According to a statement issued on Friday, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) exchanged information on financial accounts with 110 countries this year. Information on around 3,8 million financial accounts was sent to partner states, while the FTA received data on approximately 3,5 million financial accounts.

Most recently, Kenya and Thailand were added to the list of partner countries. Switzerland exchanged data reciprocally with 84 states. From 26 states, Switzerland received information but did not send any, either because those countries do not yet meet international standards for confidentiality and data security (13) or voluntarily chose not to send data (13). As the FTA emphasized, no data were exchanged with Russia this year either.

Type of Information Exchanged

The exchanged data include identification, account, and financial information, such as the name, address, country of residence, and tax identification number of the account holder, as well as details about the reporting financial institution, the account balance, and capital income.

Thanks to this data exchange, cantonal tax authorities can verify whether taxpayers have correctly declared their foreign financial accounts in their tax returns.

Scope of Financial Assets Unknown

The FTA stated that it cannot provide information on the total amount of financial assets held in accounts reported under the AEOI.

Currently, around 9'000 reporting financial institutions — including banks, trusts, and insurance companies — are registered with the FTA. These institutions collect the data and transmit it to the administration.