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ARTICLE · 06 NOVEMBER 2014

Switzerland Moves Toward Automatic Information Exchange

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Swiss Bank secrecy and data protection have been eroded by The Department of Justice investigations and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

SwitzerlandTax
Paul Behling
Paul Behling
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Swiss Bank secrecy and data protection have been eroded by The Department of Justice investigations and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Switzerland has now taken a formal move toward greater transparency.

The Federal Council of Switzerland has adopted a new mandate for introducing a global standard for automatic exchanges of tax information with partner states. Consultation with the competent parliamentary committees and cantons has been completed and discussion with partner states will start shortly.

This past May, a draft mandate was approved to begin automatic exchange of tax information with the European Union, the US and other countries. On July 21, 2014, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) published a standard for automatic exchange of tax information which was approved by the G20 in September.

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