19 www.lawyer-monthly.com Switzerland What are individuals’ or businesses’ most frequent misconceptions about Swiss tax law? We work on tax cross-border issues between Switzerland and France. When setting up projects, clients often think that it’s possible to copy a French model onto the Swiss model, mainly because both countries share the French language. Still, the two countries are very different, and it’s sometimes necessary to point this out. I’ve been a panellist for over three years now on an event called “Welcome to Switzerland” in partnership with the French-Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Zurich, and newcomers are often surprised or even overwhelmed by the three-layer Swiss tax system - municipal, cantonal and federal or by the fact that there is wealth tax in Switzerland. How do international tax treaties influence domestic tax law, if at all? International tax treaties influence law in many aspects, such as inheritance law, labour law, real estate law, and family law, but I’m going to focus here on the issue of real estate because I will be giving a conference in a few days on the taxation of Franco-Swiss real estate in Zurich. Indeed, many Swiss taxpayers who have decided to buy a second home in France hold shares in a real estate company. Until a recent ruling by the Swiss Federal Court, it was unclear whether these shares should be treated in Switzerland as real estate or as securities. Could you share some of your future goals or plans for Kiavila Avocats to expand your firm’s impact and reach? We would like to expand more in several countries abroad, including those in the African continent. I have just been recruited as an arbitrator by the CIAM arbitration centre in Lome Togo, specialising in maritime and financial law, which I am super excited about. I would like to have more people in my firm, too and not only lawyers. How do you envision the future of women in the legal field, and what role do you hope to play in shaping this future? A promising future. I see some female colleagues in the media, on social networks, especially on Instagram, doing very interesting things. We also have a presence there, but to a lesser extent, and we intend to develop this further. We are thinking big, and we intend to keep growing and moving towards greater and greater complexity. I would like to be a leading expert in my field. “All the cases we encounter are challenging because they involve clients expressing their vulnerabilities, and in some cases, this can be very personal.” “We are thinking big, and we intend to keep growing and moving towards greater and greater complexity.”
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