Brussels, 27/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - French Finance Minister Michel Sapin signed an agreement in Berne on Wednesday with his Swiss counterpart Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf to amend the 1996 Swiss-French agreement on the exchange of tax information.
The changes should make the provision of information simpler and more efficient. It provides the option of requesting bank information without being given the name of the bank where the account is held. Switzerland has pledged to respond by November to other requests from France that are still under review.
Sapin said that improving the system for exchange of information upon request was simply a stage in the process of moving towards automatic exchange of information, which is becoming the global standard for tax cooperation. In Paris in May 2014, OECD member countries (including Switzerland) and 13 other countries signed up to exchange of information rules developed by the OECD (see EUROPE 11084) and Andorra followed suit last week (see EUROPE 11104). The new rules require countries to get all the necessary information from financial institutions in their country and automatically provide it to other jurisdictions once a year. The OECD will provide the G20 Finance Summit in September with the technical solutions needed to put the new rules into practice. (EL)