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UBS Offshore Tax Fraud Case Takes Another Twist
UBS Swiss Bank account owners who did not make a voluntary disclosure to the IRS last year breathed a sigh of relief when the lower house of the Swiss Parliament voted against amending the U.S. Swiss Tax Treaty to allow the handover of the names of U.S. holders of Swiss bank accounts who are suspected of tax evasion by the IRS. The story has more twists and turns than a John Grisham novel, most of which I have previously blogged about. To summarize briefly:
• A report by a disgruntled ex-employee of UBS led to the indictment of Bradley Birkenfeld a former UBS Swiss banker. Revelations by Birkenfeld led in turn to the indictment of UBS which paid 750 million dollars to the IRS to settle the criminal case. UBS turned over the names of 250 holders of offshore bank accounts.
• 150 of these UBS Swiss bank account owners are under active investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (CI), and the tax attorneys at the Department of Justice