You just heard about this? I'm sure it is news to the US Senate as they are
complete dolts. This has been going on for many, many, many years. Just
blame it on Bush and drive on.
"NewsToBeRead" <NewsToBeRead@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:487ef29e$0$28860$88260bb3@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080717/tax_havens.html
>
> AP
> Senate: UBS, Liechtenstein aided US tax cheats
> Thursday July 17, 12:47 am ET
> By Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press Writer
> Senate re****t accuses UBS, Liechtenstein of aiding massive tax evasion
>
>
> GENEVA (AP) -- A U.S. Senate subcommittee accused banks in Switzerland
and
> Liechtenstein of helping wealthy Americans evade billions in taxes each
> year, and urged the establishment of tougher laws to combat offshore tax
> havens around the world.
>
> In a re****t released late Wednesday, the Senate subcommittee on
> investigations estimated that offshore abuses were costing U.S.
taxpayers
> about $100 billion a year.
> It recommended a range of reforms to squeeze tax cheats, including more
> stringent U.S. requirements for foreign banks and harsher penalties for
> financial institutions failing to provide the Internal Revenue Service
> with details on all accounts their American clients are holding.
>
> "Tax havens are engaged in economic warfare against the United States
and
> the honest, hardworking American taxpayer is losing," said Sen. Carl
> Levin, chairman of the subcommittee on investigations, which belongs to
> the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
>
> "The iron ring of secrecy around tax haven banks and their deceptive
> banking practices enable and encourage tax cheats to hide assets from
the
> United States," the Michigan Democrat said. "Congress needs to enact
> strong penalties on tax haven banks that help U.S. taxpayers avoid
paying
> taxes to Uncle Sam."
>
> The panel's ranking Republican agreed.
>
> "It is simply unacceptable that some individuals are using offshore tax
> havens and secrecy jurisdictions to shelter trillions of dollars from
> taxation, forcing working families to shoulder the burden," Sen. Norm
> Coleman of Minnesota said, adding that foreign banks were "exploiting
> gaping loopholes" in U.S. laws to act as "Al Capone safe houses for
> evading taxes."
>
> A Senate subcommittee hearing will be held Thursday.
>
> The 109-page re****t took aim specifically at Switzerland's UBS AG,
> arguably the world's largest wealth manager, and Liechtenstein's LGT
> group, owned by the principality's royal family.
>
> The Swiss Finance Ministry and UBS declined to comment. The bank has
said
> it is cooperating with Swiss and American investigations and will
disclose
> records involving U.S. clients who might have broken tax laws. But it
has
> also banned its Swiss bankers from traveling to the U.S.
>
> A U.S. federal judge ruled earlier this month that the IRS could serve
> legal papers to UBS in an expanding probe of U.S. taxpayers who may have
> used overseas accounts to hide assets and avoid taxes.
>
> The Justice Department requested the summons after former UBS private
> banker Bradley Birkenfeld, 43, pleaded guilty in a Florida federal court
> to defrauding the IRS. Birkenfeld, who is cooperating with
investigators,
> said in court that UBS has about $20 billion in assets in undeclared
> accounts for U.S. taxpayers.
>
> Prosecutors say Birkenfeld and others helped California billionaire Igor
> Olenicoff hide $200 million in assets overseas. Olenicoff, who controls
a
> real estate empire, pleaded guilty last year to tax charges and agreed
to
> pay the IRS more than $52 million.
>
> U.S. taxpayers are required to re****t all foreign financial accounts if
> their total value exceeds $10,000 at any point during a given year,
> prosecutors said. Failure to re****t the accounts can result in a penalty
> of up to 50 percent of the amount in the accounts.
>
> The subcommittee re****t said "UBS Swiss bankers targeted U.S. clients,
> traveled across the country in search of wealthy individuals and
> aggressively marketed their services to U.S. taxpayers who might
otherwise
> never have opened Swiss accounts."
>
> It said the bank's practices resulted in billions of dollars of U.S.
> taxpayer money in undeclared accounts that were not disclosed to the
IRS.
> The re****t said UBS has estimated that it has 1,000 declared accounts in
> Switzerland for U.S. clients against 19,000 undeclared, with a combined
> value of $17.9 billion.
>
> While UBS did not technically violate U.S. re****ting requirements under
> the 2001 "qualified intermediary program," it actively assisted clients
in
> structuring their Swiss accounts to avoid disclosure responsibilities
with
> the IRS and thus aided tax evasion, the re****t said.
>
> In some instances, it said UBS declined to re****t accounts to the IRS
when
> clients opened them in the names of offshore cor****ations, trusts,
> foundations or other entities, even if the bank knew the true beneficial
> owners were U.S. taxpayers.
>
> In Liechtenstein, the re****t said the royal family's LGT Group
contributed
> to a "culture of secrecy and deception" that enabled clients to "evade
> U.S. taxes, dodge creditors, and ignore court orders."
>
> Investigations linked to LGT have been launched in a number of countries
> since German authorities obtained a CD-ROM in February of some 1,400
> alleged tax cheats with accounts at the bank. Germany has since passed
on
> the file to other countries, including the U.S.
>
> The Senate re****t said LGT aided in tax evasion because it failed to
> disclose accounts to U.S. tax authorities; advised U.S. clients to
create
> front foundations in Liechtenstein for hiding assets; helped Americans
> hide assets elsewhere; and established "transfer cor****ations" to
disguise
> asset movements to and from Liechtenstein.
>
> The subcommittee said none of the accounts it has examined had been
> disclosed by the bank to the IRS.
>
>
>
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