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The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) said on Friday it had for
the first time exchanged financial account data at the end of
September under global standards that aim to crack down on tax
cheats.
Bank secrecy still exists in some areas -- Swiss authorities
cannot automatically see what citizens have in their domestic
bank accounts, for example -- but gone are the days when
well-paid European professionals could stash wealth across the
border and beyond the prying eyes of their tax man.
The initial exchange was supposed to be with European Union
countries plus nine other jurisdictions: Australia, Canada,
Guernsey, Iceland, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Norway and South
Korea.
"Cyprus and Romania are currently excluded as they do not yet
meet the international requirements on confidentiality and data
security," the FTA said.
Transmission of data to Australia and France was delayed "as
these states could not yet deliver data to the FTA due to
technical reasons", it said, adding that it also had not yet
received data from Croatia, Estonia and Poland.
About 7,000 banks, trusts, insurers and other financial
institutions registered with the FTA collect data on millions of
accounts and send them on the Swiss tax agency. The FTA in turn
sent information on around two million accounts to partner
states. It put no value on the accounts in question.
The information includes the owner's name, address, country of
residence and tax identification number as well as the reporting
institution, account balance and capital income. This lets
authorities check whether taxpayers have correctly declared
their foreign financial accounts.
The annual data swap will expand next year to about 80 partner
states, provided they meet requirements on confidentiality and
data security. The OECD Global Forum on Transparency and
Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes reviews states'
implementation of the accord.
Under international pressure, Swiss banking secrecy has weakened
for years, meaning rich people from around the world can no
longer easily use the Alpine republic to hide wealth.
The changes have put Switzerland in fierce competition with
faster-growing centers like Hong Kong and Singapore.
(Editing by Edmund Blair)
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