US and UBS strike deal on client identities

[Ognir]

More bullshit, the Swiss should tell the Jewish Tax Collectors (IRS) for the Jewish owned FED to fuck off :lol:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c25cddd6-7dd3 ... abdc0.html

By Joanna Chung in New York and Daniel Dombey in Washington

Published: July 31 2009 14:25 | Last updated: August 1 2009 00:03

The US and Switzerland on Friday reached an agreement on the closely watched dispute over whether UBS should be forced to reveal the identities of thousands of its American clients.

Details of the settlement, which could deal a blow to Switzerland's famed bank secrecy, are still being negotiated by the two sides. However, Stuart Gibson, a lawyer for the US Department of Justice, told the federal judge presiding over the civil case in Miami that there was an "agreement in principle"' on the "major issues" and that the remaining issues were expected to be resolved within a week.
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The agreement marks a significant step in a diplomatic and legal row that began when the US demanded the names of 52,000 US taxpayers holding offshore accounts in Switzerland.

Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, said before a meeting in Washington with Micheline Calmy-Rey, her Swiss counterpart: "Our governments have worked very hard on this to reach that point, and so we're very pleased." Asked whether the US had remaining concerns about bank secrecy and tax evasion, she said: "There's been an agreement in principle."

Mrs Calmy-Rey said the Swiss government was "very satisfied" with the outcome.

Shares in UBS, one of the world's biggest wealth managers, rose nearly 7 per cent in New York trade.

If UBS does hand over client names, tax authorities in other countries could use this as a precedent that would further breach Swiss bank secrecy. Switzerland's image as a confidential haven for private assets had already taken a hit in February when UBS was forced to hand over 255 US client names suspected of using sham companies to evade tax.

The bank gave the names as part of a deferred prosecution agreement – in a separate but linked criminal action by US authorities – under which the bank also agreed to pay $780m.

The DoJ, which has taken an increasingly tough stance on tax evasion, has said that any settlement in the civil case "would necessarily'' include requiring UBS to provide information on a "significant number" of individuals to the Internal Revenue Service.

UBS said it had agreed to not comment further, at the request of the US and Swiss governments. This year, the countries began talks on revising their tax treaty to make it compatible with transparency standards set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the industrialised nations' club.

"The Swiss position is, as two sovereign states, the best way to deal with these issues is through a double taxation agreement," said the Swiss department of justice. "If the US were to force UBS to give the information, that would make it more difficult to ratify a double tax agreement." Switzerland has argued that the US case against UBS was contrary to the tax treaty between the countries that sets up a procedure for the exchange of data. Swiss lawyers contended that the US sanctions sought to "unilaterally circumvent" that procedure.

US lawyers say the likely agreement will focus on US citizens who had contact with UBS bankers on US soil to avoid claims that the US is attempting to force its law on Switzerland. An update on the settlement is expected on Friday