BERLIN — Liechtenstein is betting its offer to automatically share tax data on banking clients will end the principality’s decades-long reputation as a tax haven, a top bank official said.
Simon Tribelhorn, director of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association, said the announcement in November to lock in automatic-exchange agreements with five European nations and sign a tax treaty with the United States are ‘‘decisive’’ steps in moving away from the country’s tax-haven past. Still, it may take longer for Liechtenstein to shake off its reputation.
‘‘I don’t think this image has completely disappeared, but there’s consensus that we’re no longer a tax haven,’’ Tribelhorn said in an interview in Berlin on June 25.
A global crackdown on offshore tax havens following the financial crisis and a 2008 wrangle with Germany over stolen bank data have forced the principality to come clean over its tax policies.
Liechtenstein, a nation of 36,000 people wedged in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria, has labored to shed its status as a destination for billionaires seeking to stash undeclared fortunes.
In November, Liechtenstein signed onto an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop standard, pledging to clinch bilateral treaties for automatic exchange of bank data. It will first seek agreements with Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain.
Last month, the country signed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act with the United States. This requires banks outside the US to share data on accounts held by US taxpayers or face a withholding tax of as much as 30 percent.
Tribelhorn said Liechtenstein foresees an 18-month timetable for completing automatic exchange accords.
--more--"
