Brussels, 27/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - EU Taxation Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said when signing an agreement on the automatic exchange of information on tax matters (bank accounts) with Switzerland on Wednesday 27 May that at some point in the future, he would propose to Switzerland that it negotiate an agreement on the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings too.
Beforehand, however, he said that the EU's member states would have to discuss the question amongst themselves, and he urged the Council of Minister to rapidly adopt draft legislation in this connection, which is currently the subject of difficult talks (see EUROPE 11320). Moscovici said the EU had to act as a precursor and he had the secret ambition that the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings would be as successful as FATCA in the past. The FATCA agreements initiated by the United States are often described as the impulse that made it possible for automatic exchange of information to become the norm globally. Moscovici said that one day, he would propose that Switzerland negotiate an agreement on the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings, although this was not on the cards for the moment.
Jacques de Watteville, Swiss Secretary of State for International Financial Issues, threw some cold water on Moscovici's plans. He said after signing the agreement that, as far as Switzerland was concerned, the OECD was the reference and there should be only one standard and the EU's proposals differed in terms of scope of application and the type of rulings to be covered. De Watteville said it was in the Europeans' interest to avoid different standards. Moreover, the EU wants automatic exchange of information about the rulings, while the OECD is looking at informal exchange of information. Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD's tax policy and administration centre, said it amounted to the same thing. The European Commission has found that countries did not apply the provisions of the directive on administrative cooperation which includes informal exchange of information between states on tax rulings, hence the decision to amend the directive to make the exchange of information automatic. Last Monday, Luxembourg said that it had given up on informal exchange of information in 2008 due to lack of reciprocal action by other countries (see EUROPE 11317).
De Watteville welcomed the fact that the deal signed on Wednesday fully incorporated the OECD's standards. Switzerland will start to collect information in 2017 and make the first exchange in 2018. He said the question of regularising the situation for the past was making progress and was virtually completed for Germany, was going well with France and talks were under way with Greece.
Under the new EU-Switzerland agreement, member states will receive details each year of the name, address, tax identification number and date of birth of their residents holding bank accounts in Switzerland, along with other information about their financial assets and bank account balances. Moscovici stressed the reciprocal nature of the agreement. The Commission is holding similar negotiations with Andorra, Lichtenstein, San Marino and Monaco, which it expects to be concluded by the end of the year. The Latvian finance minister, Janis Reirs, explained for the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU that EU member states had given the go-ahead on Tuesday for the signing of this agreement, which had been initialled on 19 March (see EUROPE 11278).
De Watteville said that exploratory talks on the feasibility of an agreement on access of Swiss financial services providers to the EU market had been suspended by the EU at the end of April because of the question of the free circulation of individuals. Any progress in the resumption of these exploratory talks would make it easier for the Swiss parliament to agree to the automatic exchange of information, said de Watteville and Moscovici expressed his support and personal commitment in this domain. (Elodie Lamer)