Tax value (Switzerland)

Tax value (valeur fiscale) in a Swiss context refers to the value attributed to assets, shares or companies for Swiss tax purposes — distinct from book value, fair market value or transaction value. For unlisted company shares, the SFTA (AFC) determines the tax value using the Swiss practitioners' method for wealth tax, gift and inheritance tax. For real estate, cantonal tax values typically differ significantly from market values. Understanding the gap between tax value and economic value is essential in succession planning, wealth tax optimisation and contribution structuring.

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Example: a Swiss family holds 100% of an unlisted SME with a tax value of CHF 6.5 million (practitioners' method) and a transaction value of CHF 9.5 million (7x EBITDA). The CHF 3.0 million difference between tax and transaction value has wealth tax implications — annual wealth tax is calculated on the CHF 6.5 million tax value, not on the higher economic value. This discount reduces annual wealth tax by approximately CHF 15,000 at a 0.5% wealth tax rate.

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Hectelion calculates and compares tax and economic values for Swiss unlisted company shares in succession planning and wealth tax advisory mandates.