Swiss-Russian financial relations are unlikely to be affected by Russia's possible changes in double taxation avoidance agreements with foreign countries as a 15 percent tax on dividends is already in place, Tobias Privitelli, the deputy head of the Swiss diplomatic mission to Russia, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th April, 2020) Swiss-Russian financial relations are unlikely to be affected by Russia's possible changes in double taxation avoidance agreements with foreign countries as a 15 percent tax on dividends is already in place, Tobias Privitelli, the deputy head of the Swiss diplomatic mission to Russia, told Sputnik.
In late March, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a 15 percent tax on dividends transferred to foreign bank accounts, noting that it would require adjusting Russia's double taxation avoidance agreement with other countries. Putin added that Russia would unilaterally exit any such agreement if its offers were not accepted.
"The current tax agreement on the avoidance of double taxation between Switzerland and Russia provides for a general withholding tax rate of 15 percent on dividends, with some exceptions (qualified dividends at 5 percent, exemption for pension funds, the Contracting States and Central Banks). Therefore, the announcement made by the Russian President does not seem to affect the Swiss-Russian financial relations, as residents of Switzerland receiving dividends from Russia already pay 15 percent withholding tax in Russia," Privitelli said.
According to the Russian Central Bank's latest available official statistics, Switzerland was the top destination for transfers of individuals from Russia in January-September 2019 with $1.3 billion transferred over that period.
The proposed 15 percent tax on dividends and interest taken out of Russia will give the country's budget at least 70 billion rubles ($890 million) this year, Olga Lebedinskaya, associate professor of the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics, told Sputnik in March.
