The European Union and automatic exchange

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With the European Union, Switzerland had initially favoured a withholding-tax model, which preserved the anonymity of clients while contributing to the tax revenues of their states. That model was abandoned in favour of the automatic exchange of information, under an agreement which replaced the agreement on the taxation of savings.¹ Data collected from 2017 onwards were exchanged from 2018.

Comparable agreements were concluded with many other countries, following a step-by-step approach which first gave priority to Switzerland’s principal economic partners and was then extended to other jurisdictions. Switzerland has also taken part in the international assessments of the implementation of these standards, on which its reputation, and the absence of defensive measures against it, depend.

Notes

Agreement of 27 May 2015 between Switzerland and the European Union on the automatic exchange of information, in force on 1 January 2017, first exchange in 2018; Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, europa.eda.admin.ch, cited above. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

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I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

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