Italians recover assets kept over Swiss border

A quarter of undeclared Italian assets hidden abroad in 2010 were kept in Switzerland, tax authorities have said.

An Italian crackdown on tax cheats last year yielded €50 billion (SFr65 billion) that was hidden from tax officials. It was a 46 per cent increase on the amount recovered the previous year.

Of the total, €10.5 billion was uncovered during investigations into undeclared accounts abroad. Along with Switzerland, around a quarter of those funds were stored in Luxembourg, with seven per cent in Britain and six per cent in Panama.

The tax offensive aims to boost the state coffers, which are seriously in debt. 

The issue of tax recently put a strain on Swiss-Italian relations. Switzerland has signed a series of double taxation accords with various countries to meet international transparency standards, but an agreement with Italy is still pending.

Bern is concerned about an Italian law that came into force on July 1, affecting all countries which Italy has placed on a “black list” of tax havens.

Swiss firms must provide Italy with proof that they are paying taxes correctly in Switzerland. For the Swiss that is a serious barrier to bilateral trade – and a violation of agreements with the European Union.

As part of its tax crackdown, Italy has carried out raids on branches of Swiss banks and vigorously patrolled the Swiss-Italian border in an attempt to catch would-be tax dodgers.