Susanne Schreiber

Bär & Karrer Ltd

Zurich www.baerkarrer.ch

susanne.schreiber@baerkarrer.ch Tel: +41 58 261 52 12

Biography

Susanne Schreiber started her career in Munich, Germany, as attorney-at-law in an international law firm. She specialised in tax law and qualified as a German tax adviser. After relocating to Switzerland, she qualified as a Swiss-certified tax expert and continued to support multinationals and private equity firms in their M&A activities. After heading the Swiss M&A tax department of a Big Four company, Susanne joined Bär & Karrer AG as co-head of its tax department. Her main area of expertise is Swiss and international corporate tax law, mainly advising on complex sophisticated restructurings, capital markets, financing and M&A transactions.

I started as an attorney-at-law in the M&A and corporate law department of Lovells (now Hogan Lovells) in Munich back in 2002 and moved into tax one year later – which meant a lot of studying for a new area of law, followed by the tax attorney exam and the tax adviser exam. As I found my passion in tax law, I joined the M&A tax department of KPMG in 2006 to experience tax from different, more economic angles. Shortly afterwards, the next challenge came: when my husband took a job in Switzerland, I also moved country and jurisdiction – which was not an easy task! I was lucky to stay with KPMG in Zurich, and to have the opportunity to continue with corporate/M&A tax work, in the beginning mainly advising on international, outbound transactions of Swiss multinationals. After the Swiss tax expert exam, I also focused on domestic tax topics, with articles, seminars and work in different tax commissions. After becoming partner and heading the Swiss M&A tax group of KPMG, Bär & Karrer asked me to join its tax team in 2015 to strengthen the corporate/M&A tax practice. Over the past few years, we have grown the tax team in size (we also now have a tax presence in Geneva) and in reputation, resulting in rankings in the top tier of all major guides. I enjoy working with a talented and ambitious group of young people and partner colleagues, in both the tax team and our other departments, and helping the associates to build their careers as tax lawyers.

What have been the greatest challenges or opportunities that Switzerland’s recent tax reform has posed to lawyers practising in the field?

The challenges on the part of the companies were mainly to keep the tax burden similar to that found under the previous taxation regimes. For us as advisers, the reform was also an opportunity to make use of the toolkit that the reform and the cantonal implementation laws offer, on a tailor-made basis. Whereas most cantons implemented their new tax legislation in 2019, several cantons can only do so in 2020 (due to the legislative process) which made it difficult to plan ahead. The new rules also leave a range of interpretation – for example, with respect to the definition of the F&E super-deduction. This is an interesting and creative task for a lawyer but can also result in a certain delay in receiving advance confirmation by the competent tax authority, which wants to have some general administrative guidelines or exchange on the practice by other cantons. Further, the practical implementation of the new rules in the first tax returns or tax provision calculations showed some new questions or angles that were not considered in the rather complex legislative process. One area is the intercantonal allocation, where the tax authorities worked hard to come up with a circular on short notice – which definitely cannot address all practical questions – and so some compromises had to be devised.

What advice would you give to younger practitioners hoping to one day be in your position?

Stay curious and eager to learn; be passionate about your work; and be willing to go the extra mile. And communicate: ask questions, ask for feedback, share your concerns or wishes. The rest will come (with a bit of patience as well)!

How do you anticipate the Swiss tax framework changing in the next five years?

Tax law has become more and more international and influenced by OECD initiatives, such as the BEPS actions back in 2015 and now the discussions about the taxation of the digital economy. Switzerland, as a small country with significant global activity from domestic companies, is clearly affected by these developments. Thus, I could imagine responses to, for example, the intended OECD Pillar Two minimum taxes with measures to keep the tax revenues in Switzerland. In addition, international tax litigation will certainly increase with the plans for the taxation of the digital economy; Switzerland would be well advised to participate in means to avoid double taxation, obtain advance certainty (internationally) and implement effective tax controversy tools. This will be a differentiator to increase the attractiveness of Switzerland as tax jurisdiction.

What is the best piece of career advice you have received?

A senior partner once told me that you need to like your clients – with this attitude, you will best support them, find the best solutions for them and also enjoy working for and with them. And that’s what I do!

WWL says: The “truly excellent” Susanne Schreiber is distinguished as “one of the best tax practitioners in the market”. One peer adds, “She is simply outstanding.”