EXPERTsuisse—the organization of Swiss certified auditors, tax and fiduciary experts, and companies—has prepared a report in “question and answer” (Q&A) format that is intended to answer questions that may arise due to the changes of the tax laws as a result of the Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing (TRAF) and may have implications on the accounting for income tax under the guidance of IFRS.
The report of Q&As and other statements are limited to changes in the tax law with respect to corporate taxpayers and income taxes, and the Q&As caution that they do not include other changes or topics outside of IFRS and income taxes for corporate taxpayers. However, similar considerations may be applied under Swiss GAAP FER, according to the Q&As.
Read the Q&As provided by EXPERTsuisse [PDF 180 KB] (released 5 July 2019)
According to a KPMG report, there are three important areas from the Q&As to consider:
Read a July 2019 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Switzerland
Swiss voters on 19 May 2019 approved the TRAF confirming the reform of corporate taxation in Switzerland. The tax reform generally focuses on legal certainty and investor confidence and pursues the following three objectives:
The reform has several consequences including a change of the Swiss Cantonal and Communal Income Tax Harmonization Act (CCITHA) which defines a general framework providing mandatory and / or voluntary guidance on provisions in the cantonal tax laws for income and capital taxes.
The changed CCITHA is scheduled to be effective at federal level on 1 January 2020.
To the extent that the tax reform measures relate to cantonal and communal income tax law changes, the measures will effectively be implemented through modification of the cantonal tax law. In addition to the changes resulting from the CCITHA, many cantons are also expected to lower their statutory income tax rates. Among the tax measures available for the cantons to implement either voluntarily or mandatorily within TRAF are the following:
Read more about tax reform on the website of the KPMG member firm in Switzerland.
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