Switzerland

When it comes to tax, family law advice, succession and personal wealth planning, individual concerns are just as important as the technical issues.

As preferred advisers to private investors, families and to the wealth management industry we in a unique position. Clients come to us for clear, commercial and practical advice. Our aim is to build a close relationship with each of our clients.

With offices in the major European investment and wealth management marketplaces – London, Luxembourg, Paris, Italy and Switzerland – as well as in the Middle East, the United States and Asia, Charles Russell Speechlys is one of the few firms able to provide comprehensive and integrated advice.

Many of our clients’ needs are purely domestic. Others come from all over the world and include families, entrepreneurs, family offices, trust companies, trustees and banks. Advice is often required within short timescales, and across several time zones.

Whether advising you on domestic or international wealth structuring, managing family wealth issues or disputes, acquiring real estate, commercial transactions, establishing a family office or facilitating philanthropy, we ensure that your family and personal wealth goals are aligned with your commercial objectives.

We have established expertise advising on:

• Swiss, UK and cross-border tax matters
• Tax disclosures, investigations and cross border tax reporting (e.g. Common
• Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and compliance regimes (e.g. the EU Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive)
• International wills, tax and estate planning, including transnational structuring where family members or assets are located in multiple jurisdictions
• Cross-border succession matters
• Inheritance disputes
• Good governance in relation to family wealth
• Art
• Philanthropy
• Immigration matters
• Family law matters

For more information, please contact Grégoire Uldry, Mark Summers, or Alice Martin.

Whether you’re a company, entrepreneur, family office, trust company, shareholder, executive or part of a management team, our team can work with you on a comprehensive range of legal services.

We can advise you on the full scope of corporate activities, from structuring, growth capital and acquisitions to reorganisations, sales and liquidations.

Our work encompasses Swiss and cross-border mergers, acquisitions and divestments as well as restructuring of solvent and insolvent companies.

We can advise on Swiss and English law corporate and commercial matters from our Swiss offices. Other areas on which we advise include:

• All legal aspects related to Swiss financial regulatory matters such as licensing proceedings before the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FINMA) as well as on finance transactions
• Asset management matters and investment law, such as setting up, licensing and distribution of Swiss and foreign collective investment schemes, fund management companies
• Corporate governance, shareholder arrangements and commercial contracts
• General corporate and private capital-related transactions with a specific focus on private acquisitions and disposals, corporate reorganisations (often cross-jurisdictional and relating to private wealth holding structures), joint ventures and fundraisings
• Employment contracts as well as employee and senior manager incentive arrangements
• Contentious issues relating to commercial and contractual disputes and between shareholders/investors and/or directors
• Data protection: We advise institutional clients, including national and international sports federations and financial services providers about data protection governance and compliance in Switzerlan, particularly in the case of cross-border transfer of personal data, the implementation of adequate and consistent internal processes, and in the event of cyber-attacks

For more information, please contact Olivier Cavadini and Simon Hofstetter.

Disputes have the potential to damage businesses, reputations and relationships, so our clients value our pragmatic approach to handling them.

Our Dispute Resolution team works with both corporates and private clients, advising and representing those involved in a wide range of private wealth, commercial, sports and regulatory issues.

In the corporate area, we can assist you with commercial disputes arising out of asset management, asset tracing, corporate contracts or transactions including acquisitions, investments and re-organisations, shareholder arrangements, directors’ duties, insolvencies and other corporate issues. In private wealth, we have expertise in art and cultural property, tax and trust disputes, particularly in circumstances involving the interaction of common law and civil jurisdictions.

We advise and represent:

• Swiss and foreign clients before arbitral tribunals seated in Switzerland and abroad in domestic and international arbitration under different rules.
• Swiss and foreign clients before the Swiss and English courts, through our team of Swiss and English qualified lawyers.
• On pre-litigation or settlement negotiations, preferring ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution Services) to keep disputes out of formal proceedings wherever possible.
• On financial crime investigations in Switzerland, including mutual assistance procedures with other jurisdictions.

For more information, please contact Bruno Ledrappier, Pierre Bydzovsky or Luca Beffa in Geneva and Aline Wey Speirs or Simon Hofstetter in Zurich.

Whether you are an individual, a family, a corporation, or a fund facing tax matters in Switzerland, our dedicated team is here to guide you. We combine deep technical knowledge with a pragmatic, client-focused approach, always ensuring that our advice reflects not only the tax advantages available but also the broader commercial, personal, and regulatory considerations that matter to you.

Corporate and Fund Clients

We advise corporations and funds on all aspects of Swiss and international taxation. From incorporation through to liquidation, we assist with tax structuring and restructuring, ensuring that each step of a company's lifecycle is planned with precision. Our experience extends to the tax implications of complex corporate transactions, including acquisitions, financing arrangements, and disposals. Working closely with our corporate and commercial teams in Switzerland and abroad, we provide seamless, integrated counsel on cross-border matters.

We have particular strength in advising on cross-border acquisition structures for Swiss targets in the private equity space, guiding sponsors and investors through the tax dimensions of deal structuring and execution. We also advise on equity incentive plans, acting for both employers designing these arrangements and employees seeking to understand their tax position. In addition, we counsel corporate clients on planning opportunities involving pension funds and life insurance products, helping them improve their overall tax framework.

Private Clients

For private clients, we offer comprehensive advice on wealth and estate planning, covering Swiss wealth, income, real estate, and withholding taxes regardless of your canton of residence. In close collaboration with our market-leading Private Wealth team, we advise on the tax implications of relocating to or from Switzerland, including the negotiation of tax rulings with the relevant authorities. We also assist with tax regularizations, ensuring full compliance with Swiss tax obligations.

We have extensive expertise in the lump-sum taxation regime and its many intricacies, having guided numerous clients through the qualification requirements, the negotiation process, and the ongoing practical aspects of this special tax status. Our advice for private clients also encompasses planning with pension funds and life insurance vehicles, as well as guidance on Switzerland's broad network of double taxation agreements and how they may affect your personal tax position.

Tax Rulings and Relations with Authorities

We maintain excellent relationships with tax authorities across all Swiss cantons and at the federal level. We regularly seek advance tax rulings on behalf of our clients to secure legal certainty on the tax treatment of structures, foreign vehicles, instruments such as trusts, transactions, and other arrangements. This proactive engagement with the authorities allows us to provide our clients with reliable, forward-looking advice.

Tax Litigation and Dispute Resolution

As qualified attorneys, we represent clients before Swiss tax courts at every level, from cantonal tribunals to the Federal Supreme Court. We are equally experienced in the negotiation and resolution of disputes directly with the tax authorities, both before and during litigation proceedings. Whether the matter calls for a robust defence in court or a carefully negotiated settlement, we bring the expertise and determination needed to protect your interests.

Operational Tax Compliance and Disclosure

We advise both corporate and private clients on all aspects of operational tax compliance and voluntary disclosure (tax amnesty), helping you meet your obligations efficiently while managing risk. Throughout every engagement, we take a pragmatic approach tailored to your specific circumstances, ensuring that the solutions we recommend are practical, sustainable, and aligned with your broader objectives.

For more information, please contact Frédéric Ney and Grégoire Uldry.

Our market-leading UK team advises global wealthy families, their businesses and the institutions that service them, all from within Switzerland.

Our location in Switzerland means that we are the first port of call for many Swiss-based asset managers, financial institutions and trustees, who may have UK-connected clients or face UK tax issues. We regularly advise clients on the tax implications of moving to and from the UK, or the acquisition of property in the UK whether that be through a structure or in a personal name. We also advise on the remittance basis of taxation for non-domiciliaries. UK tax disclosures for private clients can also be handled by our team in Switzerland.

For more information, please contact Mark Summers or Alice Martin.

Sport is increasingly a global business requiring a global perspective. As the world of sport has converged with the commercial, new technologies, media and lifestyle sectors it is, now more than ever, much more than a niche sector.

The professionalisation of sports bodies and the growing demands in terms of ethics, athlete protection and governance are further generating exciting and necessary reforms and orientations for governing bodies.

With most international federations and major sport institutions based in Switzerland, the sports team - combining Swiss and international legal expertise available locally - is in an ideal position to provide specialist sports law advice.

Our international sports team works with and are go-to advisers for governing bodies, major sports clubs, elite athletes, international federations, brands and agencies.

Our skills cover areas such as:

• governance in sport
• contract negotiations, in particular of sponsorship agreements, athletes’ employment contracts, buy-out & release clauses, agents’ contracts and intellectual property rights
• dispute resolution, including arbitration
• wealth and estate planning for athletes
• establishment of foreign players in Switzerland or abroad, in particular in common law countries, France and the United Arab Emirates.

Our previous work includes advising sports federations and clubs on governance and contracts, negotiating sponsorship agreements and international transfers of players.

For more information, please contact Benoit Pasquier, Pierre Bydzovsky or Luca Beffa.

Our Corporate Immigration Team provides advice and assistance to companies looking to recruit personnel to work in Switzerland or the UK or transfer personnel across borders. We also conduct internal immigration audits to ensure compliance of companies with Swiss and UK immigration rules and provide training to HR teams on immigration compliance and best practice.

Strict rules and complex procedures apply to people seeking to relocate to Switzerland and the United Kingdom, especially since Brexit. Individuals wishing to relocate to Switzerland or the UK face an ever-changing maze of rules and procedures and must meet specific criteria to obtain the right of residence for them and their family. Our private client immigration team is on hand to advise on the relevant criteria and can assist with all steps of the process to give your application the best possible chance of success. From advising on the requirements for visitors, obtaining the right of residence and an indefinite stay in either Switzerland or the UK, we can also advise on the requirements for Swiss and British Citizenship.

For more information, contact Christophe Levet (Swiss-bound) or Paul McCarthy (UK-bound).

Each situation involving family and children is unique.

Our team of specialised lawyers advises in all areas of family law, adult and child protection, as well as in succession planning and proceedings.

We can assist you with legal representation and advice in relation to all complex legal issues concerning marriage, matrimonial property regimes, registered partnerships, pre and post-marital agreements, cohabitation agreements and divorce.

We will advise you on child law and child protection matters, including contact arrangements and in cases of relocation abroad. Our expertise also includes the law of parentage and cases involving surrogacy arrangements, medically assisted reproduction and adoption.

We have significant experience in international cases, from foreign marriages to abductions and adoptions of children abroad.

We are committed to achieving the best result for you by finding pragmatic solutions where possible. We handle cases in English, French, Italian, Turkish and Greek.

With family lawyers based in London, Geneva, Dubai and Hong Kong, we are one of the few firms able to provide comprehensive, multi-disciplinary advice on international family law.

For further information please contact Sirin Yüce or Michael Wells-Greco.

Through our representative office in Zug, we provide a number of notarial services to support both our corporate and private clients including Attestation/Certification; Public Deeds including Corporate and Private Client; and Apostilles Services. 

More on our Notarial Services.

For further information, please contact Oliver Schreier.