The New York Times says yes. The Justice Department says no.
I’m not sure what to believe but it does make you wonder what’s going on… The Times has suggested that the DOJ may back off its investigation of more than 52,000 über rich Americans who held secret accounts at the Swiss bank, UBS, citing concern over Swiss-American relations.
Ah, the Swiss. Purveyors of chocolate, cheese and secret US bank accounts. Are we really that concerned what they think about our efforts to resolve our own tax issues?
The Justice Department says no and has issued a statement saying that they will move ahead with asking the court to enforce the summons next week.
The bank, meanwhile, has already agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for its part in helping US taxpayers evade taxes. As part of that settlement, UBS has also admitted its guilt. Guilt. As in they said they did it. It would be odd at this point for the DOJ to just walk away with no names.
While I don’t believe the US intends to prosecute individual taxpayers, I do think they will chase those taxpayers for back taxes, penalties and interest. To decide against it now makes the IRS’ recent “voluntary compliance” efforts all a joke.
We’ll know more next week. Keep reading…
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