Senate investigates foreign bank tax shelters
Written on July 18, 2008
A U.S. Senate subcommittee is scheduled to hold hearings on Thursday on a practice by UBS (UAG.P: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other foreign banks that it says have helped wealthy Americans shield billions of dollars from taxes.
The hearings follow a six-month probe by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into practices by Switzerland’s UBS and LGT Bank in Liechtenstein. LGT is owned by Hans-Adams II, Liechtenstein’s prince.
Since 2001, UBS has an estimated $18 billion in assets from 19,000 accounts in Switzerland for U.S. clients, which have not been disclosed to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which collects taxes for the U.S. government, the subcommittee said in a written statement late Wednesday.
The IRS has identified at least 100 U.S. taxpayers with accounts at LGT, the subcommittee said.
UBS declined to comment on specific items in the report, but said Mark Branson, chief financial office of UBS’s Global Wealth Management and Business Banking since 2008, would appear before the subcommittee, chaired by Sen http://us-no-fax-payday-loans.com. Carl Levin.
“UBS also intends to address and correct in a responsible manner any misconduct identified in the course of the ongoing investigations by U.S. authorities,” UBS said in the statement.
Offshore tax evasion costs the U.S. an estimated $100 billion a year, according to the subcommittee report.
The report urged Congress to pass laws that would allow for strong penalties on banks that help U.S. taxpayers avoid paying taxes. It also urged authorities to close more loopholes in tax regulations and strengthen reporting requirements.
Filed in: term.