staehelin’s Jean-Blaise Eckert and Frédéric Neukomm discuss the changes.

After Swiss tax reform failed to secure public support in 2017, lawmakers have revised key tenants to ensure it passes when it goes to a second referendum, this time in May 2019. Lenz & Staehelin’s Jean-Blaise Eckert and Frédéric Neukomm discuss the potential impact on corporations and shareholders.

As Switzerland passes wide-scale tax reform, local tax authorities are increasingly focusing on intangibles and intellectual property (IP) audits as part of a two-pronged approach in tackling tax evasion. Tax Partner’s Caterina Colling-Russo and René Matteotti discuss the focus.

As Switzerland harmonises its corporate tax regime with international standards, the number of available tax incentives for businesses will diminish, while the effective tax rate will rise. EY Switzerland’s Kersten Honold and Kilian Bürgi discuss how cantonal ‘tax holidays’ provide an alternative to maintain rates below 10%.