US ramps up tax purge beyond UBS

Lawyers and other experts say that US prosecutors are taking advantage of the momentum of the US Government's UBS probe to strengthen its enforcement of US tax compliance globally.

Ian Comisky, a partner who specialises in tax litigation at Blank Rome, says the US government's action against UBS is highly unusual, the Financial Times reports. 'The government is being aggressive and taking a much tougher stance in general on the stashing of money offshore,' Comisky said.

But the potential number of names that could be revealed would frighten most Swiss bankers and UBS insiders have confirmed the group has about 20,000 US offshore clients, with about $20bn in assets.

Although some clients will have declared their assets to the US authorities, in spite of benefiting from legal provisions which do not require them to do so, the US probe into UBS has sparked alarm among US citizens concerned they may end up on a list of names.

For further reading:

Swiss go to Washington for tax evasion talks

Read the Financial Times story