Exchange of Notes Concerning the Automatic Exchange of Information between Canada and Switzerland
December 23, 2016
The Minister of Finance, the Honourable Bill Morneau, and His Excellency, Ueli Maurer, Federal Councillor, concluded through an exchange of notes dated December 22 and December 9, 2016 an agreement (“Agreement”) between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Swiss Confederation under the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as amended by the 2010 Protocol (“Convention”). The Convention, developed jointly by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) and the Council of Europe, is a multilateral Convention, open to all countries, whose purpose is to improve international tax cooperation between the tax authorities of countries that are a party to it, with a view to combating international tax avoidance and evasion.
The Agreement provides that the Convention will have effect for administrative assistance between Canada and Switzerland in relation to taxation periods beginning on or after January 1, 2017. This is one year earlier than would have been the case without the Agreement. The Agreement provides the legal basis for the automatic exchange of information for tax purposes based on the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard.
For further information contact:
Tax Legislation Division
613 369 4081
Please visit the OECD’s web page for information regarding the Convention. Please visit the Canada Revenue Agency’s website for information regarding the interpretation and application of Canada’s tax treaties and regarding the Common Reporting Standard.