SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: René Matteotti, Monika Bieri, Daniel Schönenberger and Caterina Colling-Russo, Tax Partner AG
16. Transparency and Confidentiality 16.1 Publication of Information on APAs or Transfer Pricing Audit Outcomes In Switzerland, taxpayer information is kept strictly confidential. Thus, results from APAs and transfer pricing audits are not published. However, it is to be noted that court rulings (excluding the reasoning) are made publicly available at the court for 30 days, whereby the names are generally not redacted. The FAC, as an exception, also redacts the names during the temporary public disclosure. After the pub - lic disclosure, rulings are published online with the names redacted. Despite the redactions, it cannot be excluded that from the other pieces of information of the decision, the party concerned can be identified. Outside of the administrative procedure, tax secrecy is therefore not guaran - teed. 16.2 Use of “Secret Comparables” In principle, Switzerland adheres to the OECD TPG and follows the principle according to which the tax administration is prohibited from basing transfer pricing adjustments on secret comparables.
the DTA does not yet meet the current OECD standard on information exchange. The rea - soning is that the circumstances of the foreign recipient are beyond the control of the domestic tax authorities. 15.3 Effects of Other Countries’ Legal Restrictions Switzerland does not have specific rules regard - ing the effects of other countries’ legal restric - tions. In the event that a foreign entity is affected by an adjustment of a payment to a Swiss entity due to such restrictions, a double taxation is most likely to be incurred. However, Swiss tax authorities may prevent a double taxation with unilateral measures if they agree to the reason and extent of the correction. Otherwise, a MAP would need to be initiated if a double taxation agreement is applicable.
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