### ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE SWISS CONFEDERATION AMENDING THE CONVENTION FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES ON INCOME, SIGNED AT LONDON ON 8 DECEMBER 1977, AS AMENDED BY THE PROTOCOLS SIGNED AT LONDON ON 5 MARCH 1981, AT BERN ON 17 DECEMBER 1993 AND AT LONDON ON 26 JUNE 2007
At the signing of the Protocol amending the Convention for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income, signed at London on 8 December 1977, as amended by the Protocols signed at London on 5 March 1981, at Bern on 17 December 1993 and at London on 26 June 2007, the authorised signatories hereto have agreed the following provisions which shall form an integral part of the Convention:
(1) In relation to paragraph 1 of Article 4 (Residence)
It is understood and confirmed that the term “resident of a Contracting State” includes:
(a) a pension scheme established in that State; and
(b) an organisation that is established and is operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, cultural, or educational purposes (or for more than one of those purposes) and that is a resident of that State according to its laws, notwithstanding that all or part of its income or gains may be exempt from tax under the domestic law of that State.
(2) In relation to sub-paragraph (a) (ii) of paragraph 2 of Article 10 (Dividends) It is understood and confirmed that the term “pension scheme” means any plan, scheme, fund, trust or other arrangement established in a Contracting State which is:
(a) generally exempt from income taxation in that State; and
(b) operated principally to administer or provide pension or retirement benefits or to earn income for the benefit of one or more such arrangements.
(3) In relation to Article 15 (Dependent personal services)
It is understood that Article 15 applies to the employment benefit derived from stock-options regardless of when that benefit is taxed.
(4) In relation to Article 25 (Exchange of information)
(a) It is understood that an exchange of information will only be requested once the requesting State has exhausted its normal procedures under domestic law to obtain the information.
(b) It is understood that the standard of “foreseeable relevance” is intended to provide for exchange of information in tax matters to the widest possible extent and, at the same time, to clarify that the Contracting States are not at liberty to engage in “fishing expeditions” or to request information that is unlikely to be relevant to the tax affairs of a given taxpayer.
(c) It is understood that the tax authorities of the requesting State shall provide the following information to the tax authorities of the requested State when making a request for information under Article 25 of the Convention:
(i) the name and address of the person(s) under examination or investigation and, if available, other particulars facilitating that person’s identification, such as date of birth, marital status, tax identification number;
(ii) the period of time for which the information is requested;
(iii) a statement of the information sought including its nature and the form in which the requesting State wishes to receive the information from the requested State; (iv) the tax purpose for which the information is sought;
(v) the name and address of any person believed to be in possession of the requested information.
(d) It is understood that Article 25 of the Convention does not require the Contracting States to exchange information on an automatic or a spontaneous basis.
(e) It is understood that in case of an exchange of information, the administrative procedural rules regarding taxpayers’ rights provided for in the requested Contracting State remain applicable before the information is transmitted to the requesting Contracting State. It is further understood that this provision aims at guaranteeing the taxpayer a fair procedure and not at preventing or unduly delaying the exchange of information process.
In witness whereof the undersigned, duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Additional Protocol.
Done in duplicate at London this 7th day of September 2009 in the English and French languages, each text being equally authoritative.
For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: STEPHEN TIMMS
For the Swiss Federal Council: ALEXIS P LAUTENBURG