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Swiss complete tax-dodge payments

Switzerland said on Monday that it had completed a programme to pay Britain and Austria hundreds of millions of euros in settlements for past tax-dodging by their citizens.

Swiss complete tax-dodge payments
Photo: APA (Fohringer)

In a statement, the Swiss tax administration said that London had received a total of £469.5 million (€593 million, $779 million), and Vienna, €738.3 million over the course of the year-long program.

With the financial crisis having put Switzerland under mounting pressure to lift its trademark banking secrecy laws, the country opted to give ground in some areas in order to defend the overall principle of privacy.

Under bilateral deals with Britain and Austria, Switzerland offered two options to people who failed to declare in their home countries money placed in Swiss banks.

They could either turn themselves in to their homeland's revenue services, or have their accounts taxed by the Swiss, who then transferred the funds without naming the clients.

It was under the latter system that Switzerland handed over the sums in tranches between July 2013 and August 2014.

The completion of the payments means that the British and Austrian clients' funds are now considered clean by their homelands' tax authorities and Switzerland.

The total amount of funds regularised in this way in Switzerland now stands at £10.4 billion and €5.9 billion.

In addition to the deal on securing back taxes, Switzerland has agreed to collect regular taxes from British, Austrian and other European Union account holders, then transfer the money to the individual's homeland anonymously.

Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union, had also negotiated a deal with Germany to clear past tax-dodging, but it was shot down by German lawmakers.

France, meanwhile, has refused to make a similar deal with Switzerland, preferring to oblige French tax-dodgers with cash in Switzerland to use its own national system.

The deals with Britain and Austria could become redundant from 2017, when Switzerland has pledged to apply rules on the automatic exchange of tax information.

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TAXES

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark’s employment allowance?

Denmark's government may soon announce changes to its tax reform plans, which will give all wage earners a bigger employment allowance. What is this and how will it affect foreigners' earnings?

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark's employment allowance?

What is the employment allowance? 

The Beskæftigelsesfradraget (from beskæftigelse, meaning employment, and fradrag, meaning rebate) was brought in by the centre-right Liberal Party back in 2004, the idea being that it would incentivise people to get off welfare and into a job.

Everyone whose employer pays Denmark’s 8 percent AM-bidrag, or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, automatically receives beskæftigelsesfradraget. Unlike with some of Denmark’s tax rebates, there is no need to apply. The Danish Tax Agency simply exempts the first portion of your earnings from income taxes. 

In 2022, beskæftigelsesfradraget was set at 10.65 percent of income with a maximum rebate of 44,800 kroner. 

How did the government agree to change the employment allowance in its coalition deal? 

In Responsibility for Denmark, the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Moderate Party, the new government said it would set aside 5 billion kroner for tax reforms.

Of this, 4 billion kroner was earmarked for increasing the employment allowance, with a further 0.3 billion going towards increasing an additional employment allowance for single parents.

According to the public broadcaster DR, the expectation was that this would increase the standard employment  allowance to 12.75 percent up to a maximum rebate of 53,600 kroner. 

How might this be further increased, according to Børsen? 

According to a report in the Børsen newspaper, the government now plans to set aside a further 1.75 billion kroner for tax reforms, of which nearly half — about 800 million kroner — will go towards a further increase to the employment allowance. 

The Danish Chamber of Commerce earlier this month released an analysis in which it argued that by raising removing all limits on the rebate for single parents and raising the maximum rebate for everone else by 20,300 kroner, the government could increase the labour supply by 4,850 people, more than double the 1,500 envisaged in the government agreement. 

According to the Børsen, the government estimates that its new extended allowance will increase the labour supply by 5,150 people.  

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