2008 Liechtenstein tax affair

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The 2008 Liechtenstein tax affair was a series of tax investigations in numerous countries whose governments suspected that some of their citizens may have evaded tax obligations by using banks and trusts in Liechtenstein; the affair broke open with the biggest complex of investigations ever initiated for tax evasion in Germany.^[1] It was also seen as an attempt to put pressure on Liechtenstein, one of the few remaining uncooperative tax havens at the time, as identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, along with Andorra and Monaco, in 2007.^[2]

The affair prompted Liechtenstein to conduct extensive reforms to its banking and financial trust services. In 2010, the Liechtenstein government agreed to pay a 50 million euro fine to German treasury, and has since signed tax cooperation agreements with various countries.^[3]