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TAX

Swiss to tax family of suicide data thief

Swiss tax authorities want to tax money made in 2010 on stolen information about 1,500 suspected German tax cheats holding bank accounts in Switzerland, media reported on Thursday.

Published: 5 October 2012 09:32 CEST

Tax authorities in the canton of Zurich are demanding 1.5 million francs ($1.6 million, €1.2 million) from the family of an Austrian man who committed suicide after he was arrested in September 2010 for stealing and selling the data to authorities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the ATS news agency reported.

The 42-year-old Credit Suisse employee reportedly received 2.5 million francs for the stolen data, which led German authorities to raid branches of the Swiss bank in 13 German cities.

According to ATS, Swiss authorities had blocked the heirs' access to his entire estate in anticipation of the tax payment.

The tax cheat data incident caused a major row between Germany and Switzerland, which reacted angrily, saying the data were stolen in violation of its banking secrecy laws.

As much as €180 billion in German assets are hidden in Switzerland, according to unconfirmed German media reports.

A tax deal between the two countries, aimed at ending such disputes, is to take effect in January 2013 but still needs to be ratified by both houses of the German parliament.

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AUSTRIA

Today in Austria: A round-up of the latest news on Friday

Find out what's going on today in Austria with The Local's short roundup of the news.

Published: 2 April 2021 10:21 CEST
Person getting vaccinated
AFP/ALEX HALADA

Extra doses of vaccine to come to Austria

Austria will receive 198,815 additional doses of Biontech Pfizer vaccine doses, after the EU purchased an extra 10 million for member states, Der Standard newspaper reports. Austria had hoped the EU would give it even more extra doses to make up for AstraZeneca delivery problems which means it may fall behind in vaccination this year. 

No Austria-wide lockdown for now, says Kurz

The lockdown in the eastern states of Austria will stay limited to these regions for the time being, Chancellor Kurz  said on Thursday.  He said the country’s intensive care units, showed big differences between regions. States should help each other in the admission of intensive care patients, the Wiener Zeitung newspaper reports. 

Record deficit in Austria 

The pandemic has driven the deficit in Austria  to a record level of 8.9 percent of GDP in 2020. The €33.2 billion missing from the state budget, is the highest deficit since records began in 1954. The national debt ratio also rose in 2020 by 13.4 percent to  83.9 percent of economic output, it reports. Preliminary results from Statistics Austria show government spending rose by 12.6% or €24.4 billion compared to 2019 to a total of €217.4 billion, the Wiener Zeitung newspaper reports. 

Unemployment fell in March

Unemployment fell significantly in March, but is still at a high level. At the end of March, 457,817 people were registered as unemployed or in AMS training, 51,106 fewer than last February and 104,705 fewer than in March 2020. The unemployment rate at the end of March was 9.4%, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points compared to February and 2.9 percentage points compared to March 2020, the Wiener Zietung newspaper reports 

E-moped sharing scheme comes to Vienna

A new e-moped sharing has been available in Vienna since Thursday. The Go Sharing company starts renting its e-mopeds. Initially the fleet will comprise 200 vehicles, by the end of the year 500 of the green-painted mopeds should be on the road, broadcaster ORF reports. 

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