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Expected U.S.-Swiss Plan Would Allow Turnover of Banker Data, Say Sources
By Colby Adams
printAn expected plan to resolve a U.S.-Swiss tax dispute will likely prompt a wave of disclosures by American taxpayers and clear the way for banks to turn over data on their employees. On Wednesday, Switzerland's Federal Council said it had agreed to a finalized joint statement with U.S. officials disclosing a settlement that would end the longstanding legal battle. The undisclosed plan is expected to permit hundreds of Swiss financial institutions to pay monetary settlements of various sizes and agree to temporary data-sharing with the United States in efforts to escape prosecution. The final settlement will largely mirror a plan...
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As a long-negotiated U.S.-Swiss tax settlement inches forward, some banks in Switzerland are asking themselves an unlikely question: can we disclose more?
A Geneva court's ruling clearing the way for bankers to know whether their employers have identified them to American investigators threatens to complicate a negotiated U.S.-Swiss tax deal, say sources.
A U.S.-Swiss plan to resolve a tax evasion dispute may absolve Switzerland's government from further action but will prove costly and time-consuming for participating banks, say attorneys.
Liechtenstein's oldest bank will pay nearly $24 million to the United States for aiding American tax evaders for at least a decade, the Southern District of New York disclosed Tuesday.
Swiss financial institutions will likely exploit gaps in a bilateral agreement between the United States and Switzerland to preserve bank secrecy for their clients, says the bestselling author of a book on money laundering.
The Swiss Federal Criminal Court stopped the transfer of banking data to Italy on the grounds the information sharing violated the rights of nine people accused of money laundering, the U.S. Treasury Department designated two Mexican nationals for their ties to Los Zetas cartel, and more.
Without the threat of larger monetary settlements or prosecutions, financial institutions have little economic incentive to seriously enforce their anti-money laundering compliance controls, according to Peter Reuter, a professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Maryland.
The indictment of a now-defunct Swiss financial institution and threatened charges against the country's largest publicly-owned bank fueled Switzerland's decision last month to seek a broad data-sharing agreement with American officials.
Even as Swiss and U.S. authorities near an expected settlement over American allegations of tax evasion, some financial institutions in Switzerland are informing their clients how to disguise money abroad, say industry sources.
As Switzerland nears approval of a draft law allowing for greater financial data-sharing, Swiss officials will again find themselves navigating between two competing interests: protecting the nation's bank secrecy and pleasing those who wish to dismantle it.
A tax data agreement between the U.K. and Switzerland is likely to be nixed by EU officials because it falls short of transparency measures adopted by other countries, an advocacy group said Monday.
An expected agreement between the United Kingdom and Switzerland to tax half of the income of Britons keeping undeclared assets in Swiss bank accounts is a significant step backward in the fight against bank secrecy, say tax reform advocates.
Switzerland will begin disclosing account data on nearly 4,000 UBS AG clients within a week after Swiss lawmakers Thursday approved the handover, marking an unprecedented exception to the country's bank secrecy laws.
A decision by Swiss lawmakers to block a deal allowing UBS AG to turn over client data to the United States has left supporters of the agreement scrambling to find an alternative.
A Swiss proposal of how to circumvent a court ruling that blocked an August data exchange agreement may leave U.S. investigators with fewer names of suspected tax cheats than expected.
It is an exciting time for IRS investigators who are now able to examine the UBS AG accounts of over 4,500 U.S. citizens suspected of hiding assets offshore, according to John Everett, a licensed criminal investigator and certified fraud examiner based in Agoura Hills, California.
The dismissal last month of a $500 million civil lawsuit against UBS AG for allegedly contributing to terrorist attacks won't impact rulings on similar lawsuits against other banks, say analysts.
As many as a dozen countries are expected to press UBS AG for information on tax evaders following the bank's settlement last week with the United States, say tax analysts.
The U.S. Justice Department settlement with one of Switzerland's largest banks that requires the bank to divulge the names of thousands of suspected tax evaders could provide just one more trail leading investigators to financial institutions in Asia.
Switzerland's largest bank agreed Wednesday to release details to the United States on 4,450 accounts held by U.S. taxpayers suspected of failing to report a total of $18 billion in revenue, the parties said.