Switzerland to curb bank business with tax evaders

Feb 22, 2012, 18:06 GMT

Bern - The Swiss government on Wednesday outlined a new 'clean money strategy,' which will make it harder for banks to accept money from foreign tax evaders.

Switzerland is currently involved in disputes over tax evasion with several countries, including the United States and Germany.

In the future, legal provisions will force Swiss financial institutes to take measures which aim to stop or at least hamper the inflow of untaxed money, the government said in Bern.

Details of the plan should be finalized in September.

Bank customers might be forced to declare that the money they are parking in Switzerland has been taxed according to the laws in their home countries, Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told reporters.

However, Widmer-Schlumpf stressed that her priority was to solve the tax spat with the United States, where prosecutors are investigating at least 11 Swiss banks for allegedly helping tax evaders.

Switzerland has already concluded taxation agreements with Germany and Britain, but the deals have yet to come into force.