Tax and Legal Services for Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences

End-to-end advice and support you can trust

Expert guidance and tailored solutions

When you are steering the fortunes of a pharmaceuticals or life sciences business, it is crucial to stay ahead of a dynamic global tax, legal and regulatory landscape. It is a complex undertaking, however. Our goal at PwC is to provide expert guidance and tailored solutions that help you resolve important issues, build the trust of your stakeholders and navigate the challenges with ease and peace of mind.

A 360-degree approach for your business

Our comprehensive, 360-degree approach gives a unique view of your business needs, allowing us to identify important problems and help you solve them. Our input does not end with strategy: we can assist you all the way to execution and beyond, helping you maintain sustained, profitable outcomes.

With our proven track record of serving a broad range of clients including multinationals, SMEs and start-ups, we understand the challenges and opportunities unique to the pharmaceuticals and life sciences industry. Our deep knowledge and well-connected global network allow us to deliver efficient, compliant and tailored solutions in areas relating to regulation, tax, transfer pricing, supply chain, ESG consulting, integrated compliance and cutting-edge technology, ensuring that your business is set up for long-term success.

Our Services

Tax Governance & Tax Transparency
Corporate Taxes
Transfer Pricing – Value Chain Transformation
Connected Compliance
Corporate Legal
VAT
Customs
Pharma Regulatory
Sustainability
Data Protection

Tax Governance & Tax Transparency

Changes in regulations, labour/skills shortages and technology disruption are just some of the complex challenges faced by tax functions at pharmaceuticals and life sciences companies. If you want to manage these challenges effectively now and going forward, you need a solid tax governance framework. Your framework addresses four dimensions:

Dimension 1, Tax Strategy and Leadership, involves defining the vision and strategic tax priorities of your group tax function and a clear set of actions that will enable it to achieve them.
In Dimension 2, Tax Operations, we help you define the tax function’s current state by putting together a tailor-made tax services catalogue. We use this as the basis for identifying areas where efficiency can be increased, designing a fit-for-purpose tax target operating model, and developing an actionable roadmap to achieve it.
In Dimension 3, Tax Risk and Controls, we help you develop a tailored tax risk management process aligned with your organisation’s enterprise risk management.
Last but not least, in Dimension 4, Tax Transparency, we draw on our experience to help pharmaceuticals and life sciences industry tax functions develop a public tax transparency strategy to address increasingly stringent requirements on the legislative, sustainability and investor side. We also have the experience to benchmark your current situation with industry peers and broader market practice as well as evaluate the different tax transparency options available

Corporate Taxes

An efficient tax strategy can boost profitability at all levels and improve clarity and compliance within your company ‒ provided this strategy is aligned with the specifics of your business and the way new technologies are impacting your performance, financing flows and management. We help you set up compliant and practical structures, predict the tax effects of different business models and avoid tax risks – with recommendations in line with the applicable national and international tax regulations and developments at the international and local levels.

Transfer Pricing – Value Chain Transformation

We help taxpayers design, evolve, maintain, benchmark, document and defend practical and robust transfer pricing policies for cross-border related-party transactions. Our advice takes account of the specifics and market norms of the pharmaceutical sector, the key territories involved and the specific context and requirements of the taxpayer. Our team in Switzerland is here to provide you with a one-stop-shop solution to all international transfer pricing matters, with the support of PwC’s extensive international transfer pricing network as required.

Connected Compliance

We can help you deliver and manage your tax and finance compliance/reporting duties on a global scale (irrespective of where you are headquartered) by bundling compliance/reporting disciplines such as tax compliance, accounting, statutory financial statements, payroll, etc., to create a single, coordinated package of services underpinned by market-leading technology.

Corporate Legal

Composed of experienced attorneys in more than 100 countries, our legal team offers a unique style of integrated legal services. We address every specific need of your company, ranging from Swiss legal support in day-to-day transactions (including drafting, reviewing and optimising any kind of contract governed by Swiss law) to complex domestic and global reorganisation projects, as well as national and cross-border M&A transactions. The fact that we are embedded in a multi-disciplinary organisation enables us to provide one-stop support combining top legal advice with expertise in strategy, tax, deals, consulting and assurance to help you efficiently address your global challenges.

VAT

Our VAT experts will help you maintain control over your entire supply chain and support you in strategic decisions relating to Swiss and international VAT, customs procedures, free-trade agreements, export controls and, of course, IT process automation and indirect tax technology.

Customs

Our customs experts are there to help you maintain control of your entire supply chain and support you in strategic decisions regarding customs procedures, free-trade agreements, export controls and IT process automation. Our team’s interdisciplinary and global approach allows it to deliver end-to-end solutions, from legal support to international transformation projects, including risk assessment and the implementation of IT solutions.

Pharma Regulatory

Our strategic regulatory consulting services are designed to ensure regulatory compliance and foster a sustainable supply chain. Thanks to a deep understanding of industry regulations and their effects on pharma supply chains, our team of regulatory experts can offer unparalleled support.

We provide tailored solutions to suit the unique needs of start-ups, SMEs, and multinational pharmaceutical and life science companies. Our comprehensive services enable you to effortlessly navigate the intricate regulatory landscape and safeguard your supply chain.

Sustainability

We analyse and advise on the applicable regulations and perform gap analysis in relation to matters including CBAM, plastic, packaging and other e-taxes. We also provide advice on tax governance and transparency, perform supply chain due diligence, certify equal pay and offer diversity and inclusion services on the people side.

Data Protection

We help clients to harness data protection as a strategic tool for business success by drawing on our experience and expertise in data protection and ICT law to help them set up their data protection organisation and support them in specific matters related to data protection and ICT law.

Insights

Unboxing AI

AI Acceleration Program for Regulatory Functions and Professionals in the Pharma and Life Sciences field.

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When you partner with us you can expect to see a range of benefits:

Growth and profitability

Sustained growth and increased profitability thanks to an optimised and secured supply chain and transfer pricing strategies

Minimised risk and compliance

Minimised risk and compliance in every aspect of your business thanks to reliable guidance on complex tax and legal issues

Sustainability performance

Enhanced sustainability performance and a competitive edge in your industry thanks to strategic ESG consulting and integrated compliance solutions ‒ increasingly important as stakeholders reward companies that make operating sustainably and equitably a priority