It is expected that the agreement will have effect from 1st January 2013 and in the 2 months following that date Swiss banks will write to their affected customers explaining that they have the following options to choose from by 31st May 2013, relating to regularisation of the past and the position for the future:  

Option 1

Anonymous regularisation of the past via payment of the one off withholding tax of 19% to 34% depending on how long assets have been held.  

Anonymous payment of the new withholding taxes of 48%, 40% and 27% to settle future UK tax liabilities on new interest, dividends and capital gains, respectively.  

Option 2

Voluntary disclosure of past tax liabilities to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), including an authority given to the Swiss bank to notify details of the customer to the Swiss Federal Tax Authority, which will pass the details on to HMRC.

Option 3

For bank customers whose tax affairs have been correctly dealt with, confirmation of this to the Swiss Federal Tax Authority which will then pass details of this to HMRC to check.  

The default position is that in the absence of an authority from the customer to voluntarily disclose their details to HMRC via the Swiss Federal Tax Authority, the historic and future withholding taxes will be applied from 31st May 2013.  

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