16/02/2011
Banking confidentiality: Switzerland makes changes to information sharing conditions
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss Federal council on 15 February announced that it would like to adapt administrative conditions for mutual assistance in taxation areas. The identification of taxpayers and the possessors of information about them, which are absolutely required preconditions for the provision of administrative assistance, will largely proceed by the mention of their name and address. “In the future, other means of identification will also be allowed,” the Federal council says in a statement. Switzerland has thus removed a potential obstacle to the effective exchange of information related to taxation, and has avoided the risk of a failure of the peer review process. Fishing expeditions will remain inadmissible. In general, the identification of taxpayers and those who possess information in a request for assistance will still proceed by name and address. But the proposed changes would prevent an overly formal interpretation of the conventional rules from imposing an obstacle to administrative assistance procedures, and to this end, also allow other means of identification, for example, bank account numbers.
