Steinbrueck Urges Switzerland To Cooperate On Tax

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

08 January 2009

German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has denounced Switzerland’s tax information sharing policies, claiming that Germany should be entitled to similar information exchange agreements as the US now holds with Liechtenstein.

The comment follows the conclusion of a tax information exchange agreement between Liechtenstein and the US on December 8 after years of negotiations.

Speaking recently to the German Ruhr-Nachrichten newspaper, Steinbrueck said that the EUR130m paid in withholding taxes by Switzerland to Germany was a "joke," considering experts estimate that around EUR300bn is held in Swiss accounts by German taxpayers. Clearly underlining his stance on the issue, he said that tax evasion was not a "trivial offence" and that he would only support Switzerland "when it chooses to act against tax evaders."

Steinbrueck is leading calls from a group of OECD countries, including France, that Switzerland should be placed on some sort of new "blacklist" of 'uncooperative' and 'secretive' financial jurisdictions, which are shouldering much of the blame for the meltdown in the global financial markets and subsequent economic downturn.

Switzerland however maintains that it complies with all rules laid down by the OECD regarding exchange of banking information, and that it has tax information exchange agreements with several countries, including Germany.

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