{"id":1434,"date":"2025-06-16T13:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediumspringgreen-yak-422544.hostingersite.com\/miscellaneous-taxes\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T12:31:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:31:55","slug":"various-taxes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/various-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Various taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Miscellaneous taxes<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMake an appointment with a lawyer<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Various taxes<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Withholding tax<\/h2>\nWithholding tax is a tax levied at source by the Swiss Confederation on various returns on movable capital (notably interest and dividends), on cash winnings from Swiss lotteries and on certain insurance benefits. It is primarily a tax technique designed to combat tax evasion, by encouraging the taxpayer to declare income subject to withholding tax and the assets from which this income derives to direct tax authorities. \n\nIt is refundable under certain conditions (by offset against cantonal and municipal taxes, or in cash). Withholding tax is therefore not a definitive burden for taxpayers domiciled in Switzerland who meet their tax obligations. \n

Value-added tax (VAT)<\/h2>\nValue-added tax (VAT) is a general tax on consumption levied by the Swiss Confederation. It is one of the State’s main tax resources. \n\nVAT is first and foremost a general tax on consumption, and only secondarily a tax on economic transactions. The purpose of the tax is to tax non-enterprise final consumption on Swiss territory, i.e. to tax the consumption of goods and services on Swiss territory. \n\nThe standard rate has been 7.7% since January1,<\/sup> 2018 for all taxable supplies of goods and services. A reduced rate of 3.7% applies to accommodation. Certain categories of essential goods and services (food, drinks, books, etc.) are taxed at the reduced rate of 2.5%. \n\nOur tax lawyers can advise you on VAT matters.\n

Stamp duty<\/h2>\nSwitzerland levies stamp duty on the issue and trading of securities. This includes stamp duty on issues, stamp duty on trading and stamp duty on insurance premiums. \n\nStamp duty on equity capital covers the issue and increase in par value of Swiss participation rights.\n\nLevied on Swiss participation rights, its purpose is to issue and increase the par value, for valuable consideration or free of charge, of participation rights in the form of :\n
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  • shares in Swiss public limited companies and partnerships limited by shares ;<\/li>\n \t
  • shares in Swiss limited liability companies ;<\/li>\n \t
  • shares in Swiss cooperatives ;<\/li>\n \t
  • dividend-right certificates issued by Swiss companies or cooperatives. Dividend-right certificates are documents relating to participation rights in net profit or in the result of liquidation; <\/li>\n \t
  • participation certificates issued by Swiss companies, cooperatives or commercial enterprises under public law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nTrading stamp duty applies to purchases and sales of Swiss and foreign securities by Swiss securities dealers.\n\nIt applies to the purchase and sale of Swiss and foreign securities by Swiss securities dealers.\n\nThe negotiation fee is :\n
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    • 1.5 \u2030 for Swiss securities and to<\/li>\n \t
    • 3.0 \u2030 for foreign securities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAs securities lending and borrowing transactions consist solely of the lending of securities, stamp duty is not payable on these transactions in the absence of a transfer for consideration. The same applies to repurchase agreements, which are essentially financing transactions. \n\nStamp duty on insurance premiums applies to premium payments for liability, fire, comprehensive and household insurance.\n\nIt mainly covers premium payments for third-party liability insurance, fire insurance, vehicle body insurance (casco) and household insurance.\n\nAs the name suggests, insurance premium duty is calculated on the amount of the insurance premium and is normally 5%.\n\nThe exception is single-premium, surrenderable life insurance, which is subject to a duty of 2.5%.\n\nIn principle, the tax liability lies with the Swiss insurance institution.\n\nPersonal insurances such as life insurance with periodic premium payments, health insurance, accident insurance, disability insurance and unemployment insurance are exempt.\n\nOur tax lawyers can advise you on stamp duty.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Miscellaneous taxes Make an appointment with a lawyer Various taxes Withholding tax Withholding tax is a tax levied at source by the Swiss Confederation on various returns on movable capital (notably interest and dividends), on cash winnings from Swiss lotteries and on certain insurance benefits. It is primarily a tax technique designed to combat tax […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1434","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1434"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409,"href":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1434\/revisions\/2409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geneveavocats.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}