Swiss Federal Council Approves US, Finland DTAs

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

16 September 2009

The Swiss Federal Council has approved the revised double taxation agreements (DTAs) negotiated with the US and with Finland.

The revised agreements provide for administrative assistance in tax matters under Article 26 of the OECD Model Convention, and were negotiated in line with parameters laid out by the Federal Council.

The Federal Council has also authorized the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs to sign both of the DTAs, before they are submitted by the FDF to Parliament for ratification, and for the issue of an optional referendum to be considered.

Following the Federal Council decision on March 13, 2009, to extend administrative assistance in tax matters, Switzerland has negotiated and initialed DTAs containing an extended administrative assistance clause with 14 countries.

Switzerland has already signed DTAs containing the extended administrative assistance clause, in accordance with Article 26, with Denmark, Luxembourg, France, Norway, Austria, and the UK.

The Federal Council has also given the go-ahead for the revised DTA with Mexico to be signed.

In order to be removed from the OECD’s "gray" list, 12 agreements complying with the OECD standard on administrative assistance must be signed.

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