In a judgment rendered on 5 October 2021 (case 2C_891/2020), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court upheld the decision by the Federal Administrative Court of 18 September 2020 (case A-7028/2018), which had found that the proceeds realized by a Swiss corporate VAT taxpayer from the resale of a position of its own stock (“treasury shares”) did…

For a number of years, endeavors to reform the Swiss federal withholding tax system with regard to the taxation of interest from collective debt instruments have been going on. The reform is generally aimed at strengthening the Swiss debt capital market. The latest proposals would completely do away with federal withholding tax on bond interest….

With a judgment rendered on 27 November 2020 (case no. 2C_835/2017), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“FSC”) confirmed a decision by the Federal Administrative Court (“FAC”) of 24 August 2017 (decision no. A-1462/2016) concerning an individual tax residence matter that arose in the context of certain dividend withholding tax (WHT) refund requests, which had been…

With a judgment rendered on 16 December 2019 (case no. 2C_209/2017), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“FSC”) rejected several reclaims of Swiss dividend withholding taxes made by a Luxembourg resident financial institution (“Lux Bank”) and thereby denied the claimant the benefits of the double taxation treaty between Switzerland and Luxembourg on income and capital taxes…

Tax Issue Under Review On 6 February 2020 (case no. 2C_510/2018), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court rendered a decision on the tax qualification of a pension plan benefit paid from a Swiss pension plan to an individual resident in Thailand, for the purposes of Swiss federal and cantonal withholding taxes on pension benefits paid to…

With its ruling dated 11 March 2019 (case no. 2C_34/2018) the Swiss Federal Supreme Court upheld a decision of the Court of Justice of the Canton Geneva, according to which it was principally possible for a Swiss holding company to undertake a tax-neutral demerger, such that the existing holding company could transfer just one qualifying…