Switzerland · FTA administrative assistance
A group request arrives. You have ten days.
When the Swiss Federal Tax Administration passes on a FATCA group request, every affected account has to be delivered as a data package: a PDF, an SEI-XML file and a FATCA XML file. TRSuite produces both XML files from your data, checks them against the FTA rules and packages the delivery.
- Ten days the deadline set by the IGA and the Swiss FATCA Act
- SEI-XML and FATCA XML 2.0.1 both files, from one data set
- Excel or data entry collect the accounts the way that suits you
What a group request asks of a Swiss financial institution
Switzerland applies FATCA under a Model 2 agreement. Accounts whose holders have consented are reported directly to the IRS through the IDES gateway. For US accounts without consent, the financial institution reports aggregate numbers only – and those aggregates are what the IRS follows up with a group request through administrative assistance.
The request lands at the FTA’s Division for the Exchange of Information in Tax Matters (SEI), which asks the institution concerned for the account information. The deadline is ten days. For every account in scope the institution delivers a data package: account opening documentation and statements as a PDF, the case data as an SEI-XML file, and the reportable data as a FATCA XML file. PDF and SEI-XML stay with the FTA, which uses them to decide whether the criteria for administrative assistance are met; the FATCA XML is the file that goes on to the IRS.
Ten days is not much time to build XML by hand. That is the entire point of this module: the data is collected once – in the supplied Excel workbook or directly in the application – and both files come out of it, consistent with each other and checked before they leave the house.
What the SEI module does
FATCA XML 2.0.1Dossiers and information packages
One information package per group request, one dossier per account in scope, each with its account holder, controlling persons and the documents that belong to it. The structure follows the FTA user guide, so nothing has to be rearranged at delivery time.
Both XML files from one data set
The SEI-XML for the FTA and the FATCA XML for the IRS are written from the same entry. Account data can also be taken over from an existing FATCA XML file, so a report you have already produced does not have to be typed again.
The current IRS schema
The FTA asks for the IRS schema in force at the time of delivery. TRSuite writes FATCA XML 2.0.1 and still reads 2.0, lifting an older file to the current version when it is rewritten.
Checked against the FTA rules
Every package is validated against the SEI and FATCA schemas and against the published business, validation and update rules – document references, TIN formats, the rules on substantial owners and account categories, and the cross-checks between the SEI and FATCA files.
Excel in, delivery out
Collect the accounts in the supplied workbook, import it, and generate the delivery file for the FTA – including the transmission archive and the password rules the FTA requires.
One application, one working style
The SEI module sits in the same application as FATCA, CRS and CARF: the same editors, the same Excel route, the same validation view. An institution that already reports with TRSuite does not learn a second tool for group requests.
From the request to the delivery
1. Identify the accounts. The group request describes the accounts in scope. You decide which of your accounts match it – that part stays with you and your legal advisers.
2. Collect the data. In the Excel workbook or directly in the application: account holder, controlling persons, balances and payments, documents.
3. Build the package. TRSuite writes the SEI-XML and the FATCA XML per dossier and validates both, so that errors surface here and not at the FTA.
4. Deliver. The delivery file is produced with the archive and password conventions of the FTA; the credentials are exchanged with the FTA beforehand using its credential form.
At a glance
- Deadline10 days
- Files per accountPDF, SEI-XML, FATCA XML
- IRS schema writtenFATCA XML 2.0.1
- Data entryUI, FATCA XML, Excel
Group requests, dossiers and accounts are unlimited – the licence counts named users only.
Pricing and licence
CHFAll prices exclude VAT. Perpetual licence, one year of premium support and maintenance included.
| Users | SEI (Swiss group requests) |
|---|---|
| 1-3starter licence | 1'490.- |
| 4-10* | 475.- |
| 11-20* | 410.- |
| 21+* | 380.- |
Perpetual licence
Software licences and the use of the products do not expire. One year of premium support and maintenance is included with every new perpetual licence, covering all new releases, new features and product updates plus professional email support.
Premium support and maintenance
The annual renewal costs 40% of the price of a new licence at the time of renewal. A running support contract can be extended at any time within its term under the conditions then in force; renewals always start from the support expiry date.
Named user
Licences are counted by user, not by concurrent session: if five employees may use the system, five licences are needed. The starter licence covers three named users; from the fourth user on, every additional user is charged at the rate of the band that user falls into. Reporting financial institutions, GIINs and group requests are unlimited.
Be ready before the request arrives
A trial licence with the full functionality, valid for ten days, and free evaluation support while you use it. Set the module up now – not on the day the ten days start running.
Downloads
- TRSuite for Windows – installer and trial licence 64-bit EXE and MSI, with checksums, SBOM and VEX
- SEI (group request) Excel templates Workbook to collect the accounts, with a data entry form and a data check
- TRSuite SEI module user guide How the module is operated, step by step (PDF)
Reference material
- Administrative assistance in accordance with FATCA FTA – the authority page, with all documents below
- FATCA Information Delivery – technical specification and user guide FTA, 23 October 2023 – the specification the delivery follows
- Business and validation rules for SEI XML and FATCA XML FTA, 27 November 2024
- Update rules for SEI XML and FATCA XML FTA, 27 November 2024 – corrections to a delivery already made
- SEI-XML schema FTA – the schema TRSuite writes against
- FATCA XML schemas and business rules for Form 8966 IRS – schema 2.0.1, in force since 6 October 2025
Questions
Licensing and quotes: accounting@section11.ch. Product and delivery questions: support@section11.ch. Remote or on-site support during a live group request can be arranged – ask before the request arrives, not after.