Switzerland exchanges tax data with 96 states

Qatari men and women voting on October 2. Qatar is one of ten countries added to the list of countries with which Switzerland exchanges tax information Keystone / Noushad Thekkayil

The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has exchanged information on financial accounts with 96 countries this year. The exchange took place within the framework of the global standard on the automatic exchange of information.

The FTA sent information on around 3.3 million financial accounts to the partner states and received information on around 2.1 financial accounts from them, it said in a statement on Monday.

The FTA was unable to provide any information on the volume of assets involved.

New partner states were Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Dominica, Ghana, Lebanon, Macao, Pakistan, Qatar, Samoa, and Vanuatu.

In the case of 26 countries, Switzerland received information but did not provide any. According to the tax administration, 14 states did not receive any data because they did not meet the requirements for confidentiality and data security. Twelve states refrained from sending data.

The legal basis for the automatic exchange of information came into force in Switzerland at the beginning of 2017. According to the government, around 8,500 financial institutions (such as banks and insurance companies) currently transmit information to the Federal Tax Administration.