Federal Council adopts mandate on taxation of savings income with EU

Bern, 18.12.2013 - During its meeting today, the Federal Council adopted the mandate for negotiations regarding a revision of the taxation of savings agreement with the European Union. The competent parliamentary committees and the cantons were consulted on the draft mandate beforehand. The negotiations with the European Commission should commence at the start of 2014. The aim is to close loopholes.

In May 2013, the ECOFIN Council (Council of EU finance ministers) instructed the European Commission to initiate negotiations on the revision of the existing taxation of savings agreement with Switzerland. The EU's aim is to ensure that the amendment of this agreement is in line with the planned revision of the European Union Savings Directive. The revision should close loopholes in order to prevent the taxation of interest income from being circumvented by using intermediary companies or certain financial instruments.

Switzerland has been willing to discuss a revision of the agreement since 2009. However, an amendment of the agreement should be agreed only if within the framework of the EU's MiFID regulatory project a satisfactory solution is found with respect to how the regulation of third country regimes is structured for the provision of cross-border financial services.

In terms of content, the taxation of savings agreement is to be amended from a technical viewpoint, based on the existing coexistence model, i.e. retention tax with voluntary disclosure as an alternative. The precise content of the negotiation mandate is confidential.


Address for enquiries

Mario Tuor, Head of Communications, State Secretariat for International Financial Matters SIF
Tel. 031 322 46 16, mario.tuor@sif.admin.ch

FDFA information
Tel. 031 322 31 53, info@eda.admin.ch


Publisher

The Federal Council
https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html

Federal Department of Finance
https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html

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