Out of the tax haven hole: OECD commends Swiss progress

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland has just received concrete evidence that other countries believe it is making clear progress in sharing information on tax cheats. It has moved up to phase 2 of the peer review process of the OECD’s Global Forum, Jacques de Watteville, head of the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF), said in a press release issued Monday morning 16 March.


Countries considered tax havens by the Global Forum – and Switzerland has been in a gray area here – were considered to be in phase 1 for compliance. Switzerland at the end of 2014, in the forum’s annual report, was listed as undergoing a supplementary phase 1 report; if the country met certain conditions it could move up to phase 2.
Bern’s statement provides details:

“The report on Switzerland’s phase 1 peer review was published in June 2011, when the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) concluded that the legal and regulatory requirements in Switzerland still had to be improved and issued recommendations on three key points.

In order to implement these recommendations, Switzerland revised its Tax Administrative Assistance Act (TAAA). The revision which came into force on 1 August 2014 makes provision for an exception regarding the prior notification of persons affected by an administrative assistance request and thereby meets the requirements of the international standard for the exchange of information upon request. In certain cases, the affected taxpayers can now be informed only after their data has been transferred to requesting foreign authorities instead of in advance.

In addition, Switzerland has taken an active role in extending its network of standard-compliant information exchange agreements. It currently has 57 signed, standard-compliant double taxation agreements (DTAs) and tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs). Furthermore, on 15 October 2013, Switzerland signed the OECD/Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and on 14 January 2015 launched the associated consultation. Joining the administrative assistance convention enables Switzerland to increase the number of partner countries with which it can exchange information upon request in a standard-compliant manner.

Finally on 12 December 2014, Parliament approved the bill for implementing the revised recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which will ensure greater transparency in the case of bearer shares. The measures adopted are not yet in force and were thus not evaluated by the Global Forum. Nonetheless, they have strengthened Switzerland’s position …

… Phase 2 should start for Switzerland in autumn 2015. It will scrutinize Switzerland’s practices in terms of administrative assistance in tax matters and will last several months. “We are on the right track and want to pursue the efforts towards a morally sound and competitive financial centre,” said State Secretary Jacques de Watteville.”