Swiss Banks, Tax Evasion | featured news

For decades, Switzerland was the place where money went to hide. Cash sent to its mountain aeries was protected by some of the strictest secrecy laws in the world.

A former Swiss banker on Monday supplied documents to WikiLeaks that he alleges detail attempts by wealthy business leaders and lawmakers to evade tax payments.

The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday disclosed the criteria being used by the Swiss banking giant UBS to select names of American clients that will be turned over to the agency as part of a settlement of a tax evasion case.

Swiss bank UBS AG warned U.S. customers by registered mail their account details may be given to U.S. tax authorities, a method that could itself breach secrecy laws, a Swiss paper said on Sunday.

Faced with a Thursday midnight deadline to avoid possible prosecution, more than 7,500 Americans have come clean about secret foreign bank accounts, a senior IRS official said in an interview for broadcast tonight on "ABC World News with Charles Gibson."

OECD confirms the country will go off their grey list following the signing of a 12th agreement on Thursday.

U.S. regulators will receive the names as part of an investigation of Americans avoiding taxes through the use of offshore accounts.

U.S. authorities are criminally investigating more than 150 Americans suspected of having concealed income and assets at Swiss bank UBS, in violation of U.S. tax laws, according to a filing on Tuesday in a federal court.

Negotiators initial settlement that averts legal showdown over U.S. government's landmark challenge to Swiss bank secrecy, lawyer says.

Reuters - Switzerland's UBS will not have to pay a fine as part of the settlement of a tax evasion dispute with the United States, two Swiss newspapers reported on Sunday.