Switzerland consults on legislation to implement automatic exchange of tax information

Switzerland’s Federal Council on January 14 launched two consultations on legislation that would enable automatic exchange of tax information with other nations.

One consultation concerns approval and implementation of the OECD/Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, signed by Switzerland in 2013.

The other measure seeks approval of Switzerland’s November 19, 2014, signing of a multilateral competent authority agreement implementing the automatic exchange of financial account information, as well as an accompanying proposed bill, the Federal Act on the International Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters (AEOI Act). The AEOI Act would govern the implementation of the AEOI standard, providing for its organisation, procedure, judicial channels, and the applicable criminal provisions, the Council said.

The Council said it will separately present to Parliament the countries with which it would automatically exchange tax information. The primary focus would be on the EU and the United States, though negotiations on automatic exchange of information with other countries will be examined. The first automatic exchange of information would occur in 2018.

The Federal Council proposes to make two declarations to the OECD/Council of Europe administrative assistance convention. First, Switzerland would generally inform affected persons about forthcoming exchange of information. Second, Switzerland would not allow foreign authorities to conduct tax audits in Switzerland.

The Council also recommends a reservation which would limit the applicability of administrative assistance for tax offences committed willfully and subject to criminal sanctions to time periods following the convention’s 2013 signing by Switzerland.

The Council also proposes to exclude from the convention forms of administrative assistance other than exchange of tax information. For example, the provision for assistance in enforcement and administrative assistance for the service of documents would be excluded by making one of the reservations cited as an option in the convention.

Both consultations will run until April 21.

See:

• Release

• Fact sheet (pdf, 112kb)

• Questions and answers (pdf, 27kb)

Related MNE Tax articles:

• Switzerland signs agreement for automatic exchange of information

• Fifty-one countries sign agreement for automatic exchange of information under global standard

• Switzerland adopts negotiation mandates for automatic information exchange

• Countries declare intent to implement OECD automatic information exchange standard