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| Swiss moves out of 'grey' list of tax havens |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Sep 29, 2009, 18:20 IST |
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The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has taken Switzerland off from the list of non-cooperative tax havens, following the country signing 12 taxation agreements.
An OECD official from Paris told PTI over phone that Switzerland has been removed from the list of non-cooperative tax havens.
Switzerland has signed 12 taxation agreements with different nations and most of them are significant economic partners like the US and the UK.
"As part of the taxation agreements, Switzerland would exchange details related to tax including bank information with those countries," OECD's Head of Division (Tax Cooperation) Pascal Saint-Amans said.
In April, OECD, a grouping of rich nations, had named many countries including Switzerland, in a grey list of those which are not fully-compliant with global tax standards.
As per OECD norms, a country would be removed from the grey list after it has signed at least a dozen double taxation agreements.
Known for its banking secrecy practices, Switzerland has come under international pressure in the wake of the global crackdown on tax havens.
Last week, Switzerland signed a taxation agreement with Qatar taking the number of such pacts to 12.
Switzerland has also signed such treaties with Denmark, Luxembourg, France, Norway, Austria, the UK, Mexico, Finland, the Faroe Islands, the USA and Spain.
"It (Switzerland) has signed 12 agreements containing aclause on extended administrative assistance in tax matters. Further agreements will follow. Consequently, Switzerland will be removed from the 'grey list' of the OECD Secretariat," the Swiss government said in a statement last week.
The grey list was published following the pledge by G-20 leaders to crackdown on tax havens during their summit in London last April.
According to Pascal Saint-Amans, the initiatives to tackle the issue of tax havens have been a "big success" and there has been substantial commitment from different countries since the list was published.
OECD takes into account many factors to determine a if a country was a tax haven, including whether the country imposes "no or only nominal taxes".
Other criteria include lack of transparency and whether laws prevent exchange of tax-related information with other governments.
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