Widmer-Schlumpf “singled out trusts as a particular target of Switzerland's resentment” in a speech over the weekend to other G20 country leaders and finance ministers, according to a report in the STEP Journal, the online publication of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
In her speech, Widmer-Schlumpf added that the identification of beneficial owners of trusts “urgently has to be improved in many countries", especially "offshore financial centres which adhere to Anglo-Saxon law", the STEP Journal article added.
STEP is a global organisation which certifies trust and estate industry professionals, and helps to keep them current on industry matters.
The Swiss finance minister’s comments came during discussions about the G20’s move towards automatic tax information exchange, a concept Widmer-Schlumpf said Switzerland will continue to oppose, “until all other countries comply with international standards”, the STEP Journal article noted.
It said she was replying to a report by the Organisation for Economic Development & Cooperation's global forum on tax transparency, which had "refused Switzerland clearance" for a so-called "Phase 2 peer review" unless it meets certain conditions first. This review is described as being designed to test a country's compliance with transparency standards in practice, as well as its formal legislative compliance. The conditions were not spelled out.
To read the STEP Journal article, click here.
As reported, a new French law, the Loi de Finances Rectificative pour 2011, obliges trustees of trusts with any "French connections" to report to the French authorities on such aspects of the trust as its French assets, French beneficiaries, and/or any French settlors. It has been described as a French “FATCA for trusts”, because it aims to collect information for the purposes of ensuring the payment of taxes.
Some non-French financial services executives have said they are struggling to comply with the law, which is seen by some as reflecting a French aversion to the "Anglo-Saxon" common law trust concept.
The deadline for trustees of foreign trusts whose beneficiaries are resident in France have until 17 June to declare the market value of the assets, rights or capitalised income of all trusts that were in existence as of 1 Jan 2013. The deadline in situations in which the settlor or the beneficiary is a non-French tax resident, but the trust assets are situated in France, is 2 Sept.
