UK nears Swiss tax deal

UK citizens will have to hand over millions of pounds in backdated taxes on secret bank accounts, after it emerged that the Government is close to signing a disclosure deal with Switzerland.

From :
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...-tax-deal.html

There is a feeling of deja-vu about this. Will the banks now treat the Brits here like they treat the Americans after all that UBS hoo-ha?

Good stuff. Tax is the price for civilisation, somehow gets on my nerves that those with more can hide away and not pay their dues.

Tax avoidance is every tax payers duty.

A fairly clear suspicion and some evidence must be available before the Swiss disclose anything. They are not just going to hand over a list saying "here you are, take your pick...."

Does this mean that British tax laws have changed and British expatriates owe the Crown taxes on money earned in Switzerland, or is this just a way of ferreting out money earned in Britain but deposited in Swiss banks?

Now I'll have to falsify two tax returns!! (Married to a sceptic)

The latter.

Thats probably more law and order.

One could say tax is also legalised theft, hence the reason why those who dont make tax laws tend to pay more tax than those who create them (together with the myriad of loopholes well known by good tax lawyers and accountants).

Here goes the new UK-CH tax deal:

34% rate for the "past", then 27% to 48% on earnings

Would you like to explain a bit further please?

I'm getting more info now, i got this from a very reliable source who i won't doubt whatever he says.....stay tuned

From what i understand, taxes will be required since the date of relocating to CH @ 34% (not sure how far back that can be!!) and then 27% to 48% on the future earnings....but trying to get the full source

yes, more details please...and don't let facts get in the way of a good wind up story...this has nothing to do with 'relocating to CH'

Complete, utter, nonsense.

Dunno why you groaned me if i said clearly i will get confirmation and i'm not sure what it means, i'm just trying to help here dude

Here you go the Swiss Official Press Release which is just put on their site now.

Sorry. I missed the "from what I understand" bit.

The point is that if, for tax purposes, you are resident in Switzerland and not resident in the UK, then you have nothing to pay to HMRC. So this only affects people who are here on the shorter term and still liable for tax in the UK., and people who've shoved there money into a Swiss account in order to avoid paying taxes in the UK, which is what this thread was originally about.

Your original posting gave the impression that there was some kind of tax grab on all UK expats, backdated till the date of their arrival here.

__________________
Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

No worries, anyway....i were just trying to be helpful as i got it from a source earlier and thought it would be relevant to some folks here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14649194


The Swiss government has agreed to tax money held by UK citizens in Swiss bank accounts for the first time, while still hiding their identity.

The deal could see between £3bn and £6bn a year being handed to HMRC by the Swiss authorities.

The agreement is the latest part of HMRC's efforts to track down and tax money hidden in offshore bank accounts.

It follows a similar deal agreed earlier this month between Germany and the Swiss authorities.

'Significant sums' UK officials said the agreement was a landmark one.

"The world has changed for tax evaders," said Dave Hartnett of HMRC.

"A few years ago, nobody would have anticipated that we would conclude an agreement with Switzerland to tackle tax evasion.

"We will secure significant sums of tax that some had thought we would never see," he added.

Meanwhile, David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said the "historic agreement will enable us to collect billions of pounds from those who have for too long evaded their responsibility to pay UK tax by abusing Swiss banking secrecy".

On the other hand, you just neg rep because you got groaned. Sad.

Under the agreements with the UK and Germany, holders of Swiss bank accounts will still be able to hide their identities. Switzerland will therefore continue to be an attractive location for assets earned from illegal sources but less so for assets earned from legal sources whose holders were merely avoiding taxes. The state of publice finances must explain the willingness by the UK and German governments to enter into these agreements, not considerations about fairness.

Agreed. The quote from Mr. HMRC could also have said something like: "no-one would have believed a few years ago that we in the UK and Germany would have acquiesced to the Swiss insistence of getting paid only a share of a Swiss imposed withholding tax, and agreeing not to get the identities of those whom we couldn't prove an illegal tax evasion case against. And for us to recognize legal tax avoidance cases, which are legal under Swiss law, and which the Swiss won't prosecute on our behalf where we don't have sufficient illegal tax evasion prima facie evidence."

Little has changed for tax evasion, Switzerland has been co-operating for years on this. It's legal tax avoidance which is the issue. If HMRC can't provide prima facie evidence of Swiss law breaking, why should the Swiss contribute? As an alternative/workaound there's already an EU agreement on sharing withholding tax proceeds with the EU for EU nationals. Switzerland is already sharing these funds with UK and Germany. The new announcements are just the bilateral elements to the EU arrangements already in place. They're probably driven by UK and Germany wanting their cash bilaterally instead of via Brussels, and for Switzerland it gets the UK and Germany to distinguish legal Swiss avoidance with illegal evasion recognized by the UK and Germany in the form of international bilateral agreements.

However I'm sure Mr. HMRC isn't rushing to send out a "nothing has changed for legal tax avoiders" press release.

By the way, is everyone happy with the way The Local has reported on this? Could someone define "hidden" as used in the article. Are we in danger of getting "Local" news with a Swedish editing cultural slant.