The UK-Swiss Confederation Taxation Co-operation Agreement ended on 31 December 2016.

An agreement terminating the UK-Swiss Taxation Co-operation Agreement was signed on 14 November 2016 by HM Revenue and Customs Permanent Secretary and Executive Chair Edward Troup and the Swiss Ambassador to the UK Dominik Furgler.

The UK and Switzerland have signed up to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Common Reporting Standard: a global agreement to annually and automatically share financial accounts data. Switzerland will collect data to send to HMRC about UK taxpayers. HMRC will use this information to take action against those who seek to escape paying what they owe by hiding their money offshore.

From 1 January 2017, UK taxpayers can’t pay a withholding tax to stop their information being shared with HMRC. UK taxpayers with assets abroad must make sure their tax affairs are correct and up to date.