27/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Swiss authorities announced at the start of the week that the Swiss Confederation was to redistribute the equivalent of €245 million to some EU member states under the terms of directive 2003/48/EC on savings taxation. This amount, collected over the full year 2006 from 55,000 natural persons, will be shared thus: €63 million for Germany, €62.7 million for Italy, €30.4 million for France, €19.4 million for the United Kingdom, and €18.4 million for Spain. The directive, which has been in force since 1 July 2005, introduced taxation of interest on natural persons' accounts in a member state other than their usual state of residence (see EUROPE 8981). Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg operate a tax deduction at source, which will rise to 35% in 2011. Similar agreements apply in five non-member states, including Switzerland, and in ten UK and Dutch dependent territories. (mb)