A convention of 1976 in the world of 2026

Negotiation, signature and ratification

The convention of 1976 was negotiated at a time when the two states had very different ideas of what a tax treaty should achieve. Italy had just completed the great tax reform of 1973 and 1974, which introduced the personal income tax (IRPEF) and the corporate income tax (IRPEG) and created a modern withholding tax system. Switzerland had followed since the 1950s a treaty policy designed to protect its banking secrecy, refusing any exchange of information beyond what was needed for the application of the treaty itself. The text reflects both positions. Italy obtained source taxation of dividends, interest and royalties at rates that were relatively high for the time. Switzerland obtained an exchange-of-information clause limited to information "necessary for the proper application" of the convention, which expressly excluded the disclosure of commercial, banking and professional secrets.¹ Italy ratified the convention by Law No. 943 of 23 December 1978, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 42 of 12 February 1979.²

The convention was signed together with a protocol and was supplemented, before its entry into force, by a further protocol of 28 April 1978. The two states also concluded, on 3 October 1974, the Agreement on the taxation of frontier workers and the financial compensation in favour of the Italian border municipalities. That agreement entered into force on the same day as the convention, 27 March 1979, and Article 15 paragraph 4 of the convention incorporated it into the treaty system.³ The simultaneous entry into force was no coincidence. For Ticino, the taxation of the frontalieri (cross-border commuters) and the ristorni (compensation payments) to the Italian border municipalities were the most important fiscal questions in the relationship with Italy. Chapter H.I describes how this arrangement was replaced in 2020.

The amendments of 2015 and 2020

For more than three decades after its entry into force the convention remained unchanged. The Protocol of 23 February 2015, signed in Milan, replaced Article 27 with an exchange-of-information clause drafted according to the OECD standard and added provisions on group requests. It entered into force on 13 July 2016 after an exchange of notes.⁴ Chapter E.II describes the political context of this Protocol, the Roadmap that accompanied it and the group requests that the Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency) has since addressed to the Swiss Federal Tax Administration. For the purposes of the present chapter it is enough to note that the Protocol left the allocation rules untouched. The rates of withholding tax, the definition of permanent establishment and the relief methods remained those of 1976.

The second amendment came with the new agreement on cross-border commuters. On 23 December 2020 the two states signed both the new Agreement relating to the taxation of frontier workers and a protocol amending the convention of 1976. Italy ratified both instruments by Law No. 83 of 13 June 2023, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 151 of 30 June 2023. The amending protocol adapted Article 15 paragraph 4 of the convention, which now refers to the agreement of 2020 and confirms that it forms an integral part of the convention.⁵ The two instruments entered into force on 17 July 2023 and apply from 1 January 2024.⁶ Apart from this reference and the exchange-of-information clause, the convention signed in 1976 is still the text that governs.

Date Instrument 3 Oct. 1974 Agreement on frontier workers 9 March 1976 Convention and protocol signed in Rome 28 April 1978 Supplementary protocol 23 Dec. 1978 Italian ratification, Law No. 943 27 March 1979 Entry into force 26 Oct. 2004 EU–Swiss savings agreement (Art. 15) 23 Feb. 2015 Protocol on exchange of information 27 May 2015 Amending protocol to the EU agreement (Art. 9) 13 July 2016 Protocol of 2015 in force 1 Dec. 2019 MLI in force for Switzerland 23 Dec. 2020 Frontier workers agreement and protocol 17 July 2023 Agreement and protocol of 2020 in force 1 Jan. 2024 New frontier regime applicable

Table 1: The Swiss-Italian treaty framework on income taxes. Sources as cited in the text.

Notes

1. Convention, Art. 27 para. 1 in its original version, text as published with Law No. 943 of 23 December 1978, https://www.fiscoetasse.com/files/5715/convenzione-italia-svizzera-del-23121978-943.pdf ("informazioni necessarie per una regolare applicazione della presente Convenzione"; exclusion of commercial, banking and professional secrets). ↩
2. Text of Law No. 943 of 23 December 1978 and of the convention as published, https://www.wikilabour.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/1978_svizzera-it.pdf (Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 42 of 12 February 1979). ↩
3. ESTV, "Italia" (above) (frontier workers agreement of 3 October 1974, AS 1979 457, in force 27 March 1979). Convention, Art. 15 para. 4, original text (above). ↩
4. ESTV, "Italia" (above) (entry into force by exchange of notes on 13 July 2016). ↩
5. Chamber of Deputies, Research Service, "Accordo con la Svizzera relativo all'imposizione dei lavoratori frontalieri", https://temi.camera.it/leg19/provvedimento/accordo-con-la-svizzera-relativo-all-imposizione-dei-lavoratori-frontalieri.html (Law No. 83 of 13 June 2023, Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 151 of 30 June 2023; amendment of Art. 15 para. 4). ↩
6. SIF, Liste der Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen (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 August 2025.