BERN: The Swiss government intends to begin automatic exchanges of tax data with 20 additional countries in 2019.
Switzerland already has agreed to such exchanges – based on international standards aimed at ensuring that taxpayers pay the right amount of tax to the right jurisdiction – with 38 nations and territories starting in 2018.
Now, the Swiss finance department will begin consulting with 20 more countries to set up the exchanges starting in 2019, the cabinet said in a statement on Thursday.
The new countries to be added are China, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Liechtenstein, Colombia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Montserrat, Aruba, Curacao, Belize, Costa Rica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Cook Islands and the Marshall Islands.
“These additional countries will have to respect the principle of specialty and safeguard the confidentiality of the data delivered,” said the cabinet, which added that the exchanges will have “a positive impact on the integrity and competitiveness of Switzerland’s financial centre”.
The agreements are based on the international standard for the exchange of information developed by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a club of 35 mostly wealthy nations.
