The end of Swiss bank secrecy is one of those "painful adaptations [that] are sometimes necessary," admitted recently Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf in the introduction to the '2015 report on international financial and tax matters'. Under strong pressure to change its practices, the country is complying, step by step.
After trying to save bank secrecy with a final proposal for a tax deducted at source covering all liability, accepted only by Austria and the United Kingdom, the Federal Council…
Business taxation
On 15 October 2014, Switzerland and the EU signed a common declaration on business taxation that ends ten years of tension and misunderstandings. Berne confirmed its intention to repeal certain tax schemes, notably those establishing a difference of treatment between Swiss-source income and foreign-source income through ring-fencing. In return, once the schemes have ended, the EU member states will abolish the counter-measures taken in reaction.The matter now concerns the OECD and is continuing with the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, which aims to set new global rules for the taxation of companies active internationally, notably to avoid double non-taxation.