Germany again crossed Switzerland’s interests.

19.04.2013

German tax authorities have bought a new CD containing bank account details of thousands of alleged tax evaders with accounts in Switzerland. They conducted 200 raids on Tuesday and expect to recoup more than half a billion euros in lost tax revenues.

According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the authorities launched the nationwide searches after obtaining a CD containing bank deposit details of the citizens. The CD was purchased by the government of the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate earlier this year.

The CD has information on more than 10,000 bank customers with Swiss accounts, investigators said. The purchase of such CDs has angered Switzerland but strengthened the resolve of German opposition parties, which object to a government-backed data sharing deal they say amounts to amnesty for German tax evaders.

Many of the accounts contain relatively small sums but the Rhineland-Palatinate government expects to be able to recoup some €500 million ($650 million) in lost tax revenues.

Authorities expect that the media coverage of the raids will prompt many tax evaders to turn themselves in to authorities so that they can lessen their penalties. The current raids affected customers with accounts in Credit Suisse, the former Clariden Leu AG and Neue Aargauer Bank.

Based on http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/germany-raids-200-suspected-tax-evaders-in-nationwide-hunt-a-894693.html

Expert’s opinion

What can be said, Switzerland lost its bank secrecy long ago. For the current moment, only Austria manages to maintain neutrality. Note that Austrian banks have never been noticed and we could not find in mass media any mentions of sale of leakage of information from banks.

There is no hope that the situation in Switzerland will change. We need just to choose bank carefully for keeping and augmenting of the assets honestly earned.

Irina Lomakina ( Director of Moscow office of “Honest&Bright” Company)