Will USA and Switzerland come to consensus?

According to the Reuters report, the USA and Switzerland intend to revise bilateral tax agreement signed in 1996. As the U.S. Treasury said on Monday, this move is a part of an effort to cool a high-profile dispute between these two nations over banking secrecy laws.

The announcement comes days after the G-20 Summit promised to crack down on jurisdictions that fail to cooperate in cross-border tax evasion cases. The G20, pushed by France and Germany, agreed that countries should sign up to the international rules on sharing tax information, with a commitment to cooperate when cheating is suspected.

Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Monaco and others signed up to standards drawn up by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development just ahead of the G20 summit, faced with the threat of being added to a blacklist.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a prepared statement "We believe that all countries must adhere to international standards for exchange tax information." He also said that he is looking forward "to swift conclusion of an agreement" after talks begin April 28 in Berne, Switzerland. He stated that Switzerland moves to implement international standards by agreeing to revise the U.S.-Switzerland tax agreement for the exchange of information for tax purposes with the U.S are welcomed. 

The United States is in the midst of a dispute with Switzerland over bank secrecy as Switzerland's largest bank, UBS AG, accepted earlier this year responsibility for helping U.S. clients conceal assets from the U.S. government. UBS also agreed to pay a $780 million fine and to identify some U.S. clients, in a legal deal that resolved criminal fraud charges.

U.S. authorities, fearing that the agreement might yield very few names, filed the civil lawsuit against UBS. The talks are part of a multi-pronged effort to collect lost revenue for the financially strapped U.S. Treasury. The U.S. Congress is working out a legislation to crack down on tax havens, including Switzerland.