Core Swiss Tax Services

The challenge

Multinational companies and their employees are expected to comply with tax requirements of the Swiss federal and cantonal governments. Globally mobile employees and multinationals face increasingly challenging tax compliance obligations. Some requirements may appear contradictory or difficult to implement. Having clear guidelines, policies and processes in place is crucial for managing tax requirements and deadlines in an effective and timely manner.

Key scenarios when to contact us:

• Taxation of globally mobile employees (assignees, project workers and short-term business visitors)
• Annual disclosures of equity-based compensation
• Clarification of the tax treatment of benefits in kind and long-term incentive plans 
• Employment transactions (e.g. localisation, terminations, assignments)
• Pension planning and the related tax treatment of contributions and pensions payout
• Risk assessment/review of historical positions
• Negotiation of expense manuals and other rulings with the tax authorities

Client case study

Client/Industry: A major pharmaceutical company with more than 90,000 employees  worldwide and nearly 1,000 assignees  in Switzerland. 

Challenge: How to ensure that benefits in kind  paid by home locations to assignees in Switzerland were correctly taxed in the most efficient manner while removing the administrative burden.

Solution: Successful negotiation of a ruling to tax all delivered benefits in kind together at a favorable tax rate .

Outcome/impact: The resulting model saved the company more than CHF 100,000 in tax and social security charges per year and provided a pragmatic, compliant and favourable taxation on home-delivered benefits in kind.