Brussels, 22/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 22 February, the European Commission announced that the EU had initialled an agreement with Monaco on the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts.
Readers may recall that in March 2014, Austria and Luxembourg lifted their veto on the directive on tax on savings, amongst other things because the Commission had undertaken to conclude negotiations on the revision of the EU's tax agreements with five third countries (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino and Monaco) by the end of 2014. The EU signed these agreements in 2015 with Switzerland (see EUROPE 11278), San Marino (see EUROPE 11449) and Liechtenstein (see EUROPE 11420) and, in 2016, with Andorra (see EUROPE 11489).
The agreement provides that Monaco and EU member states will, from 2018 onwards, automatically exchange information on the financial accounts of each other's residents. This information will start being collected on 1 January 2017. The formal signature of the new agreement is expected to take place before the summer, following the green light of the Council. Under the new agreement, the member states will receive the names, addresses, tax identification numbers and dates of birth of their residents with accounts in Monaco, as well as various other financial information, such as account balances. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)