I was intrigued by the commentary on the Q Wealth Report web site about the UK - Swiss tax deal. They said:
The tax justice crowd are already claiming that the treaties signed by the UK and Germany are a sell out. It seems to me, however, a very pragmatic and ultimately sensible decision on both parts. The Swiss get to keep their secrecy, including a new treaty provision that limits requests for information to a maximum of 500 individuals per year — a clause specifically inserted to avoid fishing trips. The UK gets good publicity about cracking down on tax cheats, and some people will likely be scared enough to pay the tax.
Crucially, they add:
On the other hand, it's quite an easy tax to legally avoid.
And then the say how - which is all too easy.
Which is exactly what we in the tax justice crowd have been saying.
And which is exactly why this is an appalling deal for the UK.
Which proves just how inverted their logic really is.
Especially when you remember this deal is aimed at evaders, not avoiders.
Now why would they want to help them?
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Surely the easiest path for people to take, i.e. move their money to another jursidication like Singapore, would be an option regardless of the agreement reached with the Swiss. Hence it is damned if you do damned if you don’t for HMRC in that if they had a far more onerous agreemnt with Switzerland, all the British accounts would merely have moved from Switzerland and no tax would be collected anyway? I am assuming that the Swiss would not agree to anything that clients don’t have an opt out of otherwise they would destroy their entire banking industry.