Readers' forum: UK/Swiss agreement

Our new client is a UK resident and domicile who worked in Switzerland for a couple of years. He commuted to and fro and declared all his UK and Swiss income on his UK tax return. A significant amount was deducted from his Swiss bank account on 1 May 2013 under the agreement between the two countries.

The client suffered this deduction because he failed to respond to any of the Swiss bank’s letters stating that he should take action otherwise a deduction would be made from the Swiss bank account into which his salary was paid. Our client advises that he did not reply because his tax affairs have always been straightforward under PAYE. He did not imagine that he would be seen as someone who had the means or the income to contemplate using Switzerland to hide money that in his case he did...