The Federal Council, on 27 February 2019, took the initiative and introduced consultations on the amendments of the Federal Act and Ordinance on the International Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters (AEOI). The resolution at the meeting also produced endorsements that the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) swings into action. This consultation is due to last until 12 June 2019, while the Parliament should discuss the proposal by spring 2020.
It is quite noteworthy to state that the AEOI standard has been operative in Switzerland since 1 January 2017, wherein the role of the Global Forum is to give a critical observation as to compliance to such standards. One of such cases is in the flow of information and its exchange upon request through the medium of peer reviews. For the AEOI, this would become operative as from 2020.
The Global Forum has a core goal of creating a fair, equitable and level playing ground for all. Hence, in a bid to protect its integrity and that of the AEOI standard, the Forum has begun to take an investigatory role into its core elements since 2017, one of which is to ensure that the AEOI standard is ratified, incorporated and domesticated into law.
As earlier stated, the Global Forum reviewed the legal issues underlying the Swiss AEOI standards while also making recommendations. The outcome of the consultation proposition is to be mindful of the recommendations given, making sure to conduct due diligence and preliminaries for registration. Furthermore, is the obligation for maintenance of document retention which makes it legitimate for reporting Swiss financial institutions.
There have also been some modifications or an outright exclusion to the exceptions while the revisions made to the Federal Act and Ordinance have been forecasted to become operative come 1 January 2021.
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https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-74136.htmlLegal disclaimer. This article does not constitute legal advice and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. The article should be used for informational purposes only.