New York: Switzerland will moot a special law
aimed at enabling the government to hand over bank account
details of alleged American tax evaders to the US.
"The Swiss government will propose a special law enabling
it to hand over data on US tax dodgers, a move aimed at
circumventing a court decision last month that blocked last
year's historic tax settlement with the US authorities," the
Wall Street Journal said in a report published online today.
Switzerland's proposed move comes in the backdrop of a
Swiss court blocking the tax settlement deal with the US,
whereby banking major UBS has agreed to disclose account
details of Americans suspected of tax evasion.
As per the report, a Swiss court ruled in January that
the deal violated Swiss law, where tax fraud is a crime, while
tax evasion is not.
"The court found the efforts by some UBS clients to hide
from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) weren't serious enough
to constitute tax fraud," it added.
According to the daily, the Swiss government would
package the UBS agreement as an ad hoc law and put it up for
vote by Parliament.
"The government will send the Bill to Parliament by the
end of March, but a vote isn't likely until June," the report
noted.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 18:21