The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday
it asked a federal court in Miami to authorize the Internal Revenue Service to
request information from UBS AG about U.S. taxpayers who may be using Swiss
bank accounts to evade federal income taxes, France24
reported.
The department said it seeks permission to allow the IRS to serve what is known
as a "John Doe" summons on the Zurich-based bank. The summons is used
to obtain information about possible tax fraud by people whose identities are
unknown.
On June 19, former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld pleaded guilty in federal
court in Florida to conspiring to defraud the IRS by assisting UBS clients in
avoiding U.S. reporting requirements on income in Swiss bank accounts.
According to Birkenfeld's court statement, UBS employees assisted wealthy U.S. clients in concealing their ownership of assets held offshore by creating sham
entities and then filing IRS forms falsely claiming the entities owned the
accounts.
If approved by the court, the summons will direct UBS to produce records
identifying U.S. taxpayers with accounts in Switzerland who elected to have
their accounts remain hidden from the IRS, department officials said.
UBS said it was aware that U.S. authorities were seeking a court order for the
records.
"UBS takes this matter very seriously and is working diligently with both
Swiss and U.S. government authorities, consistent with Swiss law and the legal
frameworks for intergovernmental cooperation and assistance," UBS
spokeswoman Rohini Pragasam said in a statement.
Birkenfeld said in court that UBS had about $20 billion of assets under
management in "undeclared" accounts for U.S. taxpayers.
The law requires a U.S. taxpayer to report all financial accounts in a foreign
country if the total value of the
accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.
"We are working cooperatively with both the Swiss government and UBS to
obtain this information. However, we are prepared to seek enforcement if that
process is not successful," Deputy Assistant Attorney General John DiCicco
of the department's tax division said in a statement.
IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said, "The information we gather from this
action will help us detect wealthy individuals who don't pay their taxes as
well as provide details about how advisors facilitate this abuse."
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