Tax and Legal blog
Stay up to date with the latest tax and legal issues and developments that may affect you and your business.
Financial Services Industry Tax Webinar on 2 June 2021: VAT updates, withholding tax reform & transfer pricing developments
We would like to invite you to our next Financial Services industry webinar on Wednesday, 2 June at 09.00am (CET) where we will discuss recent tax developments relevant to the Swiss FS industry.
How tax authorities use the data received under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) – An Italian example
Tax authorities around the globe are making use of the financial account information they receive through the AEOI regime based on the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS); Italy is no exception. The Italian Tax Authorities (ITA) are using the gigabytes of AEOI data collected to confront certain taxpayers who have presumably omitted and/or only partially fulfilled their tax settlement and reporting obligations. Consequently, the ITA are issuing letters of compliance to certain taxpayers with respect to financial assets held abroad in 2017 (and any related income), which encourage them to take voluntary remediation action to meet their obligations. Notably these letters now specifically refer to assets held in Switzerland. The letters aim at highlighting discrepancies between the data taxpayers have filed in their tax return and the data the ITA received through the AEOI mechanism. Such discrepancies do not necessarily reflect taxpayer mistakes as there may well be differences between the AEOI data and the information captured on tax returns. That being said, recipients of compliance letters are strongly recommended to proactively engage with the ITA to clarify their situation, which may mitigate the risk of further inquiries.
Provisional COVID Cross-Border Tax Agreement with Germany: Update
On 27 April, the Swiss government announced that the Provisional Agreement of 11 June 2020 between Switzerland and Germany regarding the taxation of cross-border employees during the COVID-19 pandemic has been further extended until at least 30 June 2021. Additionally, the agreement states that working from home because of the pandemic does not automatically imply the creation of a permanent establishment.
Automatic conversion of bearer shares into registered shares from 1 May 2021
From 1 May 2021, bearer shares (with just some exceptions) will be automatically converted into registered shares by the Federal Office of Commercial Register unless the companies have already converted on a voluntary basis their bearer shares and thus modified their articles of association by this date. In addition, holders of bearer shares must inform the company about their bearer shares by the end of April 2021 if they have not already done so. After this date, shareholders will have to apply to the court to have their shares registered.
Short-time working compensation scheme: Recent changes and future prospects
The short-time working compensation scheme has so far been an important response to the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Council has taken various measures to ensure that as many companies and employees as possible benefit from short-time working compensation, for example by extending the scheme to additional categories of employees. The measures have now partly been changed again with a few new rules applying as from 1 April 2021. In this blog, we give an overview of what the current rules are and how these will change in the future (status: 1 April 2021).
EU VAT - Financial services – Danske Bank A/S v Skatteverket (C-812/19)
In the case C-812/19 Danske Bank A/S v Skatteverket (Danske), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has held that the Danish VAT group head office is a separate taxable person to its Swedish branch for VAT purposes. The Court also commented on the territoriality of VAT groups which may affect EU Member States with a “whole legal entity” VAT grouping approach.
The COVID-19 mutual agreement between Switzerland and France for cross-border commuters has been extended
On 10th March 2021, the French and Swiss governments announced that the terms of this agreement have been further extended until 30th June.
In May 2020 the French and Swiss governments issued details of a provisional mutual agreement concerning cross-border workers who would otherwise have lost their cross-border tax status due to government-imposed travel restrictions. Both countries agreed to apply the same tax treatment to cross-border workers as if they had physically crossed the border to go to their usual place of work.
Brexit: What you need to know about acquisition of real estate in Switzerland by a UK national
Real estate transactions in Switzerland by UK nationals are subject to new conditions which are in force as of 1st March 2021 with retroactive effect from 1st January 2021. Knowledge of the legal protection of the acquired rights and particularities of the applicable framework are crucial to plan residential real estate investments.
Switzerland is considering a ’tonnage tax’ for maritime activities
Switzerland, located geographically in the heart of Europe is associated with mountain peaks rather than a global maritime reach. However the country has one of the largest maritime merchant fleets in the world (11th in size globally, close behind the UK).
To strengthen the attraction of Switzerland to companies that operate and manage maritime activities, the Swiss Federal Government recently issued a consultation draft with regard to the introduction of a ‘tonnage tax concept’. The proposed (simplified) law is that the taxable ‘profit’ of eligible companies would be based on cargo volume (‘net tonnage’) rather than operating profits or volume of cargoes carried. The tax would be optional, and companies could choose instead to be taxed by current methods.
Managing global transfer pricing documentation - Get to know Deloitte's new technology solution "TP Digital DoX" on 23 March at 3.00PM CET
Join our upcoming webinar on 23 March 2021 at 3.00pm CET to discuss the operational management of a global transfer pricing documentation and introduce Deloitte's new technology solution "TP Digital DoX".
The next generation of our transfer pricing documentation technology is here!
Evolving implications from the OECD’s Action 13 guidance are forcing businesses to find more efficient, integrated means to manage TP documentation processes. Most complex businesses are considering adopting a centralised TP documentation approach and are examining their TP on a unified, global/regional basis. Meanwhile, tax audit activity is on the rise as authorities seek to expand their tax bases.
The ever-evolving role of an Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) responsible person - Join our live training on 3 March at 16.00 CET
Both US FATCA and the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS) require Financial Institutions (FIs) to put in place processes, procedures and overall governance to enable accurate reporting of information about the FI’s account holders and/or controlling persons thereof, to certain tax authorities. These rules, which are commonly referred to as the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), have become business as usual over the past six years. However, these rules are practically complex to implement and maintain, and can expose FIs to significant risks. Key challenges include manual processes, local expertise requirements, systems interfacing, documentation and data deficiencies, and requirements that are often unclear and continuously change. Jurisdictions around the globe are starting to take audit action.