No more tax havens for US citizens ?
UBS bank vowed Thursday to stop offering offshore banking services in the US after legislators accused it and other banks of helping wealthy Americans hide about 1.5 trillion dollars in overseas tax havens. Mark Branson, UBS’ chief financial officer of global wealth management, made the vow Thursday as a Senate panel was told that the country had lost 100 billion dollars in revenue to tax cheats hiding money with the help of foreign banks. US citizens are estimated to have hidden $ 1.5 trillion abroad, far way and safe (?) for the IRS. “We have decided to exit entirely the business in question,” Branson told the panel of senators. The hearing centered on a 115-page report into alleged abuses by UBS in Switzerland and the smaller LGT Bank in Liechtenstein.
UBS took this stance after being accused of aiding and abetting tax evasion and a US senator suggested to withdraw the banking license of UBS. How would “conspiring with US citizens to defraud the IRS” sound in a shareholders meeting ?
The report drafted by the senate, “Tax haven banks and US tax compliance” provides many examples of UBS practices that “facilitate”, “could have led” and “actually led” to tax abuse. One of the recommendation is that (tax haven) banks that do not disclose accounts held by US persons should be punished. Very interesting since the laws of many countries do not allow sharing account information with parties outside the country, the US tax authorities included. The tougher US stance in this issue will lead to many more interesting cases where the global reach of US laws will contrast will other countries’ legal framework… By the way; for US citizens and banks agressevely marketing in the US for personal banking the message is very clear..
http://www.abcnews.com/images/Blotter/REPORT-Tax%20Haven%20Banks%20(July%2017%2008).pdf
