Navigation

US and Switzerland agree to new tax treaty

The United States and Switzerland have agreed in principle on a new double-taxation accord, though the treaty's contents are being kept confidential.

This content was published on June 19, 2009 - 15:16

The Swiss finance ministry announced on Friday that the two sides initialed a new agreement after a second round of negotiations in Washington, which lasted three days.

The treaty, in general terms, will "permit an exchange of information on tax matters in individual cases where a specific and justified request has been made", the ministry said in a statement.

The intent of the accord is to loosen Switzerland's banking secrecy laws, to bring them in line with international standards set by the Organisation for Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The agreement will be made public once it has been signed at the ministerial level in both countries.

Cantonal authorities and business associations, however, have access to the text in a summary report.

The accord can only enter into force after it is approved by the Swiss parliament. That could prove difficult without a political solution concerning a lawsuit that US authorities have filed in a Miami court against Swiss bank UBS.

The US Internal Revenue Service wants UBS to hand over the names of around 52,000 of the big bank's clients. Swiss authorities have maintained that doing so would violate domestic law.

The US is the sixth country with which Switzerland has initialed a revised double-taxation treaty.

swissinfo.ch

In compliance with the JTI standards

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

Sort by

Change your password

Do you really want to delete your profile?

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.

Discover our weekly must-reads for free!

Sign up to get our top stories straight into your mailbox.

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.