Cantonal + federal

The effective corporate income tax rate in the Grisons results from stacking:

• Grisons profit tax (cantonal and communal, applied to the same simple rate); and
• Swiss direct federal corporate income tax at 8.5% on profit after tax (approx. 7.8% on profit before tax).

External benchmarks for tax year 2024 place the combined statutory rate in Chur, including federal tax, at around 14.7–15.0% of profit before tax for ordinarily taxed companies (no special regimes). In comparative overviews of Swiss cantons, the Grisons thus sit roughly in the mid-range or slightly above the Swiss average.

The precise rate for your company will depend on:

• Tax year (annual adjustments to tax factors and thresholds);
• Use of the patent box, R&D super-deduction and other STAF instruments;
• Finite-life reliefs and any approved tax holidays; and
• Special statuses (e.g. under the reduced capital tax regime for companies without real business activities in Switzerland).

Illustrative example

Assume a standard capital company in Chur (or elsewhere in the Grisons) with:

• Taxable profit before tax: CHF 1,000,000;
• Taxable equity: CHF 5,000,000;
• No participation relief, patent box income or R&D super-deduction; and
• Ordinary cantonal/communal factors for the year.

Then, very roughly:

• Cantonal and communal profit tax combined will account for a bit more than half of the overall burden (simple rate 4.5% multiplied by the combined cantonal and communal factor and adjusted for tax deductibility); and
• Federal corporate income tax will account for the remaining portion (approx. 7.8% on profit before tax, again deductible at cantonal level).

Capital tax in the Grisons, at 2.3‰ on the first tranche of equity and 2.5‰ on the excess, is usually modest relative to profit tax for profitable companies, but becomes relevant in low-profit or loss years.

For more precise numbers by year, use:

• The official Grisons tax burden tables (“Steuerbelastung auf dem Gewinn juristischer Personen vor und nach Steuern”), and
• The hub’s own Grisons tax calculator.

Minimum tax (Mindeststeuer)

Grisons applies a minimum tax for capital companies and cooperatives:

• From the fifth business year after incorporation, if the combined cantonal profit and capital tax (simple tax × applicable factors) does not reach CHF 200 (simple minimum), the minimum tax is charged instead.
• The minimum tax is calculated per legal entity and per tax period and effectively sets a floor to the overall cantonal tax burden for low-profit or loss-making companies.

For start-ups, holding vehicles or companies in a restructuring phase, this minimum is often the binding tax burden for several years, especially where equity is low or capital-intensive assets are located outside the canton.

Special statuses & STAF instruments

The historical holding, domiciliary and mixed-company regimes have been replaced or transformed in the context of the Swiss corporate tax reform (STAF). Grisons now relies on a mix of:

• A patent box in which qualifying patent and comparable IP income can benefit from reduced profit taxation;
• A 50% additional deduction for qualifying R&D expenditure carried out in Switzerland; and
• A relief cap that limits the combined impact of the patent box, R&D extra deduction and certain step-up amortisations to a maximum reduction of the taxable profit (before participation exemption) by 55%.

Juridical persons without genuine business activities in Switzerland (e.g. pure holding or financing vehicles) can, on request, be taxed under a reduced capital tax regime with a simple capital tax of 0.05‰ and a minimum tax of CHF 200, instead of the ordinary per-mille scale.