BASEL: Switzerland and the UK will terminate their 2013 withholding tax agreement as of January 1, 2017, under a deal struck November 14.
The Swiss-UK withholding tax agreement provides that UK taxpayers may regularise the taxation of income generated by their assets held in Switzerland by either paying a withholding tax levied directly on their accounts which is anonymously transmitted to the UK authorities or opting for voluntary disclosure.
However, the UK no longer believes that withholding is necessary, given Switzerland’s decision to commence automatic exchange of information with the EU and Gibraltar as of January 1, 2017.
A similar agreement was signed by Switzerland and Austria on November 11.
