Swiss banks to tell all under FATCA

Swiss banks to tell all under FATCA Armando Mombelli

30.00.2014

The American FATCA legislation comes into effect on July 1. The world’s banks will be required to supply Washington with regular updates on customers liable to pay US tax. This means the end of Switzerland’s much-vaunted tradition of banking secrecy.

Swiss banks and asset managers are gearing up to implement the FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) rules, by which the US government is to get all information on capital held anywhere in the world by people liable to pay American taxes.

How FATCA works

Washington’s new legislation, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), aims to fight tax evasion by wealthy Americans (the “fatcats” lambasted by President Barack Obama) by ensuring that tax is...