On 29 May 2019, the Federal Council approved a report drawn up on behalf of the National Council, which identifies five options for approximating the taxation of property gains in a legally neutral manner.
The taxation of gains from real estate is currently not neutral in terms of legal form. This applies regardless of whether profits made on the sale of real estate are taxed by means of income or profit tax or by means of real estate profit tax.
The variants identified in the above-mentioned report could reduce the differences in taxation in this area. The following five variants can be found in the report:
- Crediting the profit tax against the income tax of the unitholders;
- Increase in the partial taxation of investment income;
- Extend the scope of the privileged liquidation taxation and at the same time increase the tax burden resulting from the taxation of liquidation profits;
- Change from the dualistic to the monistic system (registration with the real estate profit tax in all cantons and with the Confederation);
- Abolition of social security contributions on property gains of self-employed persons.
The report can be downloaded here. It complies with postulate 17.3359 of the WAK-N "Taxation of real estate in business assets with different ownership".
The corresponding press release can be downloaded here.
