Italy, Switzerland: another step together to discover "recalcitrant" account holders

Italian and Swiss tax authorities have signed an accord to improve the exchange of information to fight tax evasion, with Italy’s Economy Ministry on one hand and Switzerland’s Confederation’s Tax Administration on the other.

The agreement, which took effect on March 2, aims to further enhance transparency following a previous accord which was introduced last summer, the italian ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The new accord, written in English, which is an offshoot of the Milan Protocol of February 23 2015, has to target the “recalcitrant account holders,” who never complied with the diktats received by Swiss financial institutions.

It regards the arrangements for exchange of “group requests,” that delicate territory somewhere between the individual application, on a target identified by the Agency, and the automatic information that will cover all unknown Italians holding accounts and deposits on the other side of the Alps. 

It said the latest agreement will help Italy obtain revenues from a tax amnesty aimed at raising €1.6 billion ($1.70 billion) this year, following €4 billion cashed in through the measure in 2016.

The automatic exchange of tax information will only get under way in September, after the second window opened by the latest Voluntary Disclosure law has “closed.”