The future of the corporate tax: challenges and opportunities

The competitiveness of Swiss tax legislation is key to making the Swiss business environment attractive, generating thus value, jobs and tax revenues. The current system foresees, among other things, tax reliefs for companies with the so-called "special Cantonal statute". However, these privileges are no longer compatible with international standards and lead to legal and planning uncertainty especially for companies operating across borders. To address the abolition of such rules, the Federal Department of Finance proposes the Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing (TP17 / TRAF), together with new special tax rules to support investment in research and development. Effective assessment of the effects on companies operating in Switzerland, on the one hand, and on tax revenues, on the other, is therefore crucial to the proper implementation of these reforms.

The Institute of Economics (IdEP, USI Faculty of Economics) organises a conference on these topics on Thursday, 21 February (5:30 pm, room A21, USI Lugano campus) featuring, among others, Fabian Baumer, Vice Director, Federal Tax Administration (FTA), and Christian Vitta, Councilor of State of the Canton Ticino, Head of the Department of Finances and Economy (DFE)

The programme:

5:30pm - Welcome speech by Raphaël Parchet, Professor of Ecomomics at USI and Director of the Center for Federalism

5:35pm - Tax reform and AVS financing - the federal package. Fabian Baumer, Vice Director, Federal Tax Administration (FTA)

5:45pm - Estimating the dynamic revenue effect of the corporate tax reform. David Staubli, Federal Tax Administration (FTA)

5:55pm - Tax proposal and AHV financing (TP17 / TRAF), and Cantonal accompanying measures. Christian Vitta, Councilor of State of the Canton Ticino, Head of the Department of Finances and Economy (DFE)

6:15pm - Corporate tax reform and location attractiveness. Marius Brülhart, Professor of Economics, University of Lausanne

6:35pm - Round table discussion, moderated by Edoardo Slerca, researcher at IdEP and CF

7:00pm - Refreshments

The conference is in English, with Italian simultaneous translation, with the exception of Mr. Vitta who will give his speech in Italian. For more information: [email protected]