Italy and Switzerland on February 23 signed a protocol to their double tax treaty agreeing to the OECD standard for the exchange of information on request, the Swiss government has announced. The countries also signed a roadmap for continued dialog on financial and tax matters.
After years of controversy, the agreement will improve relations between Switzerland and Italy in the area of finance and will simplify the regularization of untaxed assets before automatic exchange of information is introduced, the Swiss government said.
Once it comes into force, the protocol will apply from date of signing.
The countries also signed a roadmap for continued dialogue on financial and tax issues. The roadmap paves the way for Switzerland’s removal from Italian blacklists and reaffirms a commitment to initiate talks on enhanced market access for financial service providers.
The countries agreed that financial institutions and their employees are not responsible for the tax offenses of their clients.
Further, the countries agreed that Italian taxpayers with an account in Switzerland may take part in the Italian voluntary disclosure programme under the same conditions as those for countries that are not on a blacklist.
Also, both countries can make group requests in accordance with the OECD standard to identify persons who wish to conceal untaxed assets.
The agreements were initialed by the countries on December 19, 2014.
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