New Zealand-Swiss tax agreement tightens net on avoidance

WELLINGTON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement between New Zealand and Switzerland, New Zealand’s Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said on Thursday.

Nash and Swiss Ambassador to New Zealand David Vogelsanger signed documents to update the Double Tax Agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980.

“Double tax agreements are good for business because they reduce barriers to trade and cross-border investment, eliminate double taxation, and reduce withholding taxes,” Nash said.

DTAs are also an extremely valuable tool to crack down on tax avoidance and tax evasion, he said, adding they establish a formal means to exchange information between two countries.

“New Zealand has 40 DTAs. It is easier to update them since the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and G20 nations increased the focus on multinationals who often seem to not pay tax anywhere in the world,” Nash said.

The new agreement includes provisions to reduce multinational tax avoidance by incorporating base erosion and profit shifting measures, he added.