Ubs, Tax Evasion | featured news

The U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to ask a judge to reduce the jail sentence of Bradley Birkenfeld, the key informant in the U.S. tax fraud case against Swiss bank UBS AG, the New York Times said, citing a person briefed on the matter.

The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday disclosed the criteria being used by the Swiss banking giant UBS to select names of American clients that will be turned over to the agency as part of a settlement of a tax evasion case.

Swiss bank UBS AG warned U.S. customers by registered mail their account details may be given to U.S. tax authorities, a method that could itself breach secrecy laws, a Swiss paper said on Sunday.

Faced with a Thursday midnight deadline to avoid possible prosecution, more than 7,500 Americans have come clean about secret foreign bank accounts, a senior IRS official said in an interview for broadcast tonight on "ABC World News with Charles Gibson."

U.S. regulators will receive the names as part of an investigation of Americans avoiding taxes through the use of offshore accounts.

U.S. authorities are criminally investigating more than 150 Americans suspected of having concealed income and assets at Swiss bank UBS, in violation of U.S. tax laws, according to a filing on Tuesday in a federal court.

Reuters - Switzerland's UBS will not have to pay a fine as part of the settlement of a tax evasion dispute with the United States, two Swiss newspapers reported on Sunday.

U.S. has been seeking data on depositors suspected of using UBS bank accounts to hide cash from IRS.

The government said it would seize the bank’s client data, which U.S. authorities have demanded to settle a tax case.

Swiss bank UBS AG "systematically and deliberately" violated U.S. law by dispatching private bankers to recruit wealthy Americans interested in evading taxes and must be forced to reveal the identities of 52,000 of those clients, the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday.