(Archived Content)
Federal Councillor Kaspar Villiger
Finance Minister
Federal Department of Finance
Bernerhof
3003 Berne
Switzerland
Dear Mr. Federal Councillor:
I am very pleased with the report that the technical discussions held between representatives of the United States Treasury and of the Federal Tax Administration, respectively, regarding the application of Article 26 on Exchange of Information of the Income Tax Convention between the United States of America and the Swiss Confederation, signed on October 2, 1996, have led to the successful conclusion of a mutual agreement, signed on January 23, 2003. This arrangement is important to the administration and enforcement of the tax laws of each of our countries, and complements the substantial cooperation between our two countries to combat criminal activities in other fields such as money laundering and terrorism financing.
It is important to build upon this success and we must maintain a dialogue with a view to monitoring and improving the functioning of the present version of the Convention. In addition we will continue to explore ways to improve the cooperation between our two countries. Successful renegotiation of the Convention could enhance the economic relationship between our two countries.
We look forward to continuing to work together to improve the cooperation between our two countries.
Sincerely,
Kenneth W. Dam
Acting Secretary and
Deputy Secretary