Increase in the thresholds for company sizes for financial years from January 1, 2024
On March 7, 2024, Parliament held a final debate on the government’s statement no. 15/2024 on the issues raised during the first reading regarding the amendment of the Persons and Companies Act and other laws and unanimously adopted the bill. Among other things, the opinion raises the thresholds set out in Art. 1064 PGR for companies and Art. 1101 PGR for groups by around 25%. It will come into force on July 1, 2024. All amended thresholds are to apply to financial years beginning on or after January 1, 2024.
Art. 1064 PGR is amended as follows:
1) Small companies are those that do not exceed two of the following three criteria:
- CHF 9.2 million balance sheet total;
- CHF 18.5 million net turnover (Art. 1081) for the financial year preceding the balance sheet date;
- 50 employees on average during the financial year.
1a) Micro-companies which do not exceed two of the following three criteria are also deemed small companies:
- CHF 580 000 balance sheet total;
- CHF 1.16 million net turnover (Art. 1081) for the financial year preceding the balance sheet date;
- 10 employees on average during the financial year.
2) Medium-sized companies are those which exceed at least two of the three criteria enumerated in paragraph 1 and which do not exceed two of the following three criteria:
- CHF 32.4 million balance sheet total;
- CHF 64.8 million net turnover (Art. 1081) for the financial year preceding the balance sheet date;
- 250 employees on average during the financial year.
3) Large companies are those which exceed at least two of the three criteria enumerated in paragraph 2.
4) The legal consequences of the criteria referred to in paragraph 1 to 3 occur only if they are exceeded or fallen below on the balance sheet dates of two consecutive financial years. When applying paragraphs 1 to 3 for the first time, the legal consequences arise already if the requirements set out in paragraphs 1, 2, or 3 are met on the first balance sheet date.
The background to this change is the Delegated Directive (EU) 2023/2775 of the EU Commission of October 17, 2023, in which the Commission proposes an inflation-related increase in the thresholds of 25% for the size classes of companies and groups of companies according to which the European accounting standards are applied. Due to the significant inflation in the EU in 2021 and 2022, the EU Commission has reviewed the criteria for determining the size category of companies in order to be able to counter the effects of inflation accordingly. The inflation rate in the eurozone was 24.3% in the ten-year period from January 1, 2013 to March 31, 2023. In the EU as a whole, it was as high as 27.2% in the same period. For this reason, the Commission considered it necessary to adjust for inflation and round up the thresholds by around 25 %.
