Of Special Interest
Filters
- Newslink Trends-The Global Strategic Perspective
- Juniper Research says digital wallet users to exceed 4.4 billion by 2025, as mobile drives digital payments’ revolution
- Criminals exploit COVID-19 pandemic with rise in scams targeting victims online
- Equifax says Open Banking proving pivotal to pandemic lending
- Consumer confidence in banks, credit card providers and investments remain stable as demand supercharges digital finance says Toluna research
- Mintos says Europeans are starting to embrace investing
- US banks see IT modernisation as a way to improve customer experience
- Risk mitigation in global trade depends on digitisation-Andrew Raymond, CEO, Bolero International comments
- Juniper Research new study says the volume of B2B payments facilitated by non-banks will exceed 53 billion in 2022, from a COVID-related low of 38 billion in 2020
- CMA issues fifth publication over 3 years of the service quality league table of personal and business current account providers
- Barclays says scammers take advantage of COVID-19, cashing in on nations’ uncertainty
- S&P Global report says financial market infrastructure sector's earnings likely to cool off In second half
- Global banking market capitalisation slumps by over 30% amid pandemic says Buyshares research
- Digital wallet spend in Europe & North America to increase by 40% in 2019, finds study
- Juniper forecasts mobile money transactions will exceed 200 billion by 2024
- Banks can save the world from climate change, says former UN climate chief
- Research by NatWest reveals gender divide over attitudes to saving
- Europe’s big bank problem: too much capital is trapped in the US, says Scope
- Later-Life lending market set to almost double in the next 10 years, finds report
- Barclays/Cebr report challenges nation to think differently about wealth
- Fifth of UK investors looking to debt investment, new research reveals
- Regtech will play a more important role in PSD2, says Mitek
- Banks turn to Fintech partnerships to improve customer experience, finds Fraedom
- New industry code to tackle fraud must deliver, says Which?
- New TTF report highlights loss of trust in financial services
- Arxan highlights financial app vulnerability epidemic
- SAS asks whether banks really need to choose between operations and innovation
- Which? raises alarm as almost 1,700 free ATMs become fee-charging
- Financial wellness affects half of peoples’ mental or physical health, finds report
- Study finds traditional financial institutions embrace Fintech disruption
- Grass is greener for environmentally friendly businesses, finds Barclays
- Prospective homeowners would consider a 40-year mortgage to escape renting, finds Santander
- Millennials’ needs are changing the face of banking industry, says new report
- FS is putting consumer data at risk by failing to protect mobile apps, says Arxan
- A lack of belief in their ability holds 28% women back in work, says Cambridge & Counties
- ‘Which?’ reveals Scotland has lost over a third of its bank branches in eight years
- Next downturn unlikely to be as bad as 2008, according to S&P
- FCA reveals findings from first cryptoassets consumer research
- US consumers favour single mobile app for banking and payments
- Banks suffering major IT shutdowns every day, ‘Which?’ reveals
- The US will be a key offshore centre in 2019, says GlobalData
- Debit industry changes markedly in 10 years of the Debit Issuer Study
- UK's ‘Big Five’ face ‘too big to compete’ as small challengers secure stellar returns
- Banks as vulnerable now as before crash, says new study
- Leverage ratio a constant conundrum for European and US banks, says SNL
22nd November 2011
Swiss / US comprehensive tax treaty
The Swiss parliament is thought likely to agree the plan which would pass names of possible US citizens with Swiss bank accounts and thought likely to be evading US tax based upon bank transaction behaviour patterns. The agreement could bring to an end the long running dispute between the countries which has been pursued increasingly aggressively by the US.
In a final, but minor defiance the Swiss parliament has scheduled the debate on the subject next spring as opposed to the before Christmas slot that the Swiss and US negotiators had hoped for.
Swiss bank privacy laws prevent tax authorities from accessing bank account details in normal circumstances whether Swiss or foreign. Tax authorities have always had the right to seek a warrant giving them access to this information where they suspect deliberate tax evasion, which is an offence in Switzerland. The problem for the US authorities is that they need the identity of the US citizen with a Swiss bank account and to show a basis for their belief of tax evasion. General 'trawling exercises' are not allowed. The new proposal would look for certain suspicious behaviours in account usage and details for these customers could be passed to the US authorities within this interpretation of the law. The IRS could then get the necessary court authority for access as a largely automatic process.
The US actions have been sufficient that most Swiss banks will not now retain US customers unless they can provide evidence the account is declared to the IRS. The proposed deal is unlikely to be sufficient for the US in the longer term but may at least give the two sides a respite. In addition to the actual information gained from the Swiss the high level of publicity in the US given to the pursuit of the tax evaders is designed to put off would be tax evaders from attempting the offence and the IRS has had some success in gathering voluntary admissions by offering lower penalties for those who confess before being caught.