On October 10 and 11, 2024, the scientific symposium on “Tax management and competition in historical perspective” took place at Swiss Life AG in Zurich.

Tax management has become a booming field of activity in recent decades. There are now separate courses of study for tax management, a flourishing market for consultancy services and specialist departments within companies. The growing importance of tax management was, on the one hand, a reaction to the increasing complexity of the financial and tax world. The number of standards to be taken into account had risen disproportionately. On the other hand, rapidly advancing globalization had created more and more international corporate structures, which brought with them tax complications, but also opportunities for structuring.

Tax management can start with accounting, methods of valuation, amortisation and multi-year loss offsetting. The choice of a company's legal form can have direct tax implications. The regional choice of location plays a role, as the trade tax rates in Germany vary considerably depending on the municipality. In Switzerland, the tax laws of the cantons differ considerably in some cases. This applies even more to the international choice of location, which is often influenced by tax differentials between different countries.

The conference dealt with the causes and development phases of tax management. The focus was on national and international regulatory standards, but also on entrepreneurial practices. The two seemed to be directly interrelated.

You can find the programme in the download area below. A detailed report will follow shortly.