Swiss-Greek Tax Deal In The Offing

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

31 October 2011

Government officials from Greece and Switzerland have discussed in further detail the proposed negotiation of a tax agreement between the two countries akin to those Switzerland has signed with Germany and the United Kingdom.

According to the Swiss Federal Council, Swiss Secretary of State, Michael Ambuhl and Ilias Plaskovitis, the General Secretary at the Greek Minister of Finance, discussed an agreement on October 27 that would regularize assets held by Greek taxpayers in Swiss bank accounts on a retrospective basis and establish a tax at source on future investment income.

Under the proposed agreement, Switzerland would remit revenue collections to Greek authorities on an anonymous basis. The Swiss Federal Council said that a date for the commencement of negotiations should be decided upon in coming weeks.

Given that around EUR200bn (USD276bn) has reportedly been deposited by Greek investors in Swiss bank accounts, negotiating an agreement would aid Greek government efforts to consolidate the territory's deficit. Statistics from the Greek Central Bank show that since the beginning of last year at least EUR33.3bn was transferred from Greek banks to banks in Switzerland, although experts estimate that the actual figure is much higher, at nearer EUR87bn.

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