Switzerland, Singapore: agreement to share data

On Monday, representatives for Switzerland and Singapore signed a bilateral deal to exchange data from 2019, pending approval from Swiss parliament for the deal. The two offshore centers, which have maintained extremely close ties in recent years, also signed a pact to cooperate even more closely on financial services.

Under the agreement, Switzerland will automatically exchange with the Singapore financial account information of accounts in Switzerland held by Singapore tax residents while Singapore will automatically exchange with Switzerland financial account information of accounts in Singapore held by Swiss tax residents. The agreement would apply from January 1, 2018, with the first exchange of data in 2019.

The agreement was signed just prior to a working meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) which is being hosted by Switzerland in Geneva. The signatories to the agreement were Swiss Ambassador Alexander Karrer, Deputy State Secretary of the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF), and Deputy Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, Mrs. Huey Min Chia-Tern.

According to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore's website, no agreements have been inked yet under the newly-created facility. The both nations must complete ratification procedures before the agreement enters into force.