Swiss voters reject abolition of emissions tax for companies by 62.7 %

What was voted on?

A left-wing alliance led by the SP took up a referendum against the amendment to the Federal Act on Stamp Taxes (StG) passed by parliament and submitted the signatures required for this, thus paving the way for a national vote. The subject of this referendum was the abolition of the emissions tax for companies. The tax object of the emission tax is capital injections by shareholders that result in the initial creation or increase of share capital, including contributions that are made without issuing shares. The newly created equity capital on the company side is currently taxed at a rate of 1%.

What are the consequences of the vote?

The abolition of the issue tax was rejected, which means that the legal provisions will remain in place and an emission tax will continue to be levied.

Despite this rejection, there are still possibilities for companies to minimise, if not completely eliminate, the resulting tax burden. One effective method, for example, is financing through interest-bearing or interest-free loans from shareholders, whereby no emissions tax is triggered. At the same time, however, this means that the interest payments must comply with legal regulations on underfunding and maximum interest rates. However, there may be accounting problems in the process.

Another possibility is that the contribution is made by a associated company and not by a shareholder directly concerned, as stamp tax, due to its legal nature, only taxes these forms. This is often done by means of indirect participation vessels. In this case, however, higher transaction costs may arise due to the regulations that have to be complied with.

All in all, the abolition of stamp duty would have been helpful in increasing the attractiveness of the Swiss financial centre as a location. At the same time, there should also be a political interest in making equity financing more attractive in order to limit possible risks from excessive third-party financing. Despite the rejection, there are ways to reduce the costs of stamp tax, which is especially relevant for small and medium-sized enterprises, as the payment of stamp tax is particularly significant for them economically. However, due to the numerous legal regulations, this requires legal expertise.