Posted by offshorepedia on Mar 5, 2011 in Taxes | 0 comments
According to American Internal Revenue Service (IRS) more than 14,700 Americans have disclosed their secret foreign bank account under the amnesty program agreeing to repatriate the assets and pay back taxes and interest as well as reduced penalties. One major reason for this has without doubt been the between the IRS and the Swiss bank UBS where UBS has agreed to turn over the names of about 4,450 American clients suspected by the IRS of using the bank’s offshore services to evade taxes.
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Posted by offshorepedia on Feb 25, 2010 in Press Releases | 0 comments
Defendant Skimmed Proceeds from his Watch Businesses to Fund Secret Accounts
WASHINGTON – Jack Barouh of Golden Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty today to filing a false tax return, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Sentencing has been set for April 16, 2010, before U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan in Miami. The defendant remains free on a $1 million bail pending sentencing. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Barouh admitted to filing a false tax return for 2007 in which he failed to report that he had an interest in or a signature authority over financial accounts at UBS AG, one of Switzerland’s largest bank. He also failed to report income earned on his UBS Swiss bank accounts. The UBS accounts were opened in the names of Domilou S.A., a nominee Panamanian corporation, and Similen Investments Limited, a nominee British Virgin Island corporation. For years 2002 through 2007, the tax loss associated with the Domilou and Similen accounts at UBS is approximately $736,269.
In addition to the Domilou and Similen accounts, the defendant owned and controlled several additional offshore bank accounts located at banks other than UBS, including accounts in Switzerland and Hong Kong.
According to court documents, the defendant owned and operated several businesses that manufactured and sold watches. Beginning in 1976, the defendant skimmed income from his watch businesses and deposited the proceeds into his undeclared UBS bank accounts. The defendant also deposited unreported sales commissions into the accounts.
According to court documents, beginning in 2007, the defendant attempted to withdraw his funds from Switzerland and repatriate all of the money into the United States. However, a Swiss attorney persuaded the defendant to transfer the money from Switzerland to a newly created bank account in Hong Kong in the name of a nominee Hong Kong corporation. The Swiss attorney then told the defendant to pay himself an annual “consulting fee” until all of the funds were brought into the United States. The Swiss attorney knew the defendant was not going to perform any consulting work.
As part of his plea agreement, the defendant agreed to pay a 50 percent penalty for the one year with the highest balance in his offshore accounts in order to resolve his civil liability for failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, Forms TD F 90-22.1. The highest balance of all of the assets the defendant owned and controlled offshore was approximately $10,017,613. The defendant also must pay any additional taxes, interest and penalties he may owe.
“Today’s guilty plea is the latest success in our crackdown on illegal offshore tax evasion,” said John A. DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “The Justice Department and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices will continue our investigations and prosecutions of individuals who utilize offshore accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere.”
“Skimming from one’s business and placing the assets in a secret offshore bank account is a classic example of tax evasion,” said Jeffrey H. Sloman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “With tax day looming, today’s guilty plea is a reminder that those who violate the tax laws will be held accountable.”
“Hiding money in foreign bank accounts to evade paying taxes is a crime,” said Victor S. O. Song, Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. “The IRS will continue our efforts to bring non-compliant taxpayers into the tax system either through the voluntary disclosure program or criminal prosecution.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General John DiCicco and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the IRS agents involved in this case, as well as Senior Litigation Counsel Kevin M. Downing and Trial Attorney Mark F. Daly of the Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Neiman, who are prosecuting the case.
In February 2009, UBS entered into a deferred prosecution agreement pursuant to which the bank admitted to helping U.S. taxpayers hide accounts from the IRS. As part of their agreement, UBS provided the United States government with the identities of, and account information for, certain United States customers of UBS’s cross-border business. Jack Barouh is the seventh former client of UBS to plead guilty to a tax felony.
U.S. citizens who have an interest in, or signature or other authority over, a financial account in a foreign country with assets in excess of $10,000 are required to disclose the existence of such account on Schedule B, Part III of their individual income tax return. Additionally, United States citizens much file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or F-Bar, with the U.S. Treasury, disclosing any financial account in a foreign country with assets in excess of $10,000 for which they have a financial interest in or signature authority, or other authority over.
More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/.
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Posted by offshorepedia on Dec 5, 2009 in In the Media | 0 comments
Author: Aurelia Masterson
Executive Summary – There is a political party in Switzerland called the SVP party. It is the country’s largest party. It is angry over the USA versus UBS fight and wants retaliation against the USA. Here we go. Some of the retaliatory measures proposed were as follows:
They said the Swiss National Bank should repatriate the gold it has stored in the USA. Ouch.
The Swiss should ban the sale of US funds in Switzerland to protect Swiss investors after the financial crisis in the USA. The Swiss banks alone have about 3 Trillion dollars and then add in the insurance companies, stock brokers etc. Doom and Gloom on Obama.
The Swiss said they should no longer represent the USA in countries where the US has no diplomatic relations. Hmmmm that will be fun.
The Swiss should not take in any detainees from Guantanamo if in fact they ever close the place as promised. Nice.
The SVP party said they would call for an urgent debate in Parliament to find other ways to protect Swiss Bank Secrecy from further foreign blackmail. This gets a five star rating. Discussion – Obama is way too inexperienced, insecure and weak to stand up to Swiss in the midst of a life threatening financial crisis the USA is in. The Swiss win this one is my guess and the USA loses face. When Obama was a very junior Senator with one year under his belt he started with the Tax Haven Abuse Act, which never went anywhere. Now things are different in that the USA is fighting for its life. Now that the Swiss told the USA to go fly a kite other countries will follow suit for sure.
I would not be too quick to look for Obama handing out money in the form of financial aid for those that comply with his wishes and give up the banking business in their country. This might be the end of the USA international financial terrorism. What is needed is a new international bank wiring system that the USA cannot monitor. Then bring back the old numbered accounts without any need for a beneficiary owner that is a real person and we are back.
In the old days you walked into a lawyers office and bought a shelf corporation with a bank account that had $200 in it. You got two books of checks signed in blank by the lawyer who was the signatory on the account. These were the days before 9/11 and online banking was not so popular and checks were used. The bank had no idea who you were. Lawyers were not having their feet held to the fire for signing on the bank accounts and were need being imprisoned for crimes the client committed. Go Zurich, Go.
-Published 06/10/2009 by Aurelia Masterson, www.panamalaw.org
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