SPBA Seeks Law On Swiss Tax Information Exchange

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

19 January 2010

The Swiss Private Bankers Association (SPBA) has urged parliament to adopt – as quickly as possible – a federal law pertaining to administrative assistance in tax matters.

Emphasizing the pressing need for a specific new law, President of the Geneva Private Bankers Association, Anne-Marie de Weck, explained that such a law would serve to provide much needed clarification for both the federal administration and the courts on how to interpret the country’s recently renegotiated double taxation agreements (DTAs), which now conform to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) standard.

While the SPBA has underlined the fact that it is fully in favor of the ratification of further double tax agreements conforming to the OECD standard, it has nevertheless urged the government not to proceed at such speed. It has also questioned whether or not it is prudent to offer extended cooperation in tax matters to non-member states.

Acknowledging the fact that the Federal Council had already established certain criteria prior to the renegotiation of the DTAs, the SPBA stated that, in the light of recent events, a law is imperative if legal security is to be guaranteed – a traditional advantage on which the reputation of the Swiss financial center has been built.

The SPBA raised concerns regarding the wording contained in the new bilateral agreement currently being negotiated with France, fearing that France could demand information from Switzerland without specifying in which banking establishment the account is held. Switzerland would then be obliged to carry out the necessary research, the association pointed out.

Alluding to the recent case of data stolen from an HSBC bank in Switzerland, which was subsequently passed to French authorities, the SPBA also stressed the need for the Swiss authorities to refuse administrative assistance in such instances.

According to the SPBA, further evidence of the urgent need for clarification is the recent ruling by the Federal Administrative Court that the order issued by the Financial Market Supervisory Authority to disclose UBS client information to US authorities was unlawful.

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