UBS U.S. clients with secret Swiss accounts to seek amnesty on tax evasion

Source: RTT News
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that U.S. cross-border investors of Swiss financial services firm UBS AG (UBS: News ) are seeking amnesty for evading income tax. The bank had helped about 20,000 U.S. customers evade income tax by concealing around $20 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS.

Reports suggest that UBS's cross-border investors are hiring tax lawyers and pursuing amnesty through an IRS voluntary disclosure program, fearing that the Swiss government would assist in the probe. Under the program, U.S. taxpayers can voluntarily acknowledge tax evasion and agree to pay taxes and penalties, in order to avoid criminal prosecution.

UBS stated on July 17 that it will cease providing cross-border private banking services to US-domiciled clients through its non-US regulated units. The company also said that it is fully cooperating with the investigation and working with all relevant authorities for a satisfactory resolution of the matter.

Meanwhile, the voluntary disclosure move is seen as a boon to IRS, as it could be impossible for the weakly staffed IRS to go after the nearly 20,000 customers. The move close on heels of the Swiss government having accelerated talks aimed at accessing data on the offshore accounts of U.S. taxpayers. LinkHere