Switzerland and the United States have signed a memorandum of understanding on technical and administrative interpretations of FATCA.  This is a long-awaited moment and we are keen to learn of the specific interpretations that will most likely serve as the foundation of the remainder of the accords.  The memorandum provides a summary of obligations of the Swiss financial institutions under FATCA as well as an easy way to generally apply definitions and implement provisions required by the US Department of the Treasury.  Financial firms would be obliged to inform the US tax authorities of non-compliant accounts and funds.

This is complementary to the other big news last week that the Swiss government proposed legislation that would permit banks to release certain information to the U.S. authorities as we wrote about in Swiss Bank Secrecy Veil Falls.

We will keep you updated as we receive more developments.