Starting from 1^st of January 2021 Switzerland undertakes obligation to report on foreign nationals possessing or investing into Swiss real estate. Introduction of new rules on reporting puts additional burden on associations of real estate owners, who now will be treated as responsible for disclosure of ownership information.

Discussed measure was introduced by Federal Council on 11^th November 2020 as a part of Switzerland’s commitments undertaken within the framework of AEOI, which Alpine nation joined in 2018.

Introduced measures require associations of real estate owners not only to conduct prior due diligence of foreign investors in immovable property, but also to collect and retain obtained information for possible investigation of tax authorities in the future.

However, such an obligation to disclose information is not absolute as Swiss authorities introduced a disclaimer saying that if confidentiality standards are low in a country requesting information exchange can be refused.