Popular investment vehicles in Switzerland

Updated on January 2026

• Immobilien-Aktiengesellschaft
• Anlagestiftung
• Vertraglicher Anlagefonds

• Corporate – Swiss Stock Corporation

• Corporate – Swiss Foundation

• Contractual

• Opaque and taxable at corporate income tax rate depending on canton where the real estate is located 
• Tax at investor level depending on residence and size of participation
• Generally, has access to double tax treaties

• Opaque, but generally exempt from corporate income tax due to public purpose 

• Generally transparent, but treated as opaque to the extent holding direct investments in real estate and taxed at a reduced rate

• Following taxes may apply depending on the specific circumstances:
  • real estate capital gains tax,
  • real estate transfer taxes,
  • VAT,
  • land register fees,
  • securities transfer stamp duty

• Following taxes may apply depending on the specific circumstances:
  • real estate capital gains tax,
  • real estate transfer taxes,
  • VAT,
  • land register fees,
  • securities transfer stamp duty

• Following taxes may apply depending on the specific circumstances:
  • real estate capital gains tax,
  • real estate transfer taxes,
  • VAT,
  • land register fees,
  • securities transfer stamp duty

• Yes

• No

• Yes

• Closed-ended

• Open-ended; closed-ended is possible in case of illiquid investments (e.g., real estate, private equity)

• Open-ended

• No regulatory approval required if listed or if registered shares are issued to qualified investors as defined under Swiss law ("QI")

• Yes, by Occupational Pension Supervisory Commission

• Requires FINMA approval and a regulated fund and asset manager, as well as a custodian

• For non-regulated and not listed funds restricted to QI (cf. left hand column)
  Furthermore, there are restrictions concerning foreign investors in case the fund invests in Swiss residential property and is not listed

• Restricted to pension funds and tax-exempt institutions based in Switzerland that provide occupational pensions; and institutions supervised by FINMA which manage collective investments of the institutions mentioned above and which invest funds solely for these institutions 
• Tax exemption 
• Restricted investor base Real estate and any other type of real asset investment

• In principle no, unless restricted to QI
• There are however also restrictions concerning foreign investors in case the fund invests in Swiss residential property

• No regulatory approval required if listed or restricted to QI

• Tax exemption

• Flexibility

• No regulatory constraints (investor perspective)

• Restricted investor base

• Considerable regulatory constraints (fund perspective)

• Real estate

• Real estate and any other type of real asset investment

• Real estate and any other type of real asset investment

Disclaimer: “Information in this guide for any particular country or topic may have been subject to change since the date to which it was prepared”