Council of States wants to allow family maintenance foundations
Published: Tuesday, Dec 12th 2023, 10:30
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The Council of States wants to lift the current ban on family maintenance foundations. On Tuesday, against the will of the left, it adopted a motion from the FDP by 31 votes to 12, which calls for a corresponding amendment to the Civil Code.
Motionary Thierry Burkart (FDP/AG) criticized the ban on setting up maintenance foundations as being "out of date". Switzerland has no suitable instrument for passing on an estate to descendants in a "measured" way instead of paying it out to heirs "in one fell swoop".
Family foundations already exist
According to the Civil Code, family foundations are not allowed to make distributions for maintenance purposes, Burkart explained the motion. They are only allowed to provide benefits in certain situations, such as education, equipment and support. This is why foreign instruments are currently being used.
Family foundations already exist and are already regulated in terms of taxation, said Martin Schmid (FDP/GR) for the majority of the committee. Only their purpose needed to be adapted. However, details, such as whether the foundations should be amendable or limited in time, still needed to be discussed.
Heidi Z'graggen (center/UR) replied that the problem did not arise for the vast majority, but only for the richest. The Swiss financial center is under observation by various countries, she pointed out. There were numerous unanswered questions, such as whether a separate law was needed for family foundations.
Erich Ettlin (center/OW) disagreed, saying that a family foundation offers the opportunity to regulate succession, especially for SMEs. After all, foreign foundations are accepted in this country.
Foundation law needs to be revised
Although the Federal Council is against the motion, it is open to the idea. The admission of family foundations would have to be implemented with a global revision of foundation law, said Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. Things are also not as simple as the proponents say when it comes to taxation.
In his eyes, the implementation of the proposal raises the same questions as the introduction of the Swiss trust. A consultation process had shown that such a trust would not have majority support, in particular due to taxation.
The Federal Council therefore did not want to draft the bill on Swiss trusts requested by Parliament. The Council of States agreed to write off the motion; the National Council still has to decide.
The motion for the approval of family maintenance foundations will also go to the National Council. The Federal Council intends to ask the upper chamber to convert the motion into a review mandate.
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