Greece is close to a deal with Swiss authorities aimed at taxing billions of euros worth of bank deposits thought to be held by Greek tax evaders outside the country.
In a statement, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the deal would be modeled on similar agreements Switzerland has reached with the U.K. and Germany.
“It is very significant development that the negotiations with Switzerland are entering the final phase,” Venizelos said. “In this way, Greece will be able to collect a significant amount of taxes evaded over many years, and be given information that would allow the country to confront obvious cases of tax evasion.”
According to some estimates, Greek residents hold as much as EUR200 billion in Swiss bank accounts, much of that is thought to represent cases of widespread tax evasion by wealthy Greeks.
The statement came after senior officials from the two countries met Thursday and agreed to the outlines of a bilateral agreement based on the U.K. and German precedents.
Greece is struggling to meet its deficit targets this year, and has promised to boost revenue collections as part of separate bailouts agreed to with the International Monetary Fund and its euro-zone partners.
(source: Dow Jones)
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