The case

Parliamentary initiative of 11 March 2024 calling for the introduction of an automatic exchange of information on financial accounts (AEOI) in Switzerland, similar to the one that is already common practice internationally. The initiative has been referred to the relevant committee of the National Council.

Source: www.parlament.ch (German and French) and BDO

The commentary

A national AEOI system is to be established around eight years after the international AEOI was introduced. In times when tax procedures are digitalised and transparency increased, this seems the logical step to make. Banks have been acquiring vast experience in this field, and tax secrecy as well as banking secrecy will continue to be applied as any information gathered would have to be treated like personally declared data, i.e. it could only be used for tax purposes and must not be passed on to third parties without any legal basis.

The introduction of the national AEOI would entail a one-off partial tax amnesty for taxpayers that did not declared their assets and income in Switzerland in recent years.

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