Tax Inheritance – Part 3: Exploring the emotional side of swiss Tax Inheritance initiative
In this episode of our “Family Business Stories” podcast, PwC’s Lisa Cornwell talks to Alexandra Bertschi, PwC Switzerland’s family governance specialist. They talk about some of the more family-related and emotional aspects of the new tax inheritance initiative, due to be voted on in ehe coming months. If approved, it will involve a 50% federal inheritance tax with a one-off CHF 50 million exemption.
While the numbers side of the new initiative and the tax are important as we have heard from Dieter and Jürg already, the topic of succession planning really boils down to topics of the heart and emotions. An extensive PwC study suggests that many family businesses will struggle if the new arrangements are brought in. Most family businesses don’t have assets in liquid form and would have to sell parts of their business or move abroad. For a business that has been passed down through numerous generations, this is a difficult choice. Handing the business over to the heirs simply passes the problem on to the next generation. Added to this, if the new legislation were to be passed, it would put great pressure on families to accelerate the succession process – which involves a lot of time and emotion at the best of times.
