Swiss cabinet sets out priorities for bilateral tax talks
30-Jun-2009Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said, on 6 May 2009, that Switzerland would seek to sign 12 tax treaties by the end of 2009 in order to qualify for removal from the OECD's "grey list" of jurisdictions that have committed, but not yet substantially implemented, OECD standards on tax information exchange.
The internationally agreed tax standard requires exchange of information on request in all tax matters for the administration and enforcement of domestic tax law without regard to a domestic tax interest requirement or bank secrecy for tax purposes.
In 2008, an OECD sub-committee recommended that the new standard should be for countries to have a minimum of 12 signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs). Those that fail to implement the standard could face sanctions.
Merz said the Swiss cabinet had given its approval for a new round of tax treaty negotiations, primarily with industrialised countries. But he said further discussions were necessary with the OECD because it would be impossible to have 12 treaties ratified by the end of December.
To date 23 countries - out of more than 70 - have notified Switzerland that they are interested in new tax treaties, said Merz. They were all members of the OECD or the European Union, or countries that have a special economic importance for Switzerland.
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