The governments of Switzerland and Singapore today signed an agreement providing for the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities.
Under the agreement, Switzerland will automatically exchange with the Singapore financial account information of accounts in Switzerland held by Singapore tax residents while Singapore will automatically exchange with Switzerland financial account information of accounts in Singapore held by Swiss tax residents. The agreement would apply from January 1, 2018, with the first exchange of data in 2019.
The agreement was signed just prior to a working meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) which is being hosted by Switzerland in Geneva. The signatories to the agreement were Swiss Ambassador Alexander Karrer, Deputy State Secretary of the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF), and Deputy Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, Mrs. Huey Min Chia-Tern.
The both nations must complete ratification procedures before the agreement enters into force.
