Net draws tighter around tax evaders as age of secrecy ends

Tax evaders will have fewer places to hide as an era of banking secrecy comes to an end with the signing of an international agreement to disclose non-resident accounts, the German finance minister has told The Times.

Wolfgang Schäuble will preside over a “paradigm shift” in the fight against tax evasion when at least 46 tax jurisdictions pledge on Wednesday to swap account information automatically with each other from 2017.

Mr Schäuble hailed the agreement as the dawn of a global standard that would trigger a rush to self-declare unpaid tax as people became aware that offshore or hidden accounts