Where patent law meets tax law - and your innovation pays off.
Let's talkPatent Box
Patent law meets tax law. We make the overlap work for you.
By electing the Swiss patent box, companies with research and development activity in Switzerland can secure an enhanced R&D deduction and reduced taxation on income from patent-protected products. Capturing that benefit means getting both sides right: the patent strategy that creates qualifying rights, and the tax analysis that proves the income belongs in the box.
We review your portfolio against the qualifying criteria, identify which products and rights drive boxable income, and work hand in hand with your tax advisors to build a defensible, cantonally compliant structure, so you reduce your tax burden without exposing the underlying patents.
Patent Box at a glance- Up to 90%Federal ceiling on the reduction of boxed IP income
- Up to 50%Additional cantonal R&D deduction on qualifying spend
- 70%Overall cap on total relief as a share of taxable profit
- Since 2020Available in every canton under the 2020 tax reform
Portfolio review
We go through what you hold and separate the rights that qualify from the ones that do not.
Income attribution
Identifying which products and revenue streams the qualifying rights actually carry, and what net profit is properly attributable to them.
Nexus analysis
Tracing where the qualifying development was done and by whom, which is what determines the share of income eligible for the box.
The entry calculation
Modelling the tax on previously deducted R&D expense against the ongoing benefit, so the election is made with the full picture.
Filing and defence
Preparing the documentation the cantonal authority expects, in coordination with your tax adviser, and maintaining it year on year.
We are IP counsel, not your tax adviser. We establish what you own, whether it qualifies and where the development happened while your tax adviser or auditor takes that into the return. Companies that treat the patent box as purely a tax question tend to discover the IP problems at the audit, which is the worst possible moment.
- Patent box eligibility and portfolio review
- Qualifying-IP and nexus analysis
- Enhanced R&D deduction structuring
- Coordination with your tax advisors
- Documentation for cantonal tax authorities
Patent box - the questions we are asked most
Which rights qualify for the Swiss patent box?
Technical rights: patents, and depending on the case comparable rights such as supplementary protection certificates, plant variety rights, topographies and certain protected data. Trademarks and copyright do not qualify, and neither does know-how that has never been filed. If your value sits in a brand rather than in technology, the patent box is not the right instrument, but the R&D deduction may still be.
Do I need a granted patent, or is a pending application enough?
The box is built around granted rights, so a pending application is not yet a qualifying right.
How much is it actually worth?
It depends on three things: your canton's reduction rate within the federal ninety per cent ceiling, how much of your profit is genuinely attributable to qualifying rights, and what your nexus ratio looks like. The overall relief limitation then caps total reductions at seventy per cent of taxable profit.
What is the modified nexus approach?
An OECD-derived rule that ties the relief to where the research was actually done. Qualifying development carried out by the company itself in Switzerland, or commissioned from unrelated third parties, increases the eligible share; IP that was simply acquired, or developed by related parties abroad, reduces it. In practice this means the box has to be documented as it goes along, not reconstructed at year end.
Can I combine the patent box with the R&D deduction?
Yes, and in most cases you should look at both together: the additional R&D deduction is a cantonal option of up to fifty per cent above actual qualifying spend. What you cannot do is stack them without limit: a federal relief limitation caps the combined effect at seventy per cent of taxable profit, so the order and the split are worth modelling.
You might also be interested in
Let's talk about your ideas
DO Innovations S.A. Chemin de Bon-Abri 26a1007 Lausanne
Switzerland +41 79 199 80 73
admin@do-innovations.ch Let's talk