A number of agreements on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) on taxation issues, concluded by Switzerland with other jurisdictions, entered into force on January 1, 2018.
Data exchange will be carried out in accordance with the Common Reporting Standard of the OECD, which provides for the possibility of automatic exchange of information between the territories that have agreed to such an exchange.
Switzerland starts to exchange tax information this year with respect to data on accounts collected for some partners under previously signed agreements, namely Australia, Canada, the European Union, Guernsey and Jersey, the Isle of Man, Iceland, Japan, Norway and South Korea .
More complete list of jurisdictions with which Switzerland plans to establish automatic exchange of information since 2019 was published on the website of the State Secretariat for International Finance. In order to fulfill its obligation to exchange information automatically with these territories, Swiss financial institutions will be demanded to comply with the new requirements on information collection from January 1, 2018 for the accounts of taxpayers from such countries as Andorra, Argentina, Barbados, Mexico, Monaco, Montserrat, New Zealand, Russia, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Faroe Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa and Uruguay.
In addition, from January 1, 2018, new agreements on automatic exchange of information entered into force in other states, including Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, the United Arab Emirates and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The listed territories are “non-reciprocal jurisdictions”, since they will provide information about the accounts in Switzerland and other partner countries on an ongoing basis, but they will not be able to receive such data themselves.
Regarding agreements with Hong Kong and Singapore, the State Secretariat noted: “Switzerland has signed bilateral agreements with Hong Kong and Singapore on the introduction of AEOI from 2018/2019”.
