Switzerland could reach a taxation deal with Germany this summer, Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf was quoted as saying in an interview with Swiss newspaper Sonnta-gsZeitung on Sunday. Last year Switzerland and Germany agreed the outlines of a deal to impose a withholding tax on an estimated 200 billion euros ($296 billion) hidden in secret Swiss accounts.
A withholding tax means the Swiss will not automatically share information on individual bank accounts with Germany, preserving the banking privacy that has been crucial to building up Switzerland's offshore wealth management industry.
Switzerland also agreed last year to work towards helping tax the assets that British citizens have stashed in secret Swiss accounts and to introduce a withholding tax on new deposits.
Widmer-Schlumpf declined to give any details about a deal with Germany, saying only it would be a "milestone" and that agreements with both Germany and the United Kingdom could become test cases.
Widmer-Schlumpf also said Switzerland was in talks with the United States regarding the planned Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which should help identify U.S clients with accounts at foreign banks. Widmer-Schlumpf said a possible solution for the situation with the United States could also be to introduce a withholding tax.
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