The Swiss municipal business tax

In general, the persons who are subject to the Swiss municipal business tax are :

• Natural persons who carry out an income-generating activity in the region or who operate a business establishment. The situation is the same even if the persons concerned have not registered in the commercial register.
• Legal entities that extend an income-generating activity in the region by means of a head office or a subsidiary (permanent establishment).

The majority of the communes in Switzerland deduct a tax whose composition is completed by three elements:

• the average turnover of the last two years,
• low rent for premises and land intended for business use,
• the average number of employees working in the firm.

A rate from 0.1‰ to 6.0‰ is applied to the turnover in accordance with the nature of the establishment’s activity. The rent tax coefficient amounts to 5‰ for business premises, while the tax for each employee amounts to CHF 10.-. The level of the latter differs according to the municipalities.