taxlawblog.ch Your blog on Swiss tax law

The Federal Council rejects the direct counter-proposal to the popular initiative "Yes to the protection of privacy". This is the result of the Federal Council's statement to the Economic Commission of the Council of States (WAK-S), which the Federal Council adopted at its meeting on 5 April 2017.

At its meeting on 16 March 2017, the Council of States approved the multilateral agreement on the exchange of country-specific reports (ALBA agreement; Federal Council business 16.078) by 37 votes to 3 and the Implementation Act by 40 votes to 1 with 2 abstentions. The Council of States is the first body to deal with the matter. In a next step, the business will be discussed by the National Council.

According to a press release issued by the FTA on 20 March 2017, the first function for automatic information exchange (AIA) is available on the ESTV SuisseTax portal. Reporting Swiss financial institutions can fulfil their registration obligation there.

The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) was allowed to provide administrative assistance to the Austrian Ministry of Finance on the basis of the double taxation agreement between Switzerland and Austria. The Federal Administrative Court rejects an appeal lodged against it by decision (A-6394/2016) of 16 February 2017.

On 2 February 2017, the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) opened a consultation on the introduction of automatic information exchange in tax matters (AIA) with additional countries. The Principality of Liechtenstein in particular has a common economic and monetary area due to numerous treaties with Switzerland. Political and economic relations with the Principality of Liechtenstein make the introduction of the AIA appear necessary (planned entry into force 2018, planned data exchange 2019).