Posts tagged as:

Switzerland

Holes in Swiss Tax Case: Swiss Claim Tax Evasion Not a Crime

8 July 2009

As it turns out, the Swiss do have a little fight left in them after all.
The Swiss government has now advised that it would seize financial records from UBS rather than allow them to be turned over to the US. The Swiss Department of Justice and Police filed a statement in federal court advising [...]

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Are the Feds Backing Off UBS?

23 June 2009

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, [...]

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Oh Yeah?! Well, Your Cheese Stinks!

11 May 2009

Germany, like the US, has been highly critical of countries considered to be tax havens. Mostly, those are countries outside of Europe with financial and banking secrecy laws meant to woo (mostly) westerners with the lure of escaping taxation. There are a few notable exceptions within Europe: Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
All three [...]

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G-20 Ready to Make a Statement About So-Called “Tax Havens”

2 April 2009

For years, it was believed that you had to be mega-rich to have accounts in exotic locations. Switzerland, for example, was the millionaire’s playground. Billions and billions of dollars were *allegedly* stashed in secret accounts, “safe” from the probing fingers of Uncle Sam. Along with Switzerland, countries such as Liechtenstein, developed successful [...]

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UBS Accused of Being a Tattle-Tale

26 February 2009

Alp? Check.
Chocolate? Check.
Banking secrecy? Not so much.
The culture of Switzerland may be changing. At the forefront of the change may be its uber-secret banking laws. Switzerland is being forced to re-examine the way it does business in response to pressure from a number of countries, including the US, the UK [...]

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UBS Chair Indicted on Tax Evasion Charges

13 November 2008

Raoul Weil, the UBS bank chair and CEO of global wealth management, has been indicted on charges relating to tax evasion. He is accused of helping US taxpayers hide nearly $20 billion (yes, with a b) in assets from the IRS. After the indictment was made public, Weil, not surprisingly, agreed to step [...]

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Germany Tired of Holes in Swiss Policy

22 October 2008

Switzerland likes to think of itself as a neutral tax haven. Germany, however, thinks that its much more menacing than that, with Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister, out and out accusing the Swiss of trolling for tax evaders, saying:
Switzerland offers conditions that invite the German taxpayer to evade taxes.
Steinbrück went so far as [...]

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Au Revoir, Les Taxes!

16 December 2006

Sooo…  Elizabeth Taylor reportedly tried to do it.  Ditto Madonna and, if you believe the rumours, the rock group U2.  Yeah, you know what I’m talking about:  moving to avoid taxes.
It’s not just the US with complaints about taxation.  Many countries in the EU routinely complain about their high rates of taxation, among the highest [...]

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