Switzerland has stepped closer to completing its 13 planned double tax agreements by signing with the UK.

Initialled agreements remain to be signed with Mexico, USA, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, and Finland. By initialling the pages of the agreement the parties have signified their approval of the contract before its finalisation. The agreements all conform with Article 26 of the OECD's Model Tax Convention, which creates an obligation for countries to share relevant data for tax enforcement.

Switzerland has negotiated a raft of agreements with other nations in recent weeks as it responds to pressure to co-operate with other countries seeking to crack down on tax evaders.

“The days when hiding money off-shore represented a viable means of evading UK tax are rapidly drawing to a close,” said Stephen Timms, financial secretary to the UK Treasury.

Since March, the Swiss government has opened negotiations on 13 double taxation agreements that will together remove the Alpine state from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development grey-list of jurisdictions that have promised to sign such deals but have not yet done so.

“Transparency and information exchange are the foundation on which fair and effective tax systems are built,” said Dave Hartnett, HM Revenue & Customs' permanent secretary for tax, who described the spread of global tax regulation as inevitable.