German-Swiss tax deal nears

Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble says he expects Berlin and Bern will put an end to their dispute on tax issues before November.

Schäuble said Switzerland and Germany would probably agree to a deal that would see the introduction of a withholding tax, as well as administrative assistance in tax evasion cases.

Germany, along with Italy, the United States and France, has been one of the most fervent critics of Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws.

“We want to conclude a deal by the end of October,” the German minister said, speaking in Basel on Friday at the annual meeting of the Swiss Business Federation, Economiesuisse.

Under the planned accord, Germany would accept the Swiss applying a withholding tax on German assets in return for more cooperation from Berne in tax evasion cases, Schäuble said.

But the Swiss will not automatically share bank information with Germany, preserving some bank privacy.

“We will also find a solution for the past,” Schäuble added, speaking of the so-called “Schwarzgeld” – untaxed money some Germans have been hiding in secret Swiss accounts for decades.

Germans hold an estimated €200 billion (SFr260 billion) in undeclared funds in Switzerland.

Switzerland’s northern neighbour has paid for stolen data from Swiss banks to catch tax cheats, and raided the German offices of bank Credit Suisse.

Schäuble said the deal would put an end to data theft.

Switzerland has held firm that it will not grant administrative assistance in cases of bank data bought from a third party.

swissinfo.ch and agencies