FATCA and Switzerland
Posts on The Isaac Brock Society website concerning FATCA and Switzerland
For articles on other websites, see Media and Blog Articles
For general discussion of FATCA, see FATCA Discussion Thread
October 2016
20: Ambassador Reaches Out to Swiss Banks
March 2016
14: Hillary Clinton Directly Enabled Tax Evasion in the Swiss Bank Debacle, I Kid You Not
July 2015
01: Very Swiss Vacations for the Federal Counselors
October 2014
May 2014
28: Updated Video: Rand Paul discussing US Swiss Tax Treaty with Senate Democrats
April 2014
08: Post Mortem of Vaudois League as to FATCA Referendum
March 2014
January 2014
December 2013
19: FATCA What’s-it? (Vaud League, Switzerland)
15: #Americansabroad in Switzerland should not enter #OVDP and join #FBAR Fundraiser
14: Most Swiss banks considering #OVDP should NOT consider #Wegelin in their decision
November 2013
24: Stopping FATCA in Switzerland
October 2013
19: FATCA: Breaking through Fear with a Swiss Referendum
02: Swiss REFERENDUM against #FATCA / Thursday October 3rd 2013
September 2013
09: FATCA IGA and Application Law Approved by Swiss Parliament
August 2013
30: It’s Official: New #OVDP program designed for Swiss Banks
June 2013
19: Switzerland voted against joining OVDI (Lex USA)
March 2013
21: US Renunciations In Switzerland for 2012
10: SWAT–Switzerland IGA: Still not enough information available in Switzerland.
February 2013
07: Switzerland Did Not Respect International Judicial Assistance Rules with the USA
January 2013
29: Packing up, going home: one US citizen in Switzerland vents his anger
14: UDC Parliamentary Deputy: “Switzerland has been too naive up to now”
November 2012
23: UBS asks “US persons” in Switzerland to Renounce Swiss Data Protection – Let the Outrage Begin!
05: Switzerland, threatened by isolation, lifting veil on secret bank accounts
October 2012
22: Tribune de Genève: Americans in Switzerland Tend to Support Barack Obama
September 2012
01: Criminal Complaint in Switzerland for Theft and Fencing Stolen Property
August 2012
23: Triple Referendum Launched in Switzerland Against Tax Treaties With Three European Countries
Jacob Lew and Robert Stack’s “final solution” of Americans in Switzerland is gathering speed. Latest statistics show the number of Americans in Switzerland has fallen below the 2010 level:
Since Fatca and the DOJ Tax Programme were introduced in Switzerland in 2012/ 2013, the number of Americans in the country has declined by 7.1%:
7-2016: 16’975
6-2016: 17’216
2015: 17’576
2014: 17’954
2013: 18’204
Until 2012, the number of Americans in Switzerland had been on the rise for a number of years:
2012: 18’265
2011: 17’988
2010: 17’109
2009: 16’581
2008: 15’983
The populations of Canadians and Australians, the two largest English-speaking populations from non-EU countries after the US, have steadily increased during this same period and remained stable over the past 12 months.
https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/de/home/publiservice/statistik/auslaenderstatistik/archiv/2016/07.html
Spreadsheet at 4-30 “Last 12 Months”
I came across this personal blog of a young couple in Switzerland who say they *were* able to get a mortgage back in 2013. Is this for real? http://katieandkay.com/home/no-mortgages-for-americans-signing-the-contract/
WTF: 2015 Business Insider article claiming that CH is a great place to be an American Expat? Perhaps for somebody lucky enough to have an US company offer them an “expat package”??
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-switzerland-is-a-great-place-to-be-an-expat-2015-3
@Jefferson D Thomas, yes it can be possible, depending on the bank. We got our mortgage from UBS in 2011. Although my husband is British I was dual at the time and the bank manager was a bit surprised when I handed over my American passport. He had to go away and make a few phone calls to see if we could still have the mortgage, but came back and said yes. So we were able to sign the paperwork and get the mortgage we needed. We were shifted over to UBS’s special American unit for any further bank communications after that though, until I renounced and sent them a copy of my CLN. Now we’re back with our local manager again.
As for that article, she says she was younger when she lived there so I doubt she even realises the current problems Americans now have abroad. It could have been years and years ago that she lived in Switzerland, the article doesn’t say exactly when she was here.
Whether the big 3: UBS, Credit Suisse and PostFinance will do so now is another question. We renegotiated our mortgage earlier this year as it had reached its 5 year term, but of course we had no problems with the bank as I’m no longer a US citizen.
Again it may also depend on how wealthy you are. I know investment accounts are taboo for Americans here.
Remember “SwissRespect”? http://www.swissrespect.ch/v2/ziele.html
@Medea.. you sure are renewing at a great time… low rates !!
@Jefferson D Tomas, yes we did get a good rate.
Looking at the 2 comments on that article, the first does point out the banking problems,. FATCA, tax and other things. The second made me laugh, the guy couldn’t find anyone in Martigny to speak German with. Well should that really surprise him as that part of the country speaks French, not German! Really people do your homework and don’t rely on articles you read on the net. It’s quite clear the person who wrote the article was based in/near Zurich and she did say there were different languages spoken in different regions.
Further guidelines to how long ago it was: her mom had knee surgery over 10 years ago and she also said she was in her young teens when she lived there. So I suspect well before FATCA even reared its head.
@Medea Yes, one shouldn’t believe everything one reads… actually, German is spoken in the Canton of Valais but Martigny is in the lower part of Valais = French speaking. The linguistic border is further up the valley, at Sierre.
Jefferson, the article from the couple who was able to get a mortgage was written January 18th, 2013. At that time, there were still some banks. The US Program wasn’t announced until August 29, 2013 and that’s when the US really started hammering on Swiss banks for not rejecting US persons.
Re: WTF “a great place to be an American expat”.
Check the author’s bio.
“Sarah Schmalbruch
Sarah writes for the travel vertical at Business Insider. She graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in magazine journalism and German. She is from Chicago, and currently lives in Brooklyn.”
Switzerland is a great place to be an expat, as long as you live in the States.
Switzerland is a great place to be an expat, as long as one renounces US citizenship
‘U.S. Ambassador Tells Swiss Banks to Open Doors to Americans’
Giles Broom
GilesGE
Allyson Versprille
October 19, 2016 — 4:01 PM EDT
Updated on October 19, 2016 — 6:25 PM EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-19/u-s-ambassador-tells-swiss-banks-to-open-doors-to-americans
Article is from a few weeks back, and refers to the same instance being discussed here;
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2016/10/20/swiss-ambassador-reaches-out-to-swiss-banks/
Also of interest;
http://www.americanswiss.org/fatca-the-us-tax-law-that-affects-the-world%E2%80%94even-switzerland/
‘FATCA: The U.S. Tax Law that Affects the World—Even Switzerland’
from the American Swiss Foundation, 2016
Sonntagsblick is looking for one or two sentences and a portrait from 10 Trump voters in Switzerland about why they feel that Trump was the right choice. Any volunteers?
Levine is stepping-down as ambassador to CH effective inauguration day:
https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/8171578-l-ambassadrice-des-etats-unis-en-suisse-suzi-levine-quitte-ses-fonctions.html
Although she did too little too late with her recent letter to Swiss banks, here we go again. We will probably get somebody who doesn’t know the situation and we will have to educate him or her all over again.
Former CH ambassador to Germany thinks Trump administration will mean economic benefits for CH: https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/8172955–la-suisse-profitera-des-mesures-economiques-de-donald-trump-.html
A Swiss government institution donated 500 kCHF to Clinton Foundation in 2011, right in the middle of the litigation with CH banks. https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/8162603-berne-a-fait-un-don-controverse-d-un-demi-million-a-la-fondation-clinton.html
No comment.
UBS Banksters line Hillary’s pockets?
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/hillary-helps-a-bankand-then-it-pays-bill-15-million-in-speaking-fees/400067/
There’s a story in a Swiss regional newspaper today about a theatre closing due to the “unclear” tax status of the husband of its owner. Tyko Strassen, the husband, is Swiss but was born in the USA. A translated part of the article follows:
“Account lockout as trigger
When it was announced in October that the renown theater would close on New Year’s Eve 2016, despite sold out performances and reliably flowing subsidies, the message came far beyond the cantonal boundaries.
The circumstances that led to the closure are bizarre and have nothing to do with culture. The reason lies in the long arm of the US tax authorities. The trigger is still the unclear tax status of the Swiss, Tyko Strassen, who was born in the USA.
Because of this ambiguity, PostFinance has canceled the joint private account of the couple and blocked access to electronic financial services.”
http://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/aargau/zurzach/wegen-us-steuergesetz-heute-abend-geht-die-aera-des-renommierten-laxdal-theaters-zu-ende-130824090
This is the CV of the suspected US Person mentioned above. He was born in California in 1963 and moved to Switzerland in 1968. Aside from studying in Germany in 1986-87, he appears to have been studying, working and living in Switzerland since moving here in 1968. Among other activities, he was an under-officer in the Swiss military in 1983. The American empire has struck Swiss cultural life:
http://tyko.strassen.ch/lebenslauf.html
@Innocente
If he was an under officer in the Swiss Military , then he has effectively relinquished his US citizenship as long as he hasn’t since had a USpassport. Is there a comment section, can he be alerted?
Post finance, were once a simple post office bank, who now have sold themselves to the devil to be able to invest in the US markets.
When will the Swiss say enough is enough?
Should be easy enough to sort out, simply take him off the theatre’s accounts as a signatory. Wife’s name only.
@heidi, it depends if he intended to lose the citizenship doesn’t it. Answer is probably not as I doubt he even realised serving in the Swiss army could risk losing it. And although it’s not in the renunciation law itself that I could see, isn’t there some provision about it not counting if it’s mandatory to serve in the other country?
@ Medea
I don’t think that taking his name off the theatre accounts at this stage would satisfy postfinance as they would now want proof of past compliance to free the account.
Yes, think you may be right about mandatory military service.
@heidi, no probably not. But I can’t believe he’s been unaware of this as the article says “The trigger is still the unclear tax status of the Swiss-born Tyko Strassen.” So they must have been aware and from the sounds of it not really done anything about solving the problem.
@medea
He is not ‘swiss’ born, he was born in California and returned to Switzerland at the age of 5. The account was probably opened with his Swiss passport with place of ‘origin’ IE his Swiss family origin and the US birthplace only recently coming to light.
@heidi, I didn’t think he was Swiss born as the CV innocente posted makes that clear. But it begs the question why did the American side raise its head after all this time? As far as the bank knew he was Swiss only so was he stupid enough to inform them of his birthplace?
@medea
You quoted in your post “Swiss born Tyco strassen” .
Who knows why, maybe he answered a bank questionnaire or maybe someone squealed on him.