Switzerland seeks automatic exchange of tax information with 41 more countries

by Davide Anghileri

The Swiss Federal Council has announced that it intends introduce automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) with 41 more states and territories.

The list of the countries is as follows: Andorra, Antigua e Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Curacao, Faroe Islands, Grenada, Greenland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Colombia, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Maurizio, Mexico, Monaco, Montserrat, New Zealand, Russia, Saint Kitts e Nevi, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent e Grenadine, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, South Africa, Turks e Caicos Islands, Uruguay, and United Arab Emirates.

This follows the introduction earlier this year AEOI with 38 states and territories, including all EU member states.

The implementation is considered appropriate and necessary to implement the international standards in taxation to boost the image and competitiveness of the Swiss financial market, Switzerland’s Federal Council said in the 16 June announcement.

In fact, with the extension, Switzerland’s AEOI network now includes the majority of G20 and OECD states, as well as other important financial centres around the world. Hence a level playing field will be created among states and all major financial centres, the Federal Council said.

The implementation is planned for 2018, and the first sets of data should be exchanged in 2019. Moreover, the AEOI will be activated with each individual state or territory by means of a specific federal decree within the framework of the dispatch. The Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (MCAA) will be the base for the exchange of information.

The dispatch provides that before the first exchange of data, Switzerland will confirm that the states and territories concerned meet the requirements under the MCAA standard, especially those concerning confidentiality and data security.

Davide Anghileri

Davide Anghileri

Researcher and lecturer at University of Lausanne

Davide Anghileri is a PhD candidate at the University of Lausanne, where he is writing his thesis on the attribution of profits to PEs. He researches transfer pricing issues and lectures for the Master of Advanced Studies in International Taxation and Executive Program on Transfer Pricing.

Anghileri, a Contributing Editor at MNE Tax, previously worked as a policy advisor to the Swiss government on BEPS issues.

Davide can be reached at [email protected].

Davide Anghileri
Davide can be reached at [email protected].