Certified tax expert
The certified tax expert is a common title in Switzerland, which may be used by holders of the relevant federal diploma after successfully passing the higher technical examination .
In Switzerland there are no special occupational access restrictions for people who work professionally in tax consulting. The professional organizations Expertsuisse (spelling: EXPERTsuisse, formerly: Swiss Chamber of Auditors and Tax Experts), Swiss Bar Association (SAV), Swiss Tax Conference (SSK), Treuhand Suisse and the Swiss Association of Certified Tax Experts (SVDS) have one for quality assurance and also to inform potential customers Joint supporting organization founded, which organizes and carries out the examinations for certified tax experts .
The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (“SERI”) issues the federal diploma . SERI keeps a separate register of the owners of this protected title.
For the certified tax experts, new examination regulations were issued in 2011, which first applied to the 2012 final examination.
Exam admission
Admission requirements for the final examination are usually an economics or law degree at a Swiss university as well as four years of qualifying professional experience. Other federal specialist certificates customary in the sector, federal diplomas, degrees from higher technical schools for business and equivalent foreign training courses are also recognized.
Form of examination
To pass the exam, the following examinations must be successfully completed:
- Six written module exams of 90 minutes each
as well as the final examination, which consists of the following parts:
- three final written exams with a total duration of eight hours
- a written diploma thesis with an oral colloquium
- a short presentation of 15 minutes
- an oral exam lasting one hour
The exam can be repeated up to two times if it is not passed.
Contents of the exam
The exams relate to the following exam material:
- Taxes of Individuals
- Corporate taxes
- Intercantonal and international tax law
- value added tax
- Business administration
- Law
Exam Statistics
The passing rate for the final examination is on average around half of the test participants across Switzerland.
| Exam year | Number of participants | of which passed | Pass rate | source |
| 2019 | 128 | 61 | 48% | |
| 2018 | 115 | 59 | 51% | |
| 2017 | 115 | 62 | 54% | |
| 2016 | 142 | 80 | 56% | |
| 2015 | 142 | 64 | 45% | |
| 2014 | 137 | 68 | 50% | |
| 2013 | 133 | 65 | 49% | |
| 2012 | 153 | 85 | 56% | |
| 2010 | 160 | 93 | 58% | |
| 2008 | 205 | 121 | 59% |
Web links
- Examination regulations for the advanced technical examination for tax experts from June 20, 2011 (PDF; 429 kB) provided by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI
- Guidelines for the examination regulations for the higher technical examination for tax experts from June 4, 2010 (PDF; 473 kB) provided by ExpertSuisse
- Certified tax expert in the SERI professional directory
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Section 1.2 of the examination regulations for the advanced technical examination for tax experts from June 20, 2011. Accessed on February 20, 2016 (PDF; 429 kB).
- ↑ cf. Section 9.22 of the examination regulations for the higher technical examination for tax experts from June 20, 2011. Accessed on February 20, 2016 (PDF; 429 kB).
- ↑ Statistics, detailed statistics for the 2017 diploma examination , provided by ExpertSuisse. Retrieved April 13, 2018 (PDF; 25 kB).