Finland advances Swiss tax-treaty protocol to Åland consent stage

The protocol has not yet entered into force

The step forms part of Finland’s ratification process for the protocol signed in Helsinki on 28 May 2026. Parliamentary reply EV 135/2026 records approval of both the protocol and its implementing legislation. The 9 October decision is an Åland-consent step: it is not evidence that ratification is complete or that the amendments have entered into force.^{[1][2][3][4][6]}

A principal-purpose test would strengthen the anti-abuse rule

The protocol amends the 1991 Finland–Switzerland income and capital tax convention, published in Finland as SopS 90/1993 and later amended. It adds a preamble directed against non-taxation or reduced taxation through evasion or avoidance and a new Article 27A principal-purpose test. A treaty benefit may be refused where obtaining it was one of the principal purposes of an arrangement or transaction, unless granting the benefit would accord with the relevant provisions’ object and purpose.^[5][6]

Adjustment and dispute rules would change

For permanent-establishment profit adjustments, the protocol generally prevents an initial adjustment more than six years after the relevant tax year, subject to fraud or intentional-default cases, and updates the corresponding-adjustment mechanism. It also introduces mandatory binding arbitration where a mutual-agreement case remains unresolved after two years, with exclusions including specified domestic anti-avoidance and tax-fraud cases and cases that do not produce double taxation.^[5][6]

Finland would gain broader pension-source taxation

Article 18 would expand Finland’s source-state taxing rights over Finland-source annuities, voluntary pensions and supplementary pensions, with double taxation relieved through a reverse-credit mechanism. The protocol will enter into force 30 days after the later diplomatic notification. Its substantive rules will generally apply from 1 January following the year of entry into force, using separate formulations for withholding and other taxes.^[5]

Groups should monitor the remaining ratification steps

No official evidence located in this review establishes completion of Swiss legislative approval or the exchange of notifications. Groups should map structures, open mutual-agreement cases and affected pension payments, but should not yet apply the amended treaty.^[1][5][6]