By Davide Anghileri, University of Lausanne
The Federal Council decided to expand Switzerland’s automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) with 18 further states and territories during its meeting on 7 December.
In accordance with the Federal Council’s proposal, the Swiss AEOI network is to be expanded to include the following 18 states and territories: Albania, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Dominica, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Macao (China), the Maldives, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Peru, Samoa, Saint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, and Vanuatu.
This follows the new standard used to determine whether the international standards on tax transparency are being implemented satisfactorily, released by the OECD in June, under which individual states should complement their AEOI network with all partner states that have an interest in the AEOI and meet the requirements of the OECD standard.
The aim is to create a level playing field worldwide, which will benefit the Swiss financial centre.
Therefore, the Federal Council intends to add the 18 partner states to the 107 states and territories that are currently committed to implementing the AEOI. By expanding its AEOI network accordingly Switzerland is underlining that it is implementing its international obligations.
It is clear that before an initial exchange of data with these partner states, the Federal Council will once again review whether they meet the requirements of the AEOI standard on the basis of the federal decree of 6 December 2017. The focus will be on data security and confidentiality.
The consultation will last until 20 March 2019. The Federal Council plans to submit the dispatch on the introduction of the AEOI with these partner states to Parliament in spring 2019. The implementation of the AEOI is planned for 1 January 2020, and the first exchange of data should take place in 2021.
Davide Anghileri
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].
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