Germany, Liechtenstein Seek To Conclude DTA

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

05 October 2010

Liechtenstein’s Prime Minister and Finance Minister Klaus Tschütscher has met recently with Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble in Berlin to hold an open exchange of views on fiscal and financial policy issues and to discuss ongoing negotiations on the conclusion of a double taxation agreement (DTA).

During the course of the discussions, Tschütscher alluded to the principality’s recently agreed reform of taxation, designed to secure and to promote the development of Liechtenstein as a finance centre. According to the Liechtenstein administration, both countries have similar interests in a number of different areas, including issues involving consolidating the state budget and measures to overcome and to prevent financial crises.

Informing Schäuble of the measures his government had so far taken to consolidate the budget, and of the triple A rating given by an international rating agency, Tschütscher emphasized that both will serve to strengthen the principality in the ongoing drive towards globalization, while at the same time improving the attractiveness and stability of its financial centre.

Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble welcomed the swift implementation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) standards on transparency and on information exchange in tax matters in the form of the bilateral tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) signed in Vaduz on September 2, 2009.

The agreement provides for information upon request, including bank information and information on owners of companies, who are subject to tax in the requesting state. According to Liechtenstein’s administration, the agreement marks significant progress in the level of cooperation between both states and serves as a new basis for future fiscal cooperation.

During the talks, Schäuble also notified Prime Minister Tschütscher of Germany’s ratification of the TIEA, and praised Liechtenstein’s government for its constructive attitude during the course of the negotiations and for the level of support provided by the foreign office to ensure swift completion of the ratification process.

As regards negotiations on the conclusion of a DTA, both ministers acknowledged that much of the content of the agreement was already in place and underlined their commitment to concluding negotiations by the end of the year.

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