The Zurich Government Council has requested the Cantonal Council to allow companies in the Canton of Zurich to deduct their business losses from the municipalities' real estate gains tax in future.
The new regulation is intended to put Zurich companies on an equal footing with companies outside the canton, which can already offset their business losses against real estate gains tax today. Zurich is the only canton not to have this option. The new regulations are intended to ensure equal legal treatment and the attractiveness of the location.
According to a press release issued by the Cantonal Tax Office of Zurich on 1 June 2017, the preliminary advisory Commission for Economic Affairs and Taxes (WAK) of the Cantonal Council has communicated its position on the submission regarding the real estate gains tax (see the WAK press release of 1 June 2017). The WAK approved the bill by a majority (see also the NZZ contribution of 1 June 2017).
The existing Zurich regulation on real estate gains tax was already the subject of a Federal Court decision of 1 May 2013 (2C_243/2011; BGE 139 II 373). For a summary of the decision, see the article by Michael Fischer in swissblawg.
