Switzerland’s April 2026 Pillar Two Statements: Implementation of the OECD Administrative Guidance

On 7 April 2026, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration issued two Pillar Two practice communications: Communication 030 on the OECD’s 13 January 2025 Administrative Guidance on Article 9.1 of the GloBE Model Rules, and Communication 031 on the OECD’s 5 January 2026 Side-by-Side Package.

Both communications were agreed with the Swiss Tax Conference, which gives them immediate administrative significance. 

Legal Status

The legal setting is still transitional in the Swiss constitutional sense. Article 129a of the Federal Constitution authorises the Confederation to enact rules on special taxation of large enterprise groups, including minimum taxation, and the transitional constitutional provision in Article 197 no. 15 empowers the Federal Council to enact the implementing rules by ordinance. That implementing instrument is the Swiss Minimum Tax Ordinance (OIMin). Within that framework, Switzerland brought its QDMTT into force from 1 January 2024 and its IIR from 1 January 2025, while deciding not to implement the UTPR at this stage. The April 2026 communications therefore operate inside an ordinance-based, constitutionally transitional system rather than a full parliamentary statute.

A key Swiss provision is OIMin article 2. Switzerland chose to implement the OECD Model Rules via a a static reference because a dynamic reference would be constitutionally problematic and is not envisaged by the transitional constitutional provision. At the same time, the same commentary states that, for international compatibility, the GloBE rules must be interpreted in line with the Commentary and relevant OECD/G20 regulations, and that other OECD/G20 documents must therefore be taken into account in interpretation and application. It also explains that the Model Rules apply directly for the IIR and by analogy for the QDMTT. That distinction between a static legislative reference and a broad interpretive mechanism is the foundation on which both 7 April communications rest.

Communication 030 – January 2025 OECD Administrative Guidance