Bloomberg BNA reports that Switzerland's parliament approved a six-month delay to enforce a bilateral Swiss-U.S. agreement on implementation of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The two chambers of the Swiss parliament agreed to change the implementation date from Jan. 1, 2014, to July 1, 2014.
The change is in line with the six-month extension of the withholding and reporting deadline under FATCA announced by the U.S. Treasury Department on July 12.
The Swiss parliament also agreed Sept. 27 to change dates in the bilateral agreement annex that sets out additional procedures for high-value accounts. Under the revised agreement, Swiss banks must complete enhanced review procedures for accounts with a balance or value above $1 million by June 30, 2015, instead of by Dec. 31, 2014.