Shareholder Sues UBS Over US Offshore Tax

The complaint alleges the Swiss bank concealed the scheme from U.S. authorities, while intentionally creating the impression the company's wealth-management group was experiencing unprecedented growth. The lawsuit also claims UBS routinely assured investors and analysts that it employed state-of-the-art risk management tactics and had robust internal controls to mitigate risks.

"These statements were all false and misleading because at the time they were made defendants were actively engaged in a tax-evasion scheme which, even when investigators had fingered some of the company's lower level client advisors, defendants ultimately could not abandon because it was simply too valuable to UBS," the lawsuit said.
The company's stock price "plummeted" when the scheme became public, the complaint said.

Save Your Self and Your Cash - Bank Offshore Now

From the front page of this morning's New York Times: "Only five days into the Obama presidency, members of the new administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are already dancing around one of the most politically delicate questions about the financial bailout: Is the president prepared to nationalize a huge swath of the nation’s banking system?"

To a large degree, the answer is that, thanks to George Bush, the last Democrat Congress and President Obama, billion dollar bailouts already have made banks wards of the U.S. government, feeding off taxpayer funds.

Switzerland's largest bank—UBS—has announced that it will close all the offshore accounts of its U.S. clients

It's no surprise that UBS wants to divest itself of its U.S. clients. Based on information from a former UBS employee turned IRS informant, U.S. prosecutors have demanded that UBS release the banking records of its 19,000 U.S. depositors. Armed with this information, prosecutors would have an open-and-shut case against any U.S. person who failed to report income or gain from their UBS account.

The Swiss government so far has refused to allow UBS to turn over these records, citing the country's bank secrecy laws. However, negotiations are underway that may permit banking records to be released on a case-by-case basis. If you're a U.S. person with an unreported offshore account at UBS—or anywhere else—contact a tax lawyer immediately for assistance. The IRS has you in their cross hairs.

Cayman Islands in the Foreign Press

January 20, 2009 – Amid a loss of confidence in offshore banking centers, the British government has announced it may implement an offshore bank account tax as part of a deposit protection scheme. The British government may impose a tax on offshore bank accounts as part of a deposit protection scheme amid the global financial crisis, financial consultancy Zetland reports.

The tax levy on income from offshore bank accounts would be in return for the guaranteeing of a certain level of cash deposits, Hong Kong-based Zetland says on its website. The plan is part of review announced by the Chancellor in December’s pre-budget report that will examine the regulation and transparency of offshore havens, as well as their tax arrangements.

The move comes as confidence in offshore banking has plummeted after thousands of British savers lost money in offshore accounts owned by Icelandic banks last year. The offshore review will cover Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla, but not Luxembourg.

Offshore Credit Cards: Super Rich Use Offshore Credit Cards

Using Offshore Credit Cards

Although many successfully employ their offshore credit cards there are some pitfalls associated with their use, says David Finzer, CEO of Offshore Banking House Capital Conservator. For example a US citizen has recently ended up in court charged with tax evasion because he used his offshore card to buy luxuries in the US with un-taxed dollars from an offshore account.

Investors frequently use offshore credit cards in their home countries, however this individual did not count on there being video cameras in 400 of the cash points he visited. It is difficult to disprove video being caught on camera using a card with your name on it.

Big U.S. Companies Love Tax Havens

In a 60-page report released Friday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office offers some eye-opening details on U.S. companies' use of tax havens and "financial privacy jurisdictions," which the agency defines as "jurisdictions that have strict banking secrecy laws that persons can use to shield their wealth from taxation in their home country." As many as 83 of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. corporations by revenue have subsidiaries in one or more such haven or jurisdiction, according to the report.

Indeed, four of the firms in that group of 83 own more than 100 subsidiaries in tax havens or financial privacy jurisdictions. And one organization -- Citigroup -- has no fewer than 427, including 91 in Luxembourg, 90 in the Cayman Islands, and 35 in the British Virgin Islands.

The report's investigation of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. Federal contractors tells a similar story; 63 firms in this group reported having subsidiaries in tax havens or financial privacy jurisdictions. The Procter & Gamble Co., which had nearly $313 million in federal contracts in fiscal 2007, reports having 83 subsidiaries in these locations, including 24 in Switzerland and 11 in Singapore.

The international community unites to push offshore centres into being more transparent

There are now just three countries still on the unco-operative list: Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco. But the FATF list is likely to be overshadowed by moves by the group of 20 big industrialised and emerging economies to crack down on offshore centres. The group, which comprises 19 of the world’s biggest economies and the European Union, is expected to announce plans to take a much tougher stance on “secrecy jurisdictions” in April.

Observers believe the G20 will be looking to oblige non-compliant, smaller jurisdictions to meet new international standards of transparency and co-operation.

Wary of all the pressure on them, offshore centres are responding with a mixture of agreeing to improve their transparency and defending their efforts to make improvements.

Swiss to hand over data to end UBS tax case

ZURICH, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The Swiss government plans to hand over some data on UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) (UBS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) clients and accept a large fine against the bank in exchange for U.S. authorities ending a damaging tax probe, the NZZ am Sonntag reported.

The U.S. has accused UBS of helping rich Americans hide billions of dollars of untaxed money in Swiss accounts. They have asked UBS to hand over the names of its U.S. clients, a step that would breach Switzerland's bank secrecy laws and may damage the country's status as leading offshore centre.

Madoff affair aggravates private banking fee spat

ZURICH (Reuters) - Private bank clients, already at loggerheads with wealth managers during the subprime crisis, are becoming more vocal in demanding lower fees after the Madoff scandal left many of them badly bruised.

Wealthy clients who parked assets with Swiss private banks and funds in other offshore centers feature heavily among the victims of a $50 billion fraud allegedly orchestrated by former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff.

Many clients now complain that they pay too much for too little, especially as many of them have seen asset values shrink during the downturn.

Offshore Banking Explained

If you, like many of us, have been misled by media mishandling of information about offshore banking and the legitimacy and usefulness of it, please allow us to help set the record straight.

If you’re going to live abroad, you have a home overseas or you perhaps regularly work abroad for your company, you may well benefit substantially from an offshore bank account.

In this article, offshore banking will be explained in its most straightforward sense. It’s essential to pass on this information because governments are so anti-money laundering and tax evasion and so successful in getting the media to blanket cover anything relating to ‘offshore’ as evil and illegal, that the very real and legitimate reasons for banking offshore are completely ignored!

NatWest Offshore Banking Services

NatWest is one of the leading UK high street banks now offering expatriates and those who lead an international lifestyle some good, solid and competitive offshore banking services.

We have covered the likes of HSBC’s offerings before, and so today we’ll take a close look at what NatWest has to offer the expat, would-be expat, owner of a home abroad or those who work overseas perhaps, but who still reside in the UK.

There are three divisions to NatWest Offshore – they are International Personal Banking, Island Banking which covers their offices and services in the Channel Islands and also Isle of Man Bank. We will be most concerned with their International Personal Banking services because these are of most interest to our expat readers.