by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

12 October 2018

Switzerland has made its first exchanges under the new international automatic exchange of information (AEOI) framework, the Common Reporting Standard.

The Swiss Federal Council said that the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) made its first transmission of financial account information at the end of September. The FTA sent information on around two million financial accounts to its partner states.

The information exchanged included name, address, state of residence, and the tax identification number of account holders, along with information relating to the reporting financial institution, account balance, and capital income. Currently, there are around 7,000 reporting financial institutions registered with the FTA. These institutions collected the data and transferred it to the FTA.

The Council explained that in 2018 Switzerland will exchange information with the EU’s member states, along with Australia, Canada, Guernsey, Iceland, the Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Norway, and South Korea.

The transmission of data to Australia and France has been delayed. The Council said that these countries have not yet been able to deliver data to the FTA due to technical reasons. The FTA has yet to receive data from Croatia, Estonia, and Poland.

Information will not yet be shared with Cyprus and Romania, as they are not seen to meet the international requirements on confidentiality and data security.

The AEOI will take place on an annual basis. In 2019, data relating to 2018 will be exchanged with around 80 partner states, provided they meet the requirements on confidentiality and data security.