Corporate and Company Taxation in Switzerland

This section brings together the guides on the taxation of companies with one foot in Switzerland and the other abroad: dividends paid to non-resident shareholders, a real estate company held from abroad, profits of a European subsidiary or of a Hong Kong company. The common thread: what remains once the tax has been withheld and the funds converted.

For Swiss dividends, the withholding tax guide explains the 35% deduction: the company pays 65% of the gross dividend to the shareholder and remits the 35% withheld to the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) within 30 days; a double taxation agreement generally reduces the burden to 15%. The real estate company guide applies this mechanism to the dividends through which the rental income of a real estate company held from abroad flows back to the shareholder, with the French example of a refund using Form 83.

In the other direction, the guide to repatriating profits from a European subsidiary presents the four routes (dividends, royalties, interest, management fees) and the exemption from withholding tax provided by the agreement between Switzerland and the EU for a shareholding of at least 25% held for two years. Outside Europe, the Profits Tax guide details Hong Kong's two-tiered rates regime and its territorial basis, limited to profits sourced in Hong Kong.