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?
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.
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.
Switzerland's largest bank will pay $780 million to the United States for helping 17,000 U.S. citizens evade paying taxes on offshore revenue, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday.
An increase in the number of individuals coming clean about secreting away money will mean greater government scrutiny of foreign bank accounts and complicit financial institutions, say tax attorneys.