The ordinary corporate tax rates for businesses in Switzerland remained stable compared to the previous year at an average of 14.6%. Changes in corporate tax rates were only seen in eight cantons. Those are some of the findings presented in KPMG’s Swiss Tax Report 2024, which compares corporate and income tax table from more than 50 countries and all 26 Swiss cantons.
Corporate Tax Rate Changes
The biggest cuts were made by the cantons of Aargau (-1.19 percentage points) and Bern (-0.5 percentage points), while Schaffhausen and Geneva made the largest increases to their corporate tax rates (+1.25 and +0.7 percentage points).
The cantons of Zug, Nidwalden, and Lucerne remain the most attractive in terms of their corporate tax rates, although their rates have converged a little compared to the previous year. The Canton of Zug still has the lowest tax rates and has raised its corporate tax rates somewhat (from 11.80 to 11.85 percent), while Lucerne made another slight reduction to its rates (from 12.15 to 12.09 percent), as it did in the previous year. The Canton of Nidwalden, which remains in second place, left its rate unchanged at 11.97 percent.
With a corporate tax rate of 20.54 percent, the Canton of Bern still ranks last in a cantonal comparison. A tax cut of 0.5 percentage points, however, helped it narrow the gap to the other cantons slightly.
Global Comparison
Compared with other countries around the world, Switzerland’s taxes for companies are low – especially in the cantons of Central Switzerland. In Europe, only Guernsey (0.0 percent), Hungary (9.0 percent), and Bulgaria (10.0 percent) still offer even lower ordinary corporate tax rates. With a tax rate similar to Switzerland’s, Ireland (12.5 percent) remains the country’s most important competitor in Europe. Outside Europe, the Bahamas (0.0 percent), Bermuda (0.0 percent), and Bahrain (0.0 percent) stand out as low-tax domiciles. Hong Kong (16.5 percent) and Singapore (17.0 percent) also have attractive corporate tax rates. Large economies like the US (27.0 percent), China (25.0 percent), India (30.0 percent), and Brazil (34.0 percent) apply considerably higher tax rates than Switzerland.
