Liechtenstein Will / May End Its More Blatant Forms of Tax Cheating (11/16/13)

So speaketh this report from Reuters.  Tom Bergin, Liechtenstein to end bank secrecy (Reuters 11/14/13), here.  Here are the excepts.

Liechtenstein, whose banks have been accused by the United States and other countries of facilitating tax evasion, said on Thursday it would end its practice of helping foreigners hide money from their tax authorities. 

The move highlights how Liechtenstein has moved more quickly than neighboring Switzerland, possibly the world's most important offshore financial center, in reacting to international pressure for greater transparency. 

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The government of the tiny country of 36,000 inhabitants said in a statement that it would sign up to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, an international forum that allows tax authorities to ask their counterparts in other countries for information on taxpayers. 

The Alpine nation said it would also join up to a system of automatic information exchange being developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is expected to come into force in late 2015 or early 2016. 

Under automatic information exchange, if an individual opens a bank account in a foreign country, that country will automatically inform the tax authority in the individual's country of origin. 

Tax advisers say the automatic exchange of information will make the most common forms of tax evasion difficult, if not impossible, in those countries that agree to it.

India Signs OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (11/3/13)

Nigam Nuggehalli, Artful dodges in Swiss tax pacts (Business Standard 10/30/13), here.  Excerpts of the introduction are:

The Swiss banking regime is in the news again with the announcement that Switzerland finally decided to sign, on October 16, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-sponsored Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance that provides for a liberal exchange of information between countries on potential money launderers and tax dodgers. 

As usual, appearances are deceptive. Switzerland will not be subject to a liberalised information exchange regime without a further discussion in and eventual ratification by the Swiss parliament. Therefore, the scope and timing of Switzerland's participation in a regime that enables transparent exchange of information remain uncertain. 

Until then, in order to access information on Indian-source money stashed by tax dodgers and money launderers in Swiss banks, India has to depend on the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) that went through certain revisions in 2000 and 2010. The original and revised versions present a fascinating insight into, on the one hand, the evolution of India as a country attractive to foreign investment and, on the other hand, India's traditional obsession with untaxed money in Swiss banks.

The article then provides a nice summary of the events leading to this new agreement and the immediate effect of the new agreement.