Swiss Federal Council Issues Amendments to the Minimum Tax Ordinance for OECD GIR Provisions

General

On November 26, 2025, the Swiss Federal Council approved an amendment to the Minimum Tax Ordinance to provide for the procedure for submitting the GloBE Information Return (‘GIR’) to the Federal Tax Administration (FTA), the international exchange of the GIR by the  FTA, and its use by the cantons. 

Other changes and clarifications include the tax liability for the IIR and the  allocation of supplementary taxes when changing cantons during a fiscal year. Entry into force is January 1, 2026. 

The current Minimum Tax Ordinance does not provide for detailed provisions for the submission of the GIR. It provides that the filing deadline for the GloBE Top-Up Tax Return will be the standard 15 months following the end of the fiscal year (18 months in the first year).

As the GloBE rules apply a jurisdictional blending approach, one entity per group of companies is taxable in Switzerland and one canton will undertake the assessment for the entire group of companies. It refers to this as the ‘one-stop shop’.

That canton then collects the top-up tax and distributes it to both the federal agency and other cantons. This brings considerable administrative simplification. In order to minimize the collection risk, the Federal Council introduces joint liability for all entities of a group of companies in Switzerland. An electronic portal is to be used for the one-stop shop procedure.  This amendment to the Minimum Tax Ordinance therefore includes the requirements for the submission of the GIR based on the OECD Model Rules. 

The main changes are:

Article 2(2)

The current ordinance excludes Articles 4.3.2 letters a and c–e of the OECD Model Rules for QDMTT purposes.  This relates to the pushdown restriction for QDMTT purposes. However, as the Minimum Tax Ordinance transposes the OECD Model Rules and Commentary this is already provides by the definition of QDMTT  in the February and July 2023 OECD Administrative Guidance. Therefore, this is to be removed.

Article 2(3)

This updates the Commentary link to apply the OECD Consolidated Commentary as at May 2025. As such all OECD Administrative Guidance up to and including the January 2025 is applicable in Switzerland.

Article 2(5)

The amended Ordinance provides for the automatic exchange of GIRs between Switzerland and its partner states:

1. under the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of GloBE Information;
2. under other international agreements providing for the automatic exchange of country-by-country  reports

Article 3(2)

Under the Pillar 2 GloBE rules the determination of a constituent entity is taken at the beginning of the financial year is decisive. The amendment clarifies that if the constituent entity was established only after the beginning of the financial year, the determination is made at the time of its establishment.

Article 5(1)

This includes a small amendment to extend the IIR tax liability under the GloBE Model Rules to those constituent entities units belonging to a multinational group of companies that are based in Switzerland and which, according to Article 2.1 of the GloBE Model Rules, are not subject to the IIR tax only because none of their subsidiaries held in other tax jurisdictions during the financial year are subject to low taxation. Note that this relates to the determination of the taxpayer for ‘one-stop shop’ purposes. 

Article 5(3)

This excludes a POPE from the IIR tax liability under Article 5 of the Minimum Tax Ordinance if another Swiss entity is subject to the IIR. Note that this relates to the determination of the taxpayer for ‘one-stop shop’ purposes. 

Article 9(3)

This includes a small drafting change relating to the use of another accounting standard under Articles 3.1.2  and 3.1.3 of the OECD Model GloBE Rules. In particular, it provides that where the requirements are met the IIR tax will be calculated on the basis of the annual profit or loss calculated  in accordance with Articles 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 of OECD Model GloBE Rules (as opposed to the basis of  the annual financial statements prepared in accordance with Articles 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 of the OECD Model GloBE Rules).

Article 13(2)

This includes a small drafting change so that if a constituent entity changes its tax jurisdiction between cantons during the financial year, the gross revenue from the supplementary tax, which has been allocated to a business entity, is divided between the cantons based on the federal principles concerning the prohibition of inter-cantonal double taxation. . This generally means a pro rata allocation.

Article 17

This has been amended to provide that there are to be two information systems: one at a cantonal level (the ‘supplementary tax information system) and one based on the OECD GIR (the GIR information system).

Article 19(1)

Article 19(1) provides that the constituent entity subject to top-up tax must register itself in the top-up tax information system within the GIR filing deadline.

Article 28a 

This provides that the GIR includes the information required under Articles 8.1.4  to  8.1.5  of the OECD Model Rules.

Article 28b 

This provides that the GIR must be completed in an official language of Switzerland or English.

Article 28c 

This provides for the obligation to submit the GIR which is based on the standard rules in Articles 8.1.4 to 8.1.6 of the OECD Model GloBE Rules and other OECD Guidance. This includes the January 2025 OECD GIR Guidance and exchange of information provisions, including the XML Schema.

The approach is that every Constituent Entity located in Switzerland will have an obligation to file a GIR in Switzerland. However, this obligation can be discharged if the GIR is filed by:

-The Ultimate Parent Entity,

-A Local Filing Entity; or

-The Designated Filing Entity.

Where the GIR is being filed by either the Ultimate Parent Entity or the Designated Filing Entity, the Constituent Entity, must file a notification with the Revenue.

The notification must contain:

-Details of the entity that is filing the GIR, and

-The jurisdiction in which such an entity is located.

Where the GIR is filed by the Designated Local Entity it needs to outline the Constituent Entities that it is filing on behalf of.

Both the GIR and associated notifications must be filed no later than 15 months after the end of the fiscal year (with an 18-month deadline for the Transition Year).

Other

As the OECD GIR Guidance is to be transposed this will also include the Transitional Simplified Reporting Election.

It provides for a simplified jurisdictional reporting mechanism for Fiscal Years beginning on or before December 31, 2028 but not including a Fiscal Year that ends after June 30, 2030.

Other provisions in the amended Minimum Tax Ordinance include related aspects of the GIR including the duty of confidentiality, penalty provisions and limitation periods.