Switzerland: ?Low on tax, high on living standards

Conditions for the expansion of Nidwalden's economy are favourable, thanks to its central location

Hong Kong will soon lose its status as the place with the world's lowest corporate tax, replaced by the small mountainous canton of Nidwalden in Switzerland, a study has found. That's according to a taxation index by BAK Economics that regularly measures the attractiveness of Swiss cantons compared with each other as well as locations abroad.

Switzerland is implementing one of the most significant tax reforms in decades. Tax burdens on corporate profits are expected to fall sharply in several cantons, especially Nidwalden, located on Lake Lucerne, according to the study published recently.

Taxes play a huge role in where companies and individuals base themselves. Tax reductions regularly attract a wave of companies and individuals looking to take advantage. With a population of 43,223, the central Swiss canton of Nidwalden is one of the countries tiniest.  But a new set of reforms are set to put it on the map - at least for corporate clients.  Numerous world-class businesses are based in the canton.

The adoption of a set of tax reforms - partially motivated by the Covid-19 crisis - will result in Nidwalden adopting a corporate tax rate of 9.8 per cent.  Unless Hong Kong changes its own tax regime, Nidwalden will push past it by 2025 with a corporate rate of 9.8 per cent, the independent Swiss economic research institute concluded.

Nationally, the Swiss corporate tax rate should fall to 13.5 per cent from 16.8 per cent when the reforms are fully in place by 2025, the study estimated. That would be lower than Singapore. The canton of the capital Bern, with the highest tax burden in Switzerland, comes ahead of European cities such as London, Munich, Vienna, Paris and Milan.

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