Swiss banks will cooperate with the US Internal Revenue Service under FATCA legislation.
The Swiss House of Representatives voted in favour of allowing the country’s banks to cooperate with American tax authorities under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
The final hurdle will be the Swiss Senate, which is expected to vote on the matter later this month.
Colin Camp, managing director of products and strategy at Dion Global, said: “This decision by the Swiss parliament, Canada’s announcement that they will shortly be signing an IGA and the growing indication that China will also sign is yet further evidence of the increasing global implementation of FATCA.”
“While there are still certain issues to iron out, such as the reciprocal side of some of the IGAs waiting to be signed by some countries, there is no doubt that the battle against tax evasion is bringing countries together in agreement.”
“With the G20 demanding mutual tax information exchange supported by the OECD, it is imperative that when financial institutions look to solve their FATCA problems, they focus not just on what is a requirement today, but what is likely to be a requirement tomorrow. A long term, strategic solution is required for the new world of cross border tax cooperation.”
