Two years ago, the IRS and the US government engaged in a prolonged tussle with UBS bank of Switzerland over suspected wealthy US taxpayers hiding their assets in UBS bank accounts so as to avoid paying taxes. In the end, the US fined UBS $780 million and compelled it to disclose information on 4,450 American UBS clients on suspicion of tax evasion.

This year, a similar possible situation may unfold with another Swiss bank, Credit Suisse that has disclosed it is under investigation by the US Justice Department on the same grounds as UBS two years ago. So it appears that despite the recent developments and the IRS’ best efforts to fight tax evasion, the practice might still be prevalent.

This claim might be more fact than fiction with the most recent development of 2 separate indictments. The first one, revealed earlier this month by the US attorney in Manhattan, was that when UBS was going through its tussle with the IRS two years ago, one of its bankers left the bank and brought several American UBS clients with him. He later allegedly assisted them in opening secret accounts in 5 other Swiss banks.

Please see full article below for more information.