This note applies to individual and holders of joint accounts who are residents of EU Member states. Individual resident outside EU are generally not affected, although if you hold a passport issued by an EU Member state, you should also read on.

The EUSD is an agreement between the EU Member States to automatically exchange of information with each other about customers who earn savings income in one EU Member state but reside in another. It was approved by the EU Council of Ministers on 03/06/2003 and came into effect from 01/07/2005. The directive can be applied in two ways (Exchange of Information or Withholding tax).

The EUSD extends to a number of forms of saving income and not only to interests paid on bank accounts. These are interests from, and the proceeds of sale or redemption of, certain bonds and income from certain type of investments funds. The Directive affects:

• Interests paid or credited to accounts 
• Interests rolled up when the balance is repaid 
• Interest paid out on debt-claims (this would include all UK Government securities and certain other types of bonds) 
• Interest accrued and paid out on the above when debt-claims are sold 
• Distribution made by certain unit trusts and other open ended collective instruments funds which have invested more than 15% of their investments in debt claims 
• Accumulated income paid out when units in certain collective investment funds that have invested more than 25% of their investments in debt claims are redeemed, repaid or sold

For a transitional period, Luxembourg has been allowed to apply a withholding tax, instead of engaging in the automatic exchange of information. To align with the rest of Europe, from 01.01.2015 the country has now introduced the automatic exchange of information.

The law of 23 December 2005 ("Law introducing a domestic withholding tax on certain interest income on interest payments") introduced new tax provisions for Luxembourg taxpayers. As one of the main features, since 1 January 2006, certain income interest received in Luxembourg by a natural person resident in Luxembourg have been subject to a final withholding tax of 20%.

Income on which the withholding tax has been levied should not be subject to any further income tax.

The Common Reporting Standard (hereafter “CRS”) is a regulation initiated by the OECD, aiming at preventing tax evasion and leading to a global automatic exchange of information between CRS-participating jurisdictions. A CRS participating jurisdiction (or “CRS jurisdiction”) is a country that agreed to implement the CRS. The CRS has been implemented at European Union level through the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (Directive 2014/107/UE), known as “DAC 2”. Relationships with non-EU countries are ruled by mean of multilateral agreements known as “Competent Authority Agreements”. The CRS requires financial institutions to report financial accounts held, directly or indirectly, by account holders that are tax residents in a CRS jurisdiction. . For further information please consult the OECD website.

CRS in Luxembourg

On 18 December 2015 the Luxembourg law on the automatic exchange of financial account information in the field of taxation (“CRS Law”) was introduced requiring Luxembourg's financial institutions to identify bank accounts to be communicated on the basis of residency indicia established by the OECD Common Reporting Standard. The first exchange of information took place in 2017 and concerned financial data relating to the financial year 2016. From this point onward the report is due each year (prior to 30 June) for the previous calendar year.

Which data are reported?

Essentially the same information must be reported under the CRS as under FATCA but there is a broad definition of what constitutes a financial account.

The information reported to the tax authorities are:

• of a non-financial nature: name, address, country(ies) of residence, tax identification number, date and place of birth for individuals, and
• of a financial nature: account number, account balance, accounts closed as well as the total gross amount of interests, dividends and other income, the total gross proceeds of sales and repayments of financial assets credited to the account(s) during the calendar year.

Clients may receive a copy of the personal and financial information reported. Clients may also exercise their right of rectification of personal data, as provided for under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in order to ensure that accurate and up-to-date data will be communicated to the tax authorities. If a data subject wishes to exercise this right to rectification, he or she may, at any time, contact the following e-mail address: dpo.lu@swissquote.lu

What does CRS means for Swissquote customers?

Swissquote will determine if customers enter into the CRS field of application and will be legally obliged to report these to the relevant tax authorities. All new customers will be required to provide their tax residence(s) for tax purposes, and their tax identification number(s). Without this information, Swissquote will be unable to open an account for the applicant.

Please be advised that Swissquote Bank Europe S.A. is not authorised to provide tax advice to its clients. For questions with regard to the identification of your tax residence status, please contact your tax advisor or competent tax authority.

The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (“CARF”) is a set of rules introduced by the OECD to ensure tax transparency for crypto-assets through annual reporting. It introduces automatic exchange information between tax authorities on crypto-asset transactions, similar to the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) for traditional financial assets. CARF is incorporated into EU law through Directive 2023/2226, commonly known as DAC8 (“DAC8”). DAC8 provisions will apply from 1 January 2026 and the first reporting year is 2026, with the first filing to be submitted by 30 June 2027.

CARF in Luxembourg 

Luxembourg is implementing DAC8 through Draft Law n°8592, published on 24 July 2025 and in force as from 1 January 2026.  A Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) in Luxembourg will need to register with the Luxembourg Tax Administration (“LTA”), collect and validate client tax information, monitor changes in tax residency and report annually to the LTA, similar to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

Which data are to be reported? 

Although CRS and CARF reporting obligations share the same tax transparency goal, the scope and data to be reported differ because of the nature of the assets involved. The reporting obligations for CASPs are divided into three main categories: 

• Information about the provider which includes details such as the name of the provider, registration number and address
• Personal information about users which includes among other things, the name, address, Tax Identification Number (“TIN”), date and place of birth (for individuals) and country of tax residence (based on self-certification)
• Transactional information about users which includes among other things full name and type of relevant crypto-asset involved, purchases and sales against fiat currency, purchases and sales against other crypto-assets, reportable retail payments, transfers and transfers to external wallets not known to the provider 

Clients may receive a copy of the personal and financial information reported. Clients may also exercise their right of rectification of personal data, as provided for under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in order to ensure that accurate and up-to-date data will be communicated to the tax authorities. If a data subject wishes to exercise this right to rectification, he or she may, at any time, contact the following e-mail address: dpo.lu@swissquote.lu

What does CARF means for Swissquote clients?

Similarly to CRS application, Swissquote will determine if customers enter into the CARF field of application and will be legally obliged to report these to the relevant tax authorities. All new customers will be required to provide their tax residence(s) for tax purposes, and their TIN. Without this information, Swissquote will be unable to offer Crypto Assets services to the applicant.

Please be advised that Swissquote Bank Europe SA is not authorised to provide tax advice to its clients. For questions with regard to the identification of your tax residence status, please contact your tax advisor or competent tax authority.