BERN, SWITZERLAND – Germany and Switzerland Wednesday signed the new fiscal agreement announced earlier in 2011. The new agreement provides for a “final withholding tax will ensure equal tax treatment of investment income irrespective of whether the income was generated in Switzerland or in Germany.” The new agreement goes beyond OECD rules, the Swiss federal department of finance says.
Switzerland also announced that a double taxation agreement has been reached with Russia and will now go through the steps it needs for final approval by both countries.
The German-Swiss agreement, French version: http://www.news.admin.ch/NSBSubscriber/message/attachments/24361.pdf
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The United States heads into the Cartagena Summit, which opens Sunday 29 November in Colombia, now saying that it is continuing to review its policy on signing the international Mine Ban treaty. The US is sending a sizeable official observer team to the summit, with groups from the State Department, Pentagon, US Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Cartagena Summit is the second review of the 1997 Ottawa Convention that bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. More than 1,000 delegates, including several heads of state, will participate in the summit, which will assess progress made in clearing the world of landmines.
Cause of US shift unexplained
The US said in a statement issued Wednesday 25 November that it is still reviewing its position on signing the 10-year-old Mine Ban treaty – the opposite of what it said the previous day, but it was unclear if the statement was a correction of an error, a change in tactics ahead of the Cartagena Summit that opens 29 November in Colombia, or a change of heart following harsh criticism.
Update 2 23:30 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland and the US late Wednesday Swiss time signed, thereby bringing into effect immediately a revised double taxation agreement, known officially as the Protocol of Amendment. The two have had a double taxation agreement since 1996, but the revised Protocol brings Switzerland into line with OECD standards in terms of providing assistance to the US in the case of suspected fiscal fraud and tax evasion. The agreement states that when a country asks for help with suspected tax evaders it must provide “information sufficient to identify the person under examination or investigation (typically, name and, to the extent known, address, account number or similar identifying information”, the period of time for which the information is requested and the tax purpose for which the information is sought. Fishing expeditions – requests for assistance without supplying these details – are specifically forbidden.
The terms of the agreement are not retroactive and most go into effect immediately, although some terms are valid as of 1 January 2010.
Switzerland by Thursday 24 September will have signed 10 new agreements, a, just in time for a meeting of the G20 countries 24-25 September in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US, and it is expected to be removed from the OECD’s unofficial gray list of tax shelters Friday.
Additional highlights of the new Protocol include:
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland is expected to sign a new double taxation agreement with the US Wednesday 23 September, Urs Kapalle of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) told a group in Geneva Tuesday evening. The federal government has indicated the signing could be soon, without specifying a date.
