Current Tonight | August 03, 2009 | 5 comments

UBS and US government reach deal over $20 billion in tax cheats dispute

source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/31/ubs-tax-avoidance-us-switzerland

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bansheewail
The United States has reached an outline settlement with Switzerland's most powerful bank, UBS, on their long running $20bn (£12bn) tax evasion dispute that has severely damaged relations between the two countries.

It is thought that UBS will be ordered to hand over to US investigators about 5,000 American accounts suspected of tax evasion. Originally the US demanded 52,000 accounts from UBS in a move that forced the Swiss government to intervene.

If Switzerland does hand over accounts, it will in effect end any pretence of Swiss bank secrecy and may prompt an increase in cash withdrawals as the super-rich rush to protect their identities.

The case dates back two years when US tax investigators arrested Florida real estate tycoon Igor Olenicoff for tax evasion. Olenicoff accepted an offer of a reduced sentence in return for information about who organised the tax fraud.

His evidence established that UBS personnel devised sham companies to hide wealth and even smuggled diamonds in toothpaste tubes through customs.

In February, UBS paid $780m to settle criminal charges that it helped wealthy Americans evade taxes on nearly $20bn in offshore accounts. One day later, it filed the civil suit seeking to force UBS to disclose 52,000 client names.

There is no guarantee that an outline agreement will lead to a settlement, however. On Friday US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will meet Swiss foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey.

Andreas Missbach of the Berne Declaration, a Swiss economic justice campaigner, said the increasing involvement of the Swiss foreign ministry in the dispute was a sign that the country's more confrontational ministry of finance had failed to head off the row.

Switzerland has also attracted co-ordinated international action for its role as a tax haven and has pointedly not been invited to participate in G20 meetings to restore the world's economy. UBS, is not commenting on the case.
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5 comments // UBS and US government reach deal over $20 billion in tax cheats dispute

  • pjacobs51
  • carmalite
    • 0
      carmalite  
    • pjacobs51:

      Didn't Halliburton move to Dubai so they would not have to pay taxes in the USA? The USA gave these parasites no bid contracts that all of us honest patriotic Americans will have to pay for a long long time.
      Got to love the hypocricy of the rich Republicans. They don't love America, they just see her as something to rape and use up. When we have become the bananna republic they so want, they will all move to Switzerland of Dubai and leave the USA.

    • 2 years ago
  • Bren589
  • bansheewail
    • 0
      bansheewail  

    • 5,000 out of 52,000, hummmmm, I wonder how they picked those 5,000? The bottom line is, if you enjoy living in America while you reap the benefits of a free, secure, capitalist economy, then you should pull your weight. Period. There's "paying what you owe" and "cheating the country". There's no middle ground. One is a responsibility and the other is a crime. Period.

    • 2 years ago
  • carmalite
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