Banking Secrecy Is Here to Stay: Buy Swiss Banks

Tue, 02/16/2010 - 06:17 EDT - Seeking Alpha

Soner Kistak submits: Historically, speaking; under the Swiss principle of bank secrecy, privacy is statutorily enforced, with Swiss law strictly limiting any information shared with third parties, including tax authorities, foreign governments or even Swiss authorities, except when requested by a Swiss judge's subpoena However banking is not strictly anonymous since under its banking law all Swiss bank accounts.. This law only permits a bank to share information with others in cases of severe criminal acts, such as identifying a terrorist's bank account or tax fraud, but not simple non-reporting of taxable income (called tax evasion in Switzerland).Any bank employee violating a client's privacy could be punished quite severely by law. Bilateral treaties negotiated in 2009 between Switzerland and a number of countries may weaken secrecy related to tax evasion; as did a special agreement negotiated in 2009 between the USA and Switzerland concerning clients of the bank UBS SA. This description taken from Wikipedia roughly summarizes the concept of banking secrecy and the current discussions around its current standing.Complete Story »

Original article
Login to post comments

Canadian banks face new rules as Cayman Islands accord makes it tougher for wealthy to hide money
The Cayman Islands, known as a haven for wealthy Americans seeking to stash cash overseas without scrutiny from the U.S. government, is about to become less secret. An agreement between the countries will put in place the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca. The 2010 law makes it tougher to hide money overseas because foreign banks must report their accounts to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or face, in some cases, a 30% withholding tax.
The Great Global Tax Grab is Already Underway
The world will soon be facing a tsunami of defaults on bad debts. This will include municipal or local government defaults such as the one now occurring in Stockton California, governments “defaulting” on promises they’ve made to the people (Social Security, Medicaid), a default on the social contract between society and politicians such as the one in Cyprus (a default on the notions of private property and Democracy), stealth defaults on debts in the form of inflation and finally, of course, outright sovereign defaults.
US anti-tax evasion law, FATCA, starts to hit home
Washington (AFP) - The US Treasury has opened a new front in its war against offshore tax evasion. But for some it amounts to financial imperialism.
Senate Accuses Swiss Bank of Helping Americans Evade Taxes
Switzerland’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse, has been accused of helping U.S. customers evade billions of dollars in taxes. A Senate report released on Tuesday details how Swiss banks, including Credit Suisse, allegedly used cloak-and-dagger practices to aid and abet tax evasion by their U.S. customers. The report follows a two-year investigation by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. According to the report, more than 22,000 U.S. customers held accounts with the Swiss bank, with assets totaling $13.5 billion (12 billion Swiss Francs) at their peak.
Senate Accuses Swiss Bank of Helping Americans Evade Taxes
Switzerland’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse, has been accused of helping U.S. customers evade billions of dollars in taxes. A Senate report released on Tuesday details how Swiss banks, including Credit Suisse, allegedly used cloak-and-dagger practices to aid and abet tax evasion by their U.S. customers. The report follows a two-year investigation by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. According to the report, more than 22,000 U.S. customers held accounts with the Swiss bank, with assets totaling $13.5 billion (12 billion Swiss Francs) at their peak.
Credit Suisse CEO fights back on tax evasion claims
By Katharina Bart
The Swiss Government And The Justice Department Are Hammering Out A Way To Go After Tax Evaders
ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss government agreed on Wednesday to create a legal basis that will allow its banks to settle investigations by U.S. authorities into their role in helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in tax.
Switzerland Next: Swiss Banks Set To Foward Confidential Bank Client Data To U.S. Officials
Complete the following SAT logic question: Cyprus : Russian depositors :: Switzerland : [X] If you answered X = US depositors (for now... soon many more), you are correct.
Swiss Banks Expose Secret Accounts - And Themselves
Markos Kaminis (Wall St. Greek) submits: Your favorite secret Swiss banker is turning you in, and if you have ignored the IRS' kind offer to disclose your account information ahead of time, you might find yourself in prison soon.
Government Sues UBS for Client Names
When UBS struck a $780 million deal with U.S. prosecutors this week, it agreed to hand over the names of up to 300 wealthy Americans who may have cheated on their taxes by secretly stashing money in that country. But the case is far from closed.

Main menu

Secondary menu

Banking Secrecy Is Here to Stay: Buy Swiss Banks

Related

Latest

Markets Map

Follow Us

Secondary menu