Switzerland, EU ink new savings tax pact
Switzerland and the European Union (EU) have initialled an agreement on the automatic exchange of tax information (AEOI). Account data will be collected from 2017, with the first exchange scheduled for 2018, reports Tax News.
The agreement was initialled on March 19, 2015, by Jacques de Watteville, the Swiss State Secretary, Dominique Paravinci, the Deputy Director of the Switzerland’s Directorate for European Affairs, and Heinz Zourek, the head of EU Directorate General on Tax and Customs Union. It is expected to be signed in the coming weeks.
The agreement will replace the savings tax agreement that has been in force since 2005 and extends to all 28 EU member states.
The AEOI agreement provides that EU member states and Switzerland will be required to exchange account information automatically on a reciprocal basis annually. The information that will be exchanged will include the name, address, tax identification number, date of birth, and a broad amount of financial and account balance information about EU taxpayers and vice versa.
Switzerland and the EU intend for the deal to enter into force on January 1, 2017.
Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said: “We are taking a decisive step towards total tax transparency between Switzerland and the EU. I am confident that our other neighbors will soon follow suit. This transparency is vital to ensure that each country can collect the tax revenues due.”
