Posts Tagged ‘Switzerland’
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
The U.S. Treasury Department announced on June 19 (see Treasury Press Releases) that Switzerland will agree to more exchange of financial information for tax enforcement purposes. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the new accord “will increase our ability to enforce our tax laws and will help bring an end to an era of offshore accounts and investments being used for tax evasion.”
Officials said the protocol would revise the existing US-Switzerland income tax treaty to allow for the exchange of information for income tax purposes “to the full extent permitted by Article 26 of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Income Tax Convention.”
Article 26 of the OECD Model Income Tax Convention is the “exchange of information” clause that most countries use as their “exchange of information” paragraph in International Tax Treaties. The change in the US–Swiss Tax Treaty means that the Switzerland definition of “tax fraud” will not control the information that may be given to the US authorities under the US - Swiss Tax Treaty. In the past, Switzerland would not give information to the US under a tax treaty request unless the information led to “tax fraud” as defined by the Swiss law. “Tax fraud” under Swiss law is very narrow and does not meet the US standard of “tax evasion” that most US tax treaty requests encompass.
Article 26 of the OECD Model Income Tax Convention states:
“The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall exchange such information as is foreseeably relevant for carrying out the provisions of this Convention or to the administration or enforcement of the domestic laws concerning taxes of every kind and description imposed on behalf of the Contracting States, or of their political subdivisions or local authorities, insofar as the taxation thereunder is not contrary to the Convention.”
Now, the question will become, after the US - Swiss change, what if “foreseeably relevant” in the Switzerland’s opinion. This may be a whole new area for litigation in Switzerland and the US for the collection of financial information from Switzerland.
Hey, no tax opinon here.
Bill Lowrance
Tags: foreign bank accounts, income tax, IRS, Offshore Accounts, secret bank accounts, Swiss Accounts, Switzerland, tax crimes, tax evasion
Posted in IRS, Offshore Accounts, Tax Crime, Tax Problems, income tax, tax news | No Comments »
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
Yesterday, May 6, 2009, the IRS posted on its website FAQs on more details of the settlement offer for unreported offshore income. The FAQs discuss the recently announced program for voluntary disclosure to the IRS of offshore bank accounts. The official Voluntary Disclosure can be found Click Here.
Those meeting the terms of the disclosure program will have to pay back-taxes and interest for six years, and pay either an accuracy or delinquency penalty on all six years. They will also pay a penalty of 20% of the amount in the foreign bank accounts in the year with the highest aggregate account or asset value, but will avoid criminal prosecution. The FAQs provide examples of what it would cost to take the settlement offer, spell out the potential civil and criminal penalties for those that don’t take the offer, and address the consequences of attempted “quiet disclosure” (i.e., filing amended returns). See FAQs Click Here.
If you have an unreported offshore bank account, it is important to consider the Voluntary Disclosure program. Coming forward and disclosing your information may save you a lot of money in penalties and, more importantly, may avoid criminal prosecution. In my practice, we offer legal expertise in this area along with accounting expertise. A former IRS International Revenue Agent works exclusively for me on my client’s cases. We analyze your entire situation including foreign transactions, amended returns, reporting requirements and meeting and negotiating with the IRS.
As always, my practice is client focused.
Bill Lowrance
Lowrance Law LLC
703 506 1600
No Legal Opinion Here
Tags: cirme, foreign bank accounts, Offshore, Offshore Accounts, secret bank accounts, Swiss Accounts, Switzerland, Tax Authorities, tax crimes, tax evasion, tax havens
Posted in Attorney, Controversy, IRS, IRS Audits, Offshore Accounts, Tax Attorney, Tax Crime, Tax Litigation, Tax Problems | No Comments »
Friday, March 13th, 2009
Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg agreed to share secret banking information in cases of tax evasion on Friday. Basically, these havens are agreeing to the OECD standards on financial information sharing. Of course, this is not an open season on the bank and financial information. These countries will consider various requests from other countries for banking information on a case by case basis.
The IRS has information sharing agreements with many tax havens, or as they like to call themselves–offshore financial centers. None of the countries, however, automatically turn over bank or financial upon a request from the IRS. There is a lot more to the process and procedure. Using various laws and procedures, the person or business subject of the request can delay or stop the requests. When I was a trial attorney for the Office of Chief Counsel, IRS, International Division I was involved in many local countries court proceeding challenging the IRS request. Some challenges are successful.
Anyway, read the NY Times story on the recent Swiss agreement:
The Swiss government bowed to pressure on Friday and agreed to conform to international standards on exchanging information in suspected cases of tax evasion, but it maintained that its principle of banking secrecy was in tact.
Two other countries, Austria and Luxembourg, announced steps to fend off a global crackdown on tax evasion by offering concessions before a meeting of leaders from the Group of 20 nations in London at the start of next month.
Read the whole story Click Here NYT
In another story, the Cayman Islands “Leader of Government Business,” Kirk Tibbets, announced that he and others from the Caymans met with US Congress to brief new members about the Cayman’s laws, positions and cooperation in sharing information under various agreements:
Part of the press release said: “[Purpose] to brief new members of key House and Senate committees about the quality of Cayman’s regulatory and international cooperation regimes, with specific reference to our longstanding and effective arrangements with the United States, and to glean any available intelligence on the US position in relation to the April G20 Summit.
My colleagues and I covered, between us, 30 meetings over two days. The people we met were receptive to what we had to say and appeared to have no particular ‘anti-Cayman’ - or even ‘anti- offshore’ - agenda. That is not to say that there are not those members of Congress who do, but they do not appear to reflect the majority sentiment. What came through most forcefully was that the policy environment in Washington is very fluid at the moment, and most of people’s energies and attentions are, understandably, taken up with the US economy, budget and financial system.”
Read the whole press release: Click Here
Bill Lowrance
No legal opinion here
Tags: foreign bank accounts, Office of Chief Counsel IRS, Offshore, Offshore Accounts, secret bank accounts, Swiss Accounts, Switzerland, tax havens, tax information exchange agreements, tax treaties
Posted in Attorney, IRS, Offshore Accounts, Tax Crime, Tax Problems | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
A few months ago, the IRS and US Department of Justice filed a court action against Swiss bank, UBS, the world’s biggest bank to the rich, requesting US citizens secret bank account information. See Story Here. UBS has given some information to the Department of Justice and the IRS.
The IRS is looking for secret bank accounts held by US citizens who may be committing tax fraud or evasion. See See Reuters Article
After the IRS gets the information, they will identify and locate the US citizen having the account. Believe me, the IRS will come knocking on your door.
Call me.
Bill Lowrance
Your Virginia Tax Attorney
Tags: Department of Justice, IRS, secret bank accounts, Swiss Accounts, Switzerland, tax evasion
Posted in Attorney, Controversy, IRS, IRS Audits, Offshore Accounts, Tax Attorney, Tax Crime, Tax Problems | 2 Comments »
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