UBS Plans to Give US Tax Authorities Names of US Clients - Report

Tom Burroughes

9 June 2008

UBS plans to give some customers' names to the US Justice Department to end an inquiry into whether it helped clients evade US taxes, the newspaper SonntagsZeitung said, citing a "high-ranking employee''.

Other media reports said the US tax authorities are moving to obtain details of US clients' tax details from the Swiss bank.

UBS will only give names of customers when it doesn't contravene Swiss banking secrecy laws, the newspaper was quoted as saying, citing a US-based employee who was not identified by name. That would cover only "a few'' clients, the employee told the newspaper. UBS said on 6 June that it is treating the case seriously.

The New York Times had reported on 6 June that UBS is considering whether to disclose the names of 20,000 US customers. US authorities are investigating whether some clients may have used offshore accounts at UBS to hide as much as $20 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service and dodge at least $300 million in taxes, the paper said.

Former-UBS private banker Bradley Birkenfeld has agreed to plead guilty in a tax-evasion probe in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mr Birkenfeld and Mario Staggl, a Liechtenstein banker, were indicted for helping wealthy Americans evade taxes by setting up sham corporations, although media reports last Friday suggested that Mr Birkenfeld's trial, due to start today, had been canceled without a reason being given.

Mr Birkenfeld and Mr Staggl marketed Swiss and Liechtenstein bank accounts to US nationals who wanted to evade US taxes, telling them that "Swiss and Liechtenstein bank secrecy was impenetrable,'' according to wording of an indictment.

The tax probe in the US comes as UBS continues to deal with the aftermath of $37 billion of write-downs that it has logged as a result of the credit crunch.