Paris, France (Le Temps, Fre) – Switzerland and France Friday signed a new tax treaty that could go into effect as early as January 2010, which for the first time promises the French more help in catching tax evaders.
Updated 09:45 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The OECD should provide clarification about how its tax haven list was drawn up, and it needs to be more transparent about “how the standard on the exchange of information for tax purposes” will be implemented, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has written to Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). Merz Wednesday told Swiss German radio DRS that he will be attending a June OECD finance meeting in Berlin. The Swiss president argues in his letter that the role of the OECD and other bodies in setting criteria, deciding how they are applied and to whom, and in monitoring tax information exchanges is unclear.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Australia, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, New Zealand and The United States have decided not to participate in the Durban Review Conference that starts today, 20 April, citing concerns that the meeting’s agenda contains anti-Semitic language. In some cases the participation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being given as a reason for not participating. Geneva is centre stage for the meeting, a followup to the first Durban conference in South Africa in 2001, to discuss racial discrimination and xenophobia. Switzerland has come under pressure from other countries and its own media for hosting the conference.
Bern, Switzerland and Washington, DC, USA (GenevaLunch) – US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Monday said that Switzerland and the US would begin 28 April to renegotiate their 1996 tax treaty. The announcement was made as part of a list of US actions that will follow the G20 summit in London in early April. Switzerland, for its part, is making it clear that a new treaty with the US is a top priority. Pre-negotiation talks have apparently been underway since the end of March, as part of Switzerland’s move to begin renegotiating treaties with several countries.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One of three options for the future of Switzerland’s banking secrecy could be to link it to an indirect tax, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz, who is also the country’s finance minister, told a press conference in Geneva Thursday afternoon, saying it is the option he favours.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s finance minister, who had emergency quintuple coronary bypass surgery 20 September, will return to work 3 November.
