David Rosenbloom Quoted in Financial Post, Swiss Banks Near Deal to Disclose Customer Names to U.S.

Excerpt taken from article.

Swiss banks will likely settle a sweeping U.S. probe of offshore tax evasion by paying billions of dollars and handing over names of thousands of Americans who have secret accounts, according to two people familiar with the matter, report David Voreacos, Klaus Wille and Giles Broom of Bloomberg News.

U.S. and Swiss officials are concluding negotiations on a civil settlement amid U.S. criminal probes of 11 financial institutions, including Credit Suisse Group AG, suspected of helping American clients hide money from the Internal Revenue Service, according to five people with knowledge of the talks who declined to speak publicly because they are confidential.

Switzerland, the biggest haven for offshore wealth, wants an end to new U.S. probes while preserving its decades-old tradition of bank secrecy, the people said. The U.S. seeks data on Americans who have dodged U.S. taxes and a pledge by Swiss banks to stop helping such clients, according to the people. The Swiss reached accords this year with Germany and the U.K. on untaxed assets.

"The Swiss would like to get out of this by paying money, and they've done that with other countries," said tax attorney H. David Rosenbloom of Caplin & Drysdale Chartered in Washington, who isn't involved in the talks. "For the U.S., it's not primarily a money question. It's a matter of making sure the laws apply fairly among taxpayers."

Read the full article about the U.S. tax evasion probe on Swiss banks.