Under Agreement, UBS to Give Up Over 4,000 Names

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Pascal Lauener/Reuters The Swiss finance minister and president, Hans-Rudolf Merz, center, arrives with Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the justice minister, right, and Micheline Calmy-Rey, the foreign minister, to discuss the UBS settlement on Wednesday in Bern.

By LYNNLEY BROWNING, NYT

The Swiss banking giant UBS on Wednesday reached a final deal with the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service in which it will ultimately disclose names and account details for more than 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of tax evasion.

Details of the settlement were unveiled Wednesday by the I.R.S. commissioner, Douglas Shulman.

The agreement, he said, also allows the Swiss government to work with other Swiss financial institutions to disclose the identities of other Americans who have hidden money offshore.

UBS will notify the clients whose names are to be disclosed in coming weeks, Mr. Shulman said. Clients still have time to reveal themselves before a voluntary disclosure program ends Sept. 23 to potentially avoid prosecution and steeper penalties and fines, he said.

Scores of Americans have come forward in recent months to disclose their secret accounts to the I.R.S. That group of people, along with the "thousands" of names Mr. Shulman said that UBS would disclose, brings the total of UBS-related names to be disclosed to the I.R.S. to more than 5,000. The accounts at one point held over $18 billion, he said.

"These are the accounts we most wanted," Mr. Shulman said. But he said the United States government retained the right to resume its legal efforts to force banks to turn over names.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/business...tml?_r=1&hp

[mawilson 2,133]

... names and account details for more than 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of tax evasion.

A good example of what usually happens when you try to soak the rich.

Only 4,450 - with the Bush tax cuts in effect!

Imagine how many wealthy Americans will start evading taxes once Obama jacks up the top rate.

[Ban Hammer 13,369]

... names and account details for more than 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of tax evasion.

A good example of what usually happens when you try to soak the rich.

Only 4,450 - with the Bush tax cuts in effect!

Imagine how many wealthy Americans will start evading taxes once Obama jacks up the top rate.

imagine how many will take their money and leave the usa too.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

... names and account details for more than 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of tax evasion.

A good example of what usually happens when you try to soak the rich.

Only 4,450 - with the Bush tax cuts in effect!

Imagine how many wealthy Americans will start evading taxes once Obama jacks up the top rate.

imagine how many will take their money and leave the usa too.

Probably the same number who left under Reagan when it was even higher. The wealthiest in the US have steadily been paying less tax than they ever have in the last 100 years. If that's an indication that we're heading towards Socialism, somebody's got their political compass all screwed up.

[luckytxn 2,264]

A Socialist country given up their highly regarded privacy promises to the new Socialists on the block.

Who saw this coming?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

A Socialist country given up their highly regarded privacy promises to the new Socialists on the block.

Who saw this coming?

Rainman sure did.

[mawilson 2,133]

... names and account details for more than 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of tax evasion.

A good example of what usually happens when you try to soak the rich.

Only 4,450 - with the Bush tax cuts in effect!

Imagine how many wealthy Americans will start evading taxes once Obama jacks up the top rate.

imagine how many will take their money and leave the usa too.

Probably the same number who left under Reagan when it was even higher. The wealthiest in the US have steadily been paying less tax than they ever have in the last 100 years. If that's an indication that we're heading towards Socialism, somebody's got their political compass all screwed up.

Paying less than ever as a percentage of their income, but more than ever in absolute terms and

as a percentage of the total.