Switzerland has agreed a new bilateral framework on sharing tax information with the US, as it continues to ease its once strict banking secrecy.

In March, the Swiss government announced that it would start to abide by the current global standards on sharing bank data.

Switzerland is hoping these moves will help secure its removal from a list of countries considered likely tax havens.

In February Swiss bank UBS had to give the US details of 300 account holders.

From Lucy Komisar...

I used Elmer’s documents two years ago to show how the Julius Baer group adopted a plan in 1996 to utilize its Grand Cayman shell company Baer Select Management (on whose board he served) to help Julius Baer Investment Management New York and JBIM London evade U.S. and British taxes.

Most mainstream and alternative media were uninterested in the stories.

Here are the links.

Evening Standard (London): Swiss bank’s crafty strategy shows how difficult it is to clamp down on tax havens

Inter Press Service (IPS): How One Fund’s Profits Ended Up in the Caymans

Another story, which followed up an Elmer document about a company, partly owned by Julius Baer and registered in the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein, that sold tax evading “annuities,” was published only on this website, as the media was uninterested.

Ex-Rock Impresario Tony Defries lost $22 million in offshore tax evasion scheme

If the media cares about these stories now, it will show the power of WikiLeaks marketing. And underline the general failure of newspapers and broadcasters to cover such stories on their own.

see toon at top...

Credit Suisse used elaborate measures to help thousands of wealthy clients avoid billions of dollars in American taxes, a new report by a US congressional committee alleged.

The Swiss banking giant reportedly adopted measures that included taking clients to meetings in Zurich on remote-controlled, button-less elevators; handing the customer bank statements hidden in a Sports Illustrated magazine during breakfast at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York; and meeting clients at bank-sponsored events, including the annual “Swiss Ball” in New York and golf tournaments in Florida.

The report alleges Swiss bankers made 150 separate trips between 2001 and 2008 to the United States to meet clients and to solicit new business.

Credit Suisse also encouraged U.S. customers to travel to Switzerland, the report said, by providing them with a branch office at the Zurich airport that would offer a wide-ranging set of banking services. Nearly 10,000 U.S. customers availed themselves of that office. Once in Switzerland, clients were advised on how to engage in activities without creating a paper trail that could betray the secrecy of their Swiss accounts.

Read more: How Credit Suiss Helped Americans Evade Taxes | TIME.com http://world.time.com/2014/02/26/how-credit-suisse-helped-u-s-clients-evade-taxes/#ixzz2uTPxokI8

See toon and story at top...

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse AG will pay the largest monetary penalty of any criminal tax case after being found guilty of helping Americans avoid tax.

The bank has been fined more than $US2.5 billion by the US Justice Department after it pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of "wilfully aiding in the preparation of false income tax returns."

Deputy attorney-general James Cole says it is a good result given the length and depth of the multi-year investigation into the use of illegal offshore bank accounts.

"Today's guilty plea is an appropriate resolution, given the duration and breadth of Credit Suisse's conduct," he said.

Mr Cole added that the case showed that no financial institution was above the law.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Cole indicated that Credit Suisse is just the first of many cases the authorities are looking into.

"We have targeted 13 other Swiss banks for similar conduct," he said.

Recently, asset management firm Swisspartners Group settled a a multi-million-dollar case with the US Attorney's Office and produced account files of its clients.

US authorities, with the help of the Swiss Government, have had 100 Swiss banks come forward and reveal the details of their American clients who have evaded taxes.

The crackdown is paying dividends for the US government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-20/credit-suisse-faces-largest-criminal-tax-fine-in-us/5464208

---------------------------------

Actually my heading is wrong. One of my acquaintances got busted for having declared $4.56 on his bank account when he actually had $12.37. He's doing six month hard labour in one of the tax department jails for delinquents. I understand he does not have a lawyer.