IRS Wants Info on 52,000 Swiss Banks Accounts

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has release details showing it expects Swiss bank UBS AG to turn over to the IRS information on as many as 52,000 U.S. customers suspected of illegally hiding assets in UBS accounts in order to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

According to DoJ estimates, the 52,000 secret UBS accounts held about $14.8 billion in assets, including cash and securities. Court documents allege that U.S. citizens failed to report and pay U.S. income taxes on income earned in those secret accounts.

The US government also alleges that UBS offered some “special” services to its wealthy, yet secretive, U.S. customers, including advising them on how to hide their money and setting up dummy offshore companies making it easier for them to avoid reporting income to the IRS.

"At a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes and their health care, it is appalling that more than 50,000 of the wealthiest among us have actively sought to evade their civic and legal duty to pay taxes," said John A. DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division in a press release. "It is time for those who are trying to hide from the IRS to rethink their actions."

The IRS has estimated that the U.S. “tax gap,” the difference between the annual amount of taxes owed and the amount voluntarily paid on time, runs over $350 billion a year, at the expense of honest tax payers.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman added, “As Commissioner, I am committed to bringing to bear the full arsenal of IRS resources to pursue egregious offshore tax abuse. International tax issues are a top priority, and we will continue to aggressively pursue people hiding assets offshore.”

Commissioner Shulman suggested that people still hiding their money offshore should quickly “get right” with the IRS. “Having the IRS find you could mean a much heavier price than coming forward on your own,” he said chillingly.