Bulgaria, Switzerland to update double-taxation treaty
Bulgaria’s Cabinet approved on July 25 the draft of the updated treaty with Switzerland on avoiding double taxation of income and property, negotiated by the country’s Finance Ministry, the Government press service said in a statement.
The existing double-taxation agreement between the two countries was signed in 1991, when economic relations between the two countries were “on a different level”, the statement said.
The most important new provision of the amended treaty is a clause that envisions the exchange of information; the absence of such a clause in the existing agreement has proven an obstacle in the full implementation of the treaty because Bulgaria could not effectively prevent tax avoidance and fraud.
The amended treaty will allow Bulgarian authorities to receive full information, including confidential banking data, that will help fight money laundering, tax fraud and tax avoidance, the Cabinet’s statement said.
The agreement is subject to ratification by the two countries’ parliaments.
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