A revised double-taxation agreement (DTA) with France, signed in August 2009, came into effect on Thursday.
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The agreement conforms with the Model Tax Convention of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which creates an obligation for countries to share relevant data for tax enforcement.
It is one of a series of revised tax deals that Switzerland has signed with other governments, in order to be removed from the OECD’s “grey list” of tax havens that was established in April 2009.
The main changes in the new DTA include simplified provisions on abuse as well as a provision whereby Switzerland can, according to the Swiss finance ministry, “tax second-pillar lump-sum payments to recipients resident in France, provided they are not taxed by France”.
At the time of the signing last year, the French economics ministry said “Swiss banking secrecy would no longer be an obstacle to passing on tax-relevant information”.
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