You may be thinking that some of your money should be outside the USA. The government suspects this. So, it is cutting off your escape hatches. It does not trust you.
The government has charged a 271-year-old Swiss bank with criminal charges. Its crime? Obeying Swiss law.
Swiss law does not honor U.S. laws on tax evasion. So, it broke no law in Switzerland. It had no branch office in the USA. But the IRS will prosecute.
Result? The bank has closed its doors.
The tax money is peanuts: under $1.3 billion. That would not run the government for more than a few hours. Then what is this all about? Making sure Swiss banks refuse to deal with Americans.
Your escape hatches are closing.
Read this.
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US prosecutors have filed criminal charges against Wegelin, a 271-year-old private Swiss bank, for allegedly helping Americans evade paying taxes on $1.2bn in assets, marking the first time US authorities have indicted an overseas bank for aiding tax fraud.
The indictment, a dramatic move that is often a death knell for financial institutions, follows Wegelin’s sale of its non-US business last week to Switzerland’s Raiffeisen, a co-operative banking group, for an undisclosed amount. The sale came two weeks after the US Department of Justice announced criminal charges against three Wegelin bankers and implicated senior Wegelin executives in court filings. . . .
The investigation has ricocheted around Zurich and comes as the US and Swiss are trying to negotiate a tax deal concerning undeclared US accounts. It is not clear how the criminal charges levied against Switzerland’s oldest private bank will affect the negotiations.
At the time of the sale, Pierin Vincenz, Raiffeisen’s chief executive, said the bank had lengthy discussions with Switzerland’s Finma supervisory authority, which is one of the Swiss government bodies involved in the negotiations with the US. . . .
LOL.. IRS picking on the wrong people now.. Things going to get ugly.
This is to be expected of a Soviet like dictator, but a US department? Welcome to the Hunderland!
I'm not understanding this. Why didn't the Swiss bank just say "buzz off" to the IRS? Why do they care what the IRS or any other country says? What am I missing here?
How can the U.S. prosecute a business operating legally inside of their own country of origin? I don't get this?
Does not compute!!!
What you are missing is the knowledge that the Swiss government itself is one of many lackeys of the U.S. government. So when the U.S. tells the Swiss to jump, they ask, "how high?"
Follow the money. Why profits from this?
Not this time..The Swiss take their banks and, privacy of their clients very seriously.. Their Nations strength is founded and rides on that.
Then why did the bank close? From the article: "Result? The bank has closed its doors." If the bank has closed, how did it win? If that is winning, I been trying to hard.
Where are you getting this idea? What you speak of is the way it used to be, but it isn't like that anymore. Reuters reported today that the Swiss Finance Ministry handed to U.S. authorities data on Swiss bank employees who served U.S. clients suspected of evading taxes. The Swiss are cooperating with the U.S. to the detriment of its nations banks and banking clients. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/03/us-usa-…
Maybe that should be “Welcome to Holderland”
They got to them through their correspondent bank, UBS, which does have branches in the US. Under which jurisdiction the bankers are being prosecuted, I don't know. And, it's an interesting question.
Or welcome to the Fatherland ….. maybe if the Swiss will just cede the Sudetenland to the U.S.A. …we'll play nice …. OH WAIT !! it's not the Swiss' to cede …hmmmm better cede us something …like your country's sovereignty… fair enough ???
Guess the next best thing to protect yourself is to buy gold or silver and hide it somewhere. Or buy up lots of good whiskey as you will be able to sell it when the dollar goes to zero. Now you have to indicate on your income tax form whether you have an account with your name on it outside the US. The government is going to squeeze every cent out of its citizens. Those of us who have worked hard, played by the rules, and saved and invested our money are going to be penalized by our government so that they can give our hard-earned taxes to those who refuse to work and are on the public dole. I know people who are stocking up on food and guns for they fear the government is coming down the road to take everything they have.
repeal the income tax amendment and shed your chains.