F1’s Swiss may lose tax-free status

(GMM) Switzerland's lifting of a national ban on motor racing could affect many current formula one drivers' living arrangements in the country.

It is being reported that millionaire foreign Swiss residents, including Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld, may lose their low-tax status if the legalization of motor racing in Switzerland is ratified by parliament's upper house in the coming weeks.

Presently, due to the prohibited status of motor sport in Switzerland, foreign racing drivers pay little or not tax because they can legitimately declare themselves 'unemployed', according to the German newspapers Express and Bild.

The drivers' Swiss tax relief was already in doubt, we reported earlier this year, after finance ministers met to discuss reforming the controversial system within six months.