How can I pay dividends and avoid paying withholding tax?
The trick is to own the share of your Swiss corporation through a holding in another country which has a double taxation treaty with Switzerland. A popular option is called the “Dutch sandwich”, where a Netherlands holding company holds the Swiss shares, and a Netherlands Antilles company holds the Netherlands company shares. Thus your dividends will flow untaxed from Switzerland to the Netherlands, and then to the Antilles where they can be paid out without being subject to withholding tax. Of course, your company has to be above a certain size to make this worthwhile.
