US v Swiss Banks: The US Department of Justice issued a letter to Swiss banks warning: “Each eligible Swiss bank should carefully weigh the benefits of coming forward, and the risks of not taking this opportunity to be fully forthcoming. A bank that has engaged in or facilitated U.S. tax-related or monetary transaction crimes has a unique opportunity to resolve its criminal liability under the Program. Those that have criminal exposure but fail to come forward or participate but are not fully forthcoming do so at considerable risk” U.S. taxpayers who have unreported Swiss accounts should note “Information required under the Program — no aggregate account data. Section II.D.2 of the Program requires specific information about each U.S. related account. If anyone is advising a bank that aggregate data is sufficient under the Program, he or she is mistaken” Under the Program Swiss banks may avoid prosecution if they come forward with information about how they were involved in assisting U.S. taxpayers to commit tax evasion and money laundering, and if the bank delivers data about the specific account holders to the Department of Justice. In exchange for cooperation the banks will not be prosecuted, but will face substantial civil penalties. Of course, that all assumes the bank knows the client did it.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 08:48:59 +0000
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