Beckett G. Cantley, New Tax Information Exchange Agreement: A Potent Weapon Against U.S. Tax Fraud, 4 Hous. Bus. & Tax L.J. 231 (2004).
Summary. This article discussed the then-new information exchange agreement to the tax treaty between the U.S. and Switzerland. The agreement established new guidelines on how to properly implement Article 26 (pertaining to information sharing) of the Convention between the U.S. and the Swiss Confederation for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with Respect to Taxes on Income. The new agreement attempted to strengthen each government’s respective ability to combat tax fraud. The new agreement clarifies the tax treaty and provides guidance as to what constitutes “tax fraud” under the existing agreement by providing fourteen (14) hypothetical situations that constitute tax fraud. The focus of this article was to discuss operational and policy elements of specific points of the new agreement followed by a discussion of what Switzerland and U.S. officials think about the possible long-term effects of the new agreement.