Exchanged information will commence in January 2005

Jonathan Crowther is head of investment services for abbey national offshore The effective date for the application of the EU Savings Tax Directive is 1 January 2005. From 1 January 2005 EU member states and their dependencies and the third party countries, such as Switzerland and Monaco, will either exchange information or withhold tax on interest income paid to individual beneficial owners resident in other member states. Interest income is widely defined and includes the interest element of dividends and redemption proceeds from undertakings for collective investment. 'Residence...