Based on the findings of a working group, the FDF decided on 5 August 2021 not to pursue the idea of a new reporting procedure for natural persons for withholding tax.
As part of the consultation on the reform of the withholding tax, the introduction of a voluntary reporting procedure for natural persons in Switzerland with a participation rate of at least 10 percent was put forward. The review mandate was fulfilled with this report. In summary, the working group is critical of the new reporting procedure:
It would be limited to shareholdings that reach a minimum quota of 10%. The Federal Supreme Court has already judged this minimum quota to be unconstitutional in the case of privileged dividend taxation. Therefore, the introduction of an additional legally unequal treatment of qualifying participation holders with the new reporting procedure would be critical from a legal perspective. Furthermore, it would be associated with considerable settlement risks for the companies: Legal consequences for cases in which notifications were not made, were made too late or were made incorrectly, or if the participation holder did not properly declare the participation income in his tax return. Last but not least, the Confederation and the cantons would have to make considerable investments in their IT infrastructure so that the audits could at least be largely automated. Considering that the new reporting procedure would only be accessible to a minority of equity holders, it is questionable whether the cost-benefit ratio can be justified.
The press release is available here.
