A straightforward way of not paying any ESD tax on your Swiss bank account is to own your account through an offshore company.

Offshore companies are companies which exist only on paper and are incorporated in no-tax havens such as Panama or the British Virgin Islands. They cost about €800 a year to maintain and can own an account in Switzerland.

Accounts opened in the name of an offshore company require a minimum balance of about 100,000 Swiss francs. An additional advantage is that you can send or receive bank transfers from such accounts without having to disclose your name to third parties. The bank, of course, needs to know who you are and where the money comes from.

This solution is increasingly popular amongst Swiss bank account owners.

Nobody knows for how many years the ESD will be fully bypassed by this solution.