GENEVA--The United States and Switzerland signed a protocol March 31 allowing for the provisional application of their Aug. 19 agreement requiring Swiss bank UBS to hand over details on 4,450 secret bank accounts held by U.S. taxpayers.

 

Signature of the amending protocol will allow the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (SFTA) to proceed with a review of the targeted accounts to determine whether they meet the criteria allowing for disclosure to U.S. tax authorities.

 

“The provisional application of the revised UBS Agreement creates the necessary legal basis for the [SFTA] to issue final decisions even in cases of continued and serious tax evasion, and permits Switzerland to fulfill the obligations under international law that it entered into with the original [Aug. 19] Agreement,” the Swiss Federal Department of Justice (FDJ) said in a statement.

 

However, the actual handover of the account details will not take place until the Swiss parliament has ratified the Aug. 19 agreement. The National Council, the lower house of parliament, is due to take up the matter in June.

 

Even if the parliament gives its approval, the agreement may still be subject to a national referendum. Under the Swiss constitution, any federal law or international treaty can be subject to a national referendum if at least 50,000 Swiss citizens have petitioned to do so.

 

 

--By Daniel Pruzen, BNA Tax & Accounting.  Article from the Daily Tax Report .