German authorities consider new tax CD
Tax officials in the German state of Nord Rhine-Westphalia are considering buying another CD of bank details from Switzerland, says the Financial Times Germany.
According to the newspaper, the data concerns around 1,000 German clients of a private bank based in Zurich.
A spokeswoman for the North Rhine-Westphalia finance ministry told the Germany Press Agency DPA: “it is part of our ongoing business to check CDs that have been offered”, but would not say whether this was currently the case.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s last acquisition was a CD of data from Luxemburg. Previous information from Liechtenstein and Switzerland resulted in millions of euros coming into state tax coffers.
If the CD is bought, it would be the first to be acquired after the signing in September of a tax accord between Switzerland and Germany.
This agreement is controversial in Germany, with North Rhine-Westphalia’s finance minister among its strongest critics. The argument is that the accord, due to come into force in January 2013, is too lenient. Der Spiegel news magazine has reported that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble wants to renegotiate the landmark treaty.
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