Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said Wednesday her country was in talks with Greece on a double-taxation deal to avoid Greeks cheating the taxman by parking assets secretly in Switzerland.
“The Greek finance minister approached me,” Widmer-Schlumpf said. “We are conducting technical discussions. I am not able to give you an indication of the sort of volume we are talking about,” she added.
One of the main problems in debt-wracked Greece is the difficulty authorities have in collecting taxes.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany and Switzerland clinched a double-taxation deal that aimed to draw a line under a prickly tax evasion dispute between the two European financial centres.
Switzerland and Italy have pledged to conclude a long-awaited tax arrangement for cross-border workers by the end of the year.
At a meeting in Rome between Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, the two leaders said progress was being made on a cross-border tax arrangement.
The agreement, originally negotiated in 2015, has as yet not been signed by either state.
READ: How Switzerland avoided a coronavirus 'catastrophe' by protecting cross-border workers
A 1974 agreement between the two countries doesn’t define cross-border worker.
Sommaruga praised Switzerland’s decision to reject an initiative which would have restricted migration from EU countries and perhaps had impacts on cross-border workers.
“In last Sunday's referendum, the Swiss people once again said that they want the free movement of people. It is a good thing for our country but it is also a good thing for the whole of Europe,” she said.
“With neighbouring countries, Switzerland has adopted a regional approach excluding border regions and also cross-border workers from the quarantine regime.
“I hope we can continue like this.”
While Switzerland rejected the migration limitation initiative, Ticino was one of four of Switzerland’s 26 cantons to vote in favour.
Conte told reporters he hoped a deal was concluded “as soon as possible” and hoped it would be concluded by 2021.
Conte hailed Italian cross-border workers as essential to the health system in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic.
READ: How Switzerland's cross-border workers are growing in number
In the canton of Ticino, one in five healthcare workers lives over the border in Italy – approximately 4,000 people. Ticino’s population swells from approximately 360,000 people to 440,000 during an average work day due to cross-border workers from Italy.
Unlike with Italy, Switzerland has struck a tax deal for cross-border workers from neighbouring France, which was amended during the coronavirus pandemic.
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