SWITZERLAND: The Swiss Federal Tax Administration has confirmed value-added tax rate changes that will be introduced from the beginning of 2018 and has issued revised forms. Confirmation of the changes comes after the rejection via a public referendum of a proposal to comprehensively reform the pensions system and to amend value-added tax rates to partly fund the reforms. Instead previously announced changes to rates will proceed.
From January 1, 2018, the headline rate of eight percent will be cut to 7.7 percent (rather than 8.3 percent under the earlier proposal) and the special rate for accommodation services providers is to fall from 3.8 percent to 3.7 percent. The 2.5 percent reduced rate of VAT will remain unchanged. In the English-language value-added tax section of its website, the Federal Tax Administration has issued updated forms that include the new rates and account for supplies that straddle the implementation date. These are for the fourth quarter of 2017 or second semester of 2017, and for the first quarter of 2018 or for the first semester of 2018.