Intro Many people ask themselves these days: how secure are Swiss accounts? For example, can the tax office look at these accounts if they belong to a German? Can the tax office perhaps even seize a Swiss account? We want to address these questions in this video. [Music] Popularity and advantages of Swiss banks Switzerland is still very popular with many Germans when it comes to opening an account abroad . Of course, people are worried about the euro, about the European Union, and the new Draghi report isn't exactly helpful. More and more Germans want to keep their money safe and Switzerland is of course the first address. It has legendary status; in the past, you could arrive there with suitcases of cash and then deposit these funds into Swiss accounts. Of course, that hasn't been possible for a long time. Swiss banking secrecy is no longer what it once was, but the bank still has a few advantages as a bank. Firstly, of course, the franc should be mentioned; the franc is considered a very safe currency, a safe haven. The Swiss banks themselves are also not subject to so-called SAG laws, which is the case in Germany and the entire EU. So if there is the next bank failure in the EU, the next banking crisis, then those who have over 100,000 euros in their account will be allowed to restructure the bank and in return they will receive shares in the restructured bank. There are no such so-called bail-in laws in Switzerland, which means that you can assume that your assets are safer in this regard. It is relatively easy to open accounts in Switzerland, which was once considered difficult, but is no longer the case. You can simply drive across the border, go to a Swiss post office, for example, and open a postal finance account. Other banks where it is very easy include Migros Bank and the cantonal banks are also available. The question is always with the cantonal banks how much money you have to deposit there in order for them to even open an account for you. Some cantonal banks, the smaller ones, do this for as little as 25,000 francs or 50,000 francs. The Zürcher Kantonalbank would like to have a few hundred thousand francs from you, but it is definitely possible . Nowadays, everything is no longer a problem; Swiss banks are happy to accept German customers. Automatic exchange of information Of course, the tax office notices all of this. You know, there is the automatic exchange of information according to OECD CRS, Germany is involved, Switzerland is involved. So if you, as someone who is subject to tax in Germany, have an account in Switzerland, your tax office will find out every year what the balances are in the Swiss accounts you have and assuming that you then have possible income here in the German one If you provide your tax return, this exchange of information is completely problem-free. From a German perspective, it is not forbidden to open accounts abroad; there are no reporting requirements. So you don't have to report to the tax office that you have opened an account here. Even if you make transfers to your account in Switzerland, no report is necessary either. These reports in the context of foreign trade transactions are only mandatory if you transfer money to third parties, not to yourself. As I said, the only thing you have to pay attention to is that you have possible income, let 's say interest, for example you receive in your tax return in Germany. It's best to open an account now So in that sense, Swiss accounts are definitely a good thing and it's something I would recommend to everyone, not necessarily in Switzerland, but possibly outside the EU. Liechtenstein is also good, other countries are also good like Singapore for example and I would recommend that you do it now, because if there really is a euro crisis, you can assume that the run on all these banks abroad, Switzerland , Singapore and so on, will be enormous and that the banks will not be able to handle this rush here properly and that you may then no longer get an account. So, I would do it now, when everything is still going smoothly here and then you can start making assets there and if it actually happens, you will already have your account in Switzerland. You can also have accounts in Swiss francs, you can of course also have accounts in other currencies, for example euros. Our clients mainly do it in such a way that they actually have Swiss francs in Switzerland and then exchange the euros for Swiss francs because they are worried about the euro. Rights of the German tax office with regard to Swiss accounts An interesting question is of course what rights the German tax office has here with regard to Swiss accounts. You probably know that the German tax office can easily access German accounts; they ultimately have full access to these accounts. This option is also used extremely frequently by the tax offices; such account inquiries have increased tenfold in recent years. This means that the German tax office is very active in looking into taxpayers' accounts. Of course there has to be a good reason for this, but well, it's the tax office, they'll come up with a good reason. This is not possible with a Swiss account. So that means you can, I would say, avoid full transparency towards the German tax authorities, at least real-time transparency. I already said before that Switzerland of course also takes part in the exchange of information. Of course, this means that in the end the German tax office will find out what is going on in the account. And now I come to another important point. If there is now concrete suspicion against you, for example of tax evasion, then your German accounts will be frozen immediately. The question now is, is this also the case with a Swiss account? Well, you have to say, it depends. In fact, Germany has made corresponding agreements with Switzerland that allow the German authorities to request administrative assistance in Switzerland. It has to be said at this point that the Swiss authorities treat the German authorities very courteously and are happy to offer help here. You don't want to have this dirty image in Switzerland that you're helping some Germans hide money here, which means you can assume that the Swiss authorities will never protect you, they'll do their best to support the German authorities . This means that if a request like this comes from Germany about administrative assistance, then you can assume that the Swiss authorities will provide this administrative assistance here. However, such administrative assistance is not possible for all types of taxes. This is because, for example, evading income tax is not a crime in Switzerland, just an administrative offense, so of course no account can be frozen here, not even for a German. So if, in the opinion of the German tax office, you have evaded taxes here, income tax, then Switzerland cannot provide any administrative assistance here. However, it can provide administrative assistance, for example with tobacco tax or, more importantly, with VAT. So, why is this important? If you have a company in Germany, then the tax office can very, very easily construct that you may have cheated on sales tax here. It doesn't really have to be that way. I mean, sales tax returns, especially in an international context, can be complex and complicated and it is absolutely possible to make a mistake even with the best conscience. The tax office only has to express the suspicion that something may have gone wrong here, then they can report this to the Swiss authorities and then your account in Switzerland will be frozen, even though you haven't actually done anything wrong in terms of VAT and they'll get you want for evading income tax, for example. This is common practice and has happened to our clients. This means that German entrepreneurs who have an account in Switzerland really have to be careful about this, because here we actually get hit very quickly, it happens within a day, if there are certain allegations against you or pressure from the tax office wants to exert on you. This means that you should consider whether Switzerland Conclusion is actually the right location for such an account and whether you might prefer to open an account in another country, because, mind you, this is about an account that serves to protect your assets. This is about an account where we assume that you would park a large part of your cash assets. Of course, it would really be a problem if the tax office could freeze this account for you. We can consult you If these are topics that also interest you, then I would be happy to have a consultation with you. I'll include the link here in the description of this video. For almost 20 years, we have been helping entrepreneurs to internationalize, move abroad , optimize their taxes there, build new assets and protect existing assets. I would be pleased to be able to count you among our clients soon. Outro Are you an entrepreneur, freelancer or investor? Have you been moving abroad for a long time? Take the first concrete step today towards a future with more money and more freedom. Book a consultation with Sebastian and his colleagues. Our law firm helps clients like you legally reduce your tax burden, build and protect wealth, and maximize your personal freedom. Benefit now from our expertise and our network. Go to mandating.com and become a client of our law firm.