According to Reuters, the Swiss Government is expected to set out soon how it wants to seal the settlement of a long-running tax dispute with US authorities over banks accused of helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in tax. A government-brokered settlement is largely agreed, according to sources, and is expected to involve fines of up to USid=”mce_marker”0bn and a handover of client names.
But Reuters said Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf needed to find a way to make the deal palatable in Switzerland, given the country’s tradition of strict bank secrecy, which has helped build a US$2 trillion offshore financial industry. Subsequently, a Government Bill put to the Swiss Parliament on Wed 29.5.2013, would let Swiss banks hand over internal information to US authorities in the hope of avoiding threatened criminal charges – though the banks still face fines likely to total billions of dollars. In a sign of rising US pressure, Reuters said Swiss bank Julius Baer confirmed on 28 May 2013 it had received an order from the Swiss authorities to hand over US client data to US IRS based on an existing Swiss-US tax treaty.
[LTN 103, 30/5/13]