Swiss bend down and take it from the U.S.

[short&naked]

IRS gets access to 5,000 Swiss bank accounts

Government reaches deal to access to UBS accounts with up to $18 billion that U.S. investors might have used to avoid taxes.


http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/19/news/companies/ubs_irs/index.htm?postversion=2009081910

 

[bumblebuzzard]

Quote from short&naked:


Government reaches deal to access to UBS accounts with up to $18 billion that U.S. investors might have used to avoid taxes.

Well, it's a problem when you want to do business in a foreign country (the U.S.A.) and the laws are different from those of your home country.

I don't entirely like those U.S. laws, but I can't see any good reason why some wealthy U.S. citizens ought to be allowed to get away with illegal behavior just because the Swiss laws allow them to conceal it. Actually, from the standpoint of political theory (not just economics), there are good reasons to attack such behavior.

The correct word in the U.S. is 'evade', not 'avoid'. That itself is the problem.

 

[MohdSalleh]

dumbasses who still put their money into swiss accounts.

the smart money has already moved to secret bank accts in China,hkg and Singapore years ago where they know the USA wont touch it as the chinese will simply laugh and point the 3rd finger at uncle sam.

 

[puretruth]

Did the USA not want 50,000 banks accounts at first ?

What bank secrecy has Singapore,China , Hong Kong ?

 

[Copernicus]

Quote from puretruth:

Did the USA not want 50,000 banks accounts at first ?

What bank secrecy has Singapore,China , Hong Kong ?

you wont be able to open an account in singapore with a US passport with many of them, unless its a really non brand name operation.

 

[Banjo]

Shulman Says U.S. Expanding Tax Inquiry After UBS ‘Victory’

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anDJwVLw05tE

 

[TraderZones]

Quote from bumblebuzzard:

Well, it's a problem when you want to do business in a foreign country (the U.S.A.) and the laws are different from those of your home country.

I don't entirely like those U.S. laws, but I can't see any good reason why some wealthy U.S. citizens ought to be allowed to get away with illegal behavior just because the Swiss laws allow them to conceal it. Actually, from the standpoint of political theory (not just economics), there are good reasons to attack such behavior.

The correct word in the U.S. is 'evade', not 'avoid'. That itself is the problem.

+1. Swiss banking secrecy allows people to hide or evade taxes, a Swiss bank (UBS) specialized in helping its wealthy US clients to get wealth out of the country withuot following the "declare anything over $10K" rule, and they get angry because the US is enforcing its tax laws???

so, the rest of the US should pay more taxes because some try to evade them? I feel 0% sympathy for Switzerland or UBS.

 

[risktaker]

Seems like 1 lesson for anybody stashing dough in foreign bank acct, at least be sure bank doesn't have ANY US operations.

UBS is not a good choice in that regard.

 

[KINGOFSHORTS]

I bet a shit load of TARP money is sitting in swiss bank accounts.