The Swiss government has not offered a financial settlement to end an ongoing U.S. tax investigation into a number of the country’s banks and remains willing to hand over bank client names as part of any deal, a spokesman said on Friday
ZURICH Nov 4 (Reuters) – The Swiss government has not offered a financial settlement to end an ongoing U.S. tax investigation into a number of the country’s banks and remains willing to hand over bank client names as part of any deal, a spokesman said on Friday.
Swiss banks Credit Suisse , Julius Baer and Basler Kantonalbank are among 11 Swiss banks under investigation in connection with allegations they helped Americans to dodge taxes.
The Swiss government has been in negotiations with U.S. authorities for months over a deal aimed at getting the investigations dropped in return for the payment of fines and the transfer of names of clients suspected of tax evasion.
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(Reuters) – The government of Switzerland has proposed a multibillion-dollar settlement with U.S. authorities over allegations that it helped wealthy Americans avoid billions of dollars in U.S. taxes, according to sources briefed on the matter.
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The proposed civil settlement, put forward in recent months by Swiss authorities to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, would cover all banks in Switzerland, numbering about 355, sources briefed on the matter said. It could reach $10 billion or more, said a source briefed on the matter.
The deal would include some 11 banks now under criminal investigation — among them Credit Suisse AG(CSGN.VX) and HSBC Holdings PLC(HSBA.L) — by the U.S. Justice Department, which suspects them of having enabled wealthy Americans to hide billions of dollars in assets in offshore accounts. Some experts view the deal as a long shot, in the face of an unprecedented crackdown by U.S. authorities.
Switzerland, which has watched the Justice Department indict scores of Swiss bankers and their American clients, is eager to resolve the matter once and for all, especially following a letter in August from a senior U.S. law enforcement official threatening even tougher action.
