Switzerland, Germany, to sign the agreement with tax evasion: report (AFP)

Zurich (AFP)-Swiss and German Governments are to sign an agreement early next month by putting an end to a long dispute on tax evasion by Germans who maintain secret Swiss bank accounts, a report said Sunday.

According to the newspaper Sonntagszeitung, the two sides of the ink an agreement that will allow 10 August, income from dividends and interest on funds deposited in Swiss accounts to be taxed, the newspaper said.

Although the exact tax rate is likely to be concluded is still approximately 25-26 percent, the report added.

While the German press recently reported that Swiss banks may have to pay 10 billion euro to German tax authorities in compensation for tax evasion over the last decade, the actual amount would be about two billion Swiss francs (1.8 billion/$ 2.5 billion) in the context of the agreement, said Sonntagszeitung.

That agreement would not only allow the resolution of tax disputes between the two countries, but also legalize assets deposited in Swiss banks by German citizens and allow them to remain anonymous.

Also a similar agreement could be signed soon with the Government in London that would see the British tax authorities have paid about 500 million Swiss francs, told the newspaper.

German and Swiss Governments, whose ties have been inaciditi for some time the dispute, have negotiated an agreement on double taxation for several years, which in future should help identify evaders.

The German authorities have made the fight against tax evasion in Switzerland and Liechtenstein a higher priority in recent years, controversially paying data confidentiality stored on the stolen computer discs.

Tax officials say they recovered 1.6 billion euros last year from taxpayers that had been identified through the data.

Some Swiss banks have struck their own deal with the German authorities, the private Bank Julius Baer agreed in April to pay 50 million euros at the end of tax evasion probes against it and its employees.

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