After 32 years of IRS work — and more than $100 million in resolved tax debt — I've seen just about every version of the problem you're dealing with. I'm Darrin Mish, a tax attorney in Tampa. Here's what you should know.
The year-long dispute between UBS banking group of Switzerland and the US government over the identities of thousands of UBS account holders suspected of using their bank accounts to avoid paying millions of dollars of taxes seems set to continue. The Swiss government is negotiating on behalf of UBS and was supposed to have come to an agreement with US federal lawyers for an out-of-court settlement by Monday when a court hearing was scheduled to hear the case. But on Friday, the US Justice Department’s attorney, Stuart Gidbson asked for another week’s extension for negotiations to come to definite conclusion.
Only last week, the governments of both countries announced that they had come to an agreement in principle for the Swiss to release the identities of 5,000 clients strongly suspected of tax evasion and in exchange they would not be fined. But according to Gibson, there are a few details that have yet to be agreed upon so the negotiators have agreed to ask the court for the extension.
The dispute revolves around the identities of about 52,000 Americans who have been using their offshore Swiss bank accounts to conceal their assets and avoid paying taxes on them. The IRS seeks the details of these account holders but the Swiss say that revealing this information would contravene Swiss banking secrecy laws. Earlier in February, UBS had already given the IRS details of 250 clients and agreed to pay $780 million to defer being prosecuted for abetting tax evasion.
Needless to say, this case has become a public tussle between the US and Swiss governments and has somewhat soured US-Swiss relations. It became a subject of a discussion between US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and her Swiss counterpart, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey on July 31 this year.
Check out more IRS Reports stories by clicking that link.