The Federal Council agrees to a further temporary extension of the special VAT rate of 3.8% for accommodation services until the end of 2027. On 12 April 2017, it adopted an opinion to this effect for Parliament.
According to a press release issued by the Federal Council on 12 April 2017, the Federal Council shares the opinion of the Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation of the National Council (WAK-N) in its statement that the special rate of 3.8% should be extended by 10 years. In view of the persistently difficult situation in tourism, it would not be appropriate at present to phase out the temporary special rate at the end of the year.
The temporary special VAT rate for hotels and other forms of accommodation has been in force since 1996 and has already been extended five times. The current extension expires at the end of 2017, unless the law is amended.
The underlying parliamentary initiative of Dominique de Buman (15,410) calls for the special rate to be definitively anchored in the VAT law in future. After the consultation process, however, the Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation of the National Council had come out in favour of a limited extension of 10 years. In this way, it wants to give the industry planning security, but still have the possibility of regularly reviewing the special rate. The Federal Council shares this view.
