The recent UK–Swiss tax deal to clamp down on tax evasion provoked a strong response from the media.
However this deal is a continuation of a global trend around the increased sharing of tax information and withholding between countries in a bid to reduce evasion and bridge the tax gap.
The US court case over Stars (structured trust advantaged repackaged securities) Credit Suisse’s out of court settlement with German prosecutors and the SEC’s recent clampdown on the disclosure of companies’ offshore holdings point to much more pervasive Withholding and Reporting policies being pursued across the globe.
In the late 90s and early 2000s information about individual customers only crossed...
