Belgians stashing €60 billion in Swiss banks

A new report has revealed the extent that some of Belgium’s wealthiest citizens have gone to avoid paying their taxes. A professor at the London School of Economics has crunched the numbers from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and has found that Belgians have a cool €60 billion hidden away in Swiss accounts, and he says that this estimate is conservative.

The latest figures are more than double what Belgium and Switzerland were led to believe when the two countries began discussing how Belgium could retrieve some of its tax assets in autumn 2012. At the time the conversation revolved around 30 billion euros deposited by Belgians, but the latest calculations show the true extend of tax evasion amongst country's rich.

However, getting some of the funds back to Belgium will be a challenge as the information provided by SNB only indicates the money’s country of origin, and not the individual.