Tax campaigners have called for the ‘immediate cancellation’ of the UK government’s tax agreement with Switzerland. The Tax Justice Network published details of ten ‘escape routes’ in the agreement, which is designed to tackle evasion by British residents using secret Swiss bank acccounts.
‘The world has changed for tax evaders,’ Dave Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for Tax at HMRC, said as HM Treasury announced yesterday’s agreement with Switzerland to address evasion by UK taxpayers.
The UK’s tax deal with Switzerland is expected to come into force in 2013, following scrutiny by Parliament and after ratification procedures in Switzerland are complete, HM Treasury said.
An ‘historic’ agreement with Switzerland will resolve abuse of Swiss banking secrecy by UK taxpayers and is expected to secure billions of pounds of unpaid tax from 2013, HM Treasury announced last night.
Jeanette Zaman examines the structure of the new regime and the proposed general purpose exemption, which is intended to replace the current motive test
The European Council has adopted a directive aimed at strengthening administrative co-operation ‘to enable the member states to better combat tax fraud’.
Robert Langston provides a checklist of tax issues for companies considering debt funding into the UK
Chris Morgan provides a round-up of recent developments
The UK and Swiss Governments have signed a declaration on the ‘initiation’ of negotiations, expected to begin next year, on the introduction of a flat rate withholding tax on savings income. Critics warned that the deal would protect the identity of tax evaders.