On May 6, 2026, Switzerland opened a consultation on amendments to the Swiss Minimum Taxation Ordinance (MindStV). The consultation is a response to two parliamentary motions requiring the Federal Council to delay the Swiss application of the OECD January 2025 Administrative Guidance on Article 9.1 of the GloBE Model Rules for one year, so that the guidance applies only to fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. The consultation runs until 14 July 2026, with entry into force planned immediately after the Federal Council’s decision. Also see our related article: Switzerland’s April 2026 Pillar Two Statements: Implementation of the OECD Administrative Guidance
Article 9.1 deferred tax assets and the 2024 timing issue
Switzerland introduced the global minimum tax from January 1, 2024, initially by ordinance under the transitional constitutional authority approved by Swiss voters in 2023. The Swiss domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT), applies from 2024, while Switzerland’s IIR applies from 1 January 2025.
The OECD’s Administrative Guidance on Article 9.1, (issued in January 2025) addresses the treatment, under the GloBE transition rules, of certain deferred tax assets created before a group enters the minimum tax system. The guidance is designed to prevent pre-Pillar Two deferred tax attributes from sheltering post-transition low-taxed income in a manner inconsistent with the 15% effective tax rate architecture.
Because the guidance is interpretative, and because Swiss law currently incorporates the OECD Commentary and Administrative Guidance dynamically for interpretative purposes, the January 2025 guidance would, under the existing Swiss approach, be relevant to fiscal years beginning in 2024. Parliament objected to that result for Swiss purposes as by the time the guidance was published in January 2025, many taxpayers’ 2024 fiscal years had already closed. Motions 25.4392 and 25.4399 therefore instructed the Federal Council to amend the ordinance so that the January 2025 Article 9.1 guidance applies only to business years beginning on or after January 1, 2025.
Swiss dynamic OECD incorporation
The MindStV implements the GloBE Model Rules domestically by reference. The draft amendment updates Art. 1 para. 2 lit. a MindStV to refer expressly to the GloBE Model Rules. It also restates the interpretative rule in Art. 2 para. 3 MindStV, under which the GloBE Model Rules are interpreted by reference to the associated Commentaries and related Inclusive Framework instruments.
The proposed operative change is new Art. 2 para. 3bis draft MindStV. For fiscal years, within the meaning of Art. 10.1 GloBE Model Rules, beginning before 1 January 2025, the GloBE rules would be interpreted by reference to the 9 May 2025 version of the Commentary except for the amendments introduced by the OECD Administrative Guidance of January 13, 2025 on Art. 9.1 GloBE Model Rules. This is therefore a Swiss-law carve-out for 2024 fiscal years from the January 2025 Article 9.1 guidance.
The draft does not abandon Switzerland’s general policy of dynamic alignment with the OECD Guidance. The explanatory report is explicit that Art. 2 para. 3 MindStV incorporates the Commentary and related Inclusive Framework instruments dynamically, and that the Federal Council does not consider a formal ordinance amendment necessary for every future item of Administrative Guidance. The legal basis is the Swiss constitutional framework for minimum taxation, in particular Art. 129a Federal Constitution and the transitional provision in Art. 197 no. 15 Federal Constitution, which authorises implementation by ordinance pending replacement by a federal act.
Article 9.1 of the OECD Administrative Guidance
Article 9.1 of the GloBE Model Rules contains transition rules for deferred tax accounting attributes that exist before the transition year. Without transition rules, the entry into Pillar Two could produce distortions because deferred tax assets and liabilities were recognised under pre-existing accounting and tax regimes. The January 2025 Administrative Guidance clarifies, however, that these transition rules are not intended to allow post-transition income to be sheltered by deferred tax assets generated by certain government arrangements, elections, or new tax systems adopted after 30 November 2021.
The guidance identifies categories of affected deferred tax assets, including DTAs arising from governmental arrangements concluded after 30 November 2021 that confer a specific entitlement to tax credits, reliefs, or basis step-ups, as well as certain retroactive elections or choices made after that date. Where the guidance applies, deferred tax expense arising from the reversal of those affected DTAs is generally excluded from the ETR computation, subject to a transition-period grace rule and a limitation.
A central feature of the guidance is the Grace Period Limitation. The guidance provides a cap equal to 20% of the amount of the affected deferred tax asset originally recorded and taken into account at the lower of the minimum rate and the applicable domestic tax rate. During the grace period, a limited amount of deferred tax expense from affected DTA reversals may still be taken into account; amounts exceeding the cap are not protected.
If a QDMTT jurisdiction allows deferred tax expense from affected DTA reversals to be taken into account when the OECD guidance would exclude it, the QDMTT Safe Harbour may be switched off for that jurisdiction. In that case, other jurisdictions applying an IIR may move to the credit method and determine additional top-up tax under their own implementation of the GloBE rules.
Switzerland’s Proposal
