So much more big corporations will pay

multi-national corporations will deliver in Switzerland is much more to the public than in the past, if the AHV-tax template on the 19. May: this is the conclusion of the interest, the Swiss Association of holdings on the basis of a survey among its members. "About a quarter of the corporations will pay in the future, substantially higher taxes , that is, about 15 per cent more than today," says Martin Hess, head of tax at Swiss holdings. Half of the surveyed companies expected an invoice, which is 5 percent to 15 percent higher. For the remainder of the quarter little changed. A single company is expecting even with lower taxes.

The Association of multi-national corporations supported the AHV-control-template. He is one of 57 members, almost half of which participated in the survey. Including major corporations such as Nestlé , Novartis, Roche, Schindler, and Lafarge, Holcim, medium-sized, such as Sulzer, Bühler and Sonova, service companies such as Swisscom, as well as foreign companies with a major foothold in Switzerland as Johnson & Johnson or Procter & Gamble. You would be responsible for the major part of the tax substance of the member companies, says Hess.

Higher taxes and immigration

How much the more that the Multinationals are in francs and centimes to pay, could not quantify the major part of the company, however, says Hess. Nestlé's about responding to demand, the group adhered to all the laws. To pay taxes, be part of the social responsibility of the group.

Two of the reasons that the members of the Swiss holdings of higher tax expected amounts. The one of those, the bourgeois advocates of the template set. "Several companies are planning for a Yes, to shift more activities in Switzerland, resulting in a higher tax income," says Hess of Swiss holdings. This dynamic is intended to help, according to estimates from the Federal government, to compensate for the short-term failures in the long term by increased revenue. Whether this work is disputed: The Federal government announced a time-frame and indicates that the effect depends on how strongly other countries are lowering their taxes.

"corporate plan in the case of a Yes, to shift activities in Switzerland. This increases the tax yield."

The main reason for the higher tax bill for the Multis, however, is that the AHV-control-template to abolish the privileges of companies with at least 80 percent foreign business. Some cantons charge their profits with only a few percent. In the future, all companies will be taxed at the normal rate, sometimes more than twice as high. The large majority of the cantons is planning about strong reductions in the profit tax rates and tax breaks for patents, as well as research and development. The burden of multi-national corporations to increase it, but not so strong that they pull away because of it.

According to estimates by the Swiss Federal tax administration, taxation of the privileged companies today, with an average of 8.8 percent, in the future, it would be around 11.3 percent. Therefore, multinational companies with current tax regime, would have to pay 5 to 15 per cent, but around a quarter more; the Federal government estimates the sum to a total of 2.4 billion Swiss francs. These averages say little about the bill for individual firms, it is called in Swiss holdings. "The more jobs and activities of a company in Switzerland has, the less it can benefit from the current regime for tax purposes," says Hess. This will change with the AHV-control-template. "The more important functions in Switzerland are, the lower the tax will be a burden," says Hess. Those who are employed, for example, researchers in Switzerland can now make tax deductions.

New loopholes

opponents of the template, the survey throw back to the corporations. "The Numbers of Swiss holdings't speak for the AHV-control-template", says Green-President Regula Rytz. "They show, rather, that the global corporations can continue to benefit from very low tax rates." Under these conditions, the Finance Minister Ueli Maurer anticipated additional would arrive revenue.

"The big Problem of the control template is, that in the future all normally taxed company to 4.5 billion Swiss francs, less taxes to pay," says Rytz. "The bottom line is a deficit of 2 billion." The Reform, opening large tax loopholes, says Rytz: "first of all, the Patentbox and the Überabzug for development barrels are a cost without a bottom, because you can hardly control."

Lausanne, expected

Similar fears, Lausanne's chief financial officer Florence he Germond. The capital of the Canton of Vaud would tax the profits of companies with a special status thanks to the OASI tax template higher: This should in the future pay 6 points more in taxes. This would correspond to 30 million francs in additional revenue.

SP-councillor Germond expects that only 5 million more will flow into the city Treasury. It was "a conservative estimate," she said recently in the municipal Council. Germond expects that the Lausanne-based companies, mainly Philip Morris, to find ways to keep your charges low. At the request of the tobacco tells the group that he expects higher tax bills, however, it was too early to comment on the overall impact of the Reform.

Germond supports the template anyway: This would make Lausanne an additional 10 to 12 million in equalization payments from the Federal government, the whole of Vaud would get 100 million. On the money of the Canton is instructed, because he has already set the beginning of the year a cantonal Reform of corporate taxes in force, in which he fully expects, with the Federal payments.

(editing Tamedia)

Created: 01.05.2019, 21:39 PM