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As far as I am aware, Switzerland had always cooperated with law enforcement requests. Even before FATCA, if your government thought you were cheating on your t

As far as I am aware, Switzerland had always cooperated with law enforcement requests. Even before FATCA, if your government thought you were cheating on your taxes, all they had to do was present a warrant. That said, yes, dictators and such were - and are - a problem. They aren't going to prosecute themselves, after all. By the way, one of the top places unsavory types stash their cash is the US. FATCA is a one way street: US banks don't provide information on their international customers.

CaptainZapp 3y ago
> As far as I am aware, Switzerland had always cooperated with law enforcement requests. Even before FATCA, if your government thought you were cheating on your taxes, all they had to do was present a warrant. The problem was - and this rightfully pissed off a lot of countries - that Switzerland makes a distinction between tax evasion (you "forget" to mention those 5'000 franks extra income) and tax fraud, where you actually cook the books. Tax evasion is not considered a crime and if you're caught you get fined and pay back taxes. Tax fraud is a crime and may land you ion jail. So, in case of simple tax evasion a third country may not get the information requested since this is not a crime in both countries, which is a requirement for this. With the automatic information exchange with other countries Switzerland is no more a prime destination to hide your illicit gains.