On 30 October 2020, the FTA published an update to Circular Letter No. 37 "Taxation of Employee Participation".
The adjustment was made as part of the implementation of Motion 17.3261 of the WAK-N "Competitive tax treatment of start-ups including their employee shares". The changes essentially concern the following points:
- For the valuation of employee shares according to the formula value, reference is now made in particular to the valuation method pursuant to Circular Letter No. 28 of the Swiss Tax Conference of 28 August 2008 (Guidelines for the valuation of securities without market value for wealth tax purposes) as a suitable and recognised method.
- Completely free private capital gain, provided that the event triggering the change from the formula principle to the market value principle only occurs after a five-year holding period.
- Shares acquired at the time of incorporation of a company as well as shares acquired by an employee on terms similar to those granted to an independent third party are not considered employee shares.
The adjustments apply to situations from 1 January 2021.
The circular letter can be downloaded here. A newly published electronic model certificate is then available here .
