On 6 February, the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) published a specialist information document on the withholding tax treatment of profits from the Money Gaming Act.
The Federal Act on Money Games (Money Games Act, BGS) came into force on 1 January 2019. The amendments to the VStG on the reporting procedure for profits in kind came into force on 5 February 2019 with retroactive effect from 1 January 2019 (AS 2019 433).
For the purposes of withholding tax, only winnings from money games as defined by the BGS and winnings from lotteries and games of skill for sales promotion purposes are taxable (cf. Art. 1 para. 1 VStG). In detail, the following (shortened) applies (see also the published diagram):
- Winnings from money games (Art. 3 Bst. a BGS) as well as winnings from lotteries and skill games for sales promotion, which are not subject to the BGS, are subject to withholding tax;
- Winnings in Swiss casinos and online winnings from casino games (Art. 3 let. g BGS) are subject to withholding tax from CHF 1 million (Art. 6 para. 1 VStG in conjunction with Art. 24 let. i and ibis DBG);
- Winnings from large games (Art. 3 let. e BGS) are subject to withholding tax from CHF 1 million;
- Winnings from small games (e.g. small poker tournaments, cf. Art. 3 let. f FOPI) are not subject to withholding tax, provided these money games have been approved by the cantonal supervisory and enforcement authorities (Art. 6 para. 1 VStG in conjunction with Art. 24 let. iter DBG in conjunction with Art. 32 FOPI);
- Lotteries and games of skill for sales promotion purposes (Art. 3 Bst. b and d BGS) can be subject to withholding tax (see Art. 1 para. 1 VStG; examples: competitions with cash or non-cash prizes);
- Winnings from illegal or unauthorised games are also subject to withholding tax.
The technical information is available here.
