Banking Secrecy Is Here to Stay: Buy Swiss Banks

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.

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.

The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday that a federal court had authorized the Internal Revenue Service to seek information on U.S. taxpayers who may have accounts at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB).

(Reuters) - Calling them "tax cheats" and their lawsuit a "travesty," a U.S. appeals court threw out an effort by some American customers of UBS AG to recover damages over bank services that resulted in their having evaded U.S. taxes.

The plea, in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, marks the death knell for one of Switzerland’s most storied banks, whose original European clients pre-date the American Revolution. It is also potentially a major turning point in a battle by U.S. authorities against Swiss bank secrecy.

For some years now, Swiss Banks have not been willing to take on U.S. clients because of the aggressive tactics of the U.S. IRS. Since they hauled UBS over the coals for harboring U.S. tax evaders and continue to investigate many Swiss Banks, the IRS has posed a threat to Swiss companies operating in the United States. No matter where they live in the world, fear of being involved with a U.S. tax evader has put the wind up Swiss companies, and understandably so.