Tax Notes Today Quotes Scott Michel: DOJ Doesn't See Barriers to Receipt of Information Under Swiss Bank Program

Scott D. Michel appeared with Tax Division Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally at the ABA's International Tax Enforcement Conference in Washington and spoke regarding the Justice Department's settlement program for Swiss banks. The DOJ does not believe that barriers, such as data protection issues, will prevent it from obtaining information about account holders or banking professionals required to be disclosed under the program. For the complete article, please visit Tax Notes Today's website (subscription required).

Excerpt taken from the article "DOJ Doesn't See Barriers to Receipt of Information Under Swiss Bank Program" by Jaime Arora.

Scott D. Michel of Caplin & Drysdale said, however, that issues involving data protection have been a major challenge for Swiss banks because serious questions of local law have been implicated. Banks are not trying to thwart the objectives of the program, but they do face some Swiss law constraints, he said, adding, "I don't know how this is going to sort itself out."