UBS Agrees to Reveal Names of Suspected US Tax Evaders

Lawyers who defend those accused of tax fraud may be seeing an increase in workload soon.

Swiss bank UBS has agreed to disclose the names of U.S. clients suspected of tax evasion in a deal reached with the U.S. Justice Department, the New York Times reports.

Justice Department lawyer Stuart Gibson told of the deal in a conference call with a judge overseeing a civil suit against UBS. It seeks to force the bank to reveal the names of 52,000 Americans suspected of trying to evade taxes by moving their money to offshore accounts. UBS had fought the suit, claiming disclosure of the names would be a violation of Swiss banking laws.

Tax lawyers told Bloomberg News they expect UBS to disclose thousands of accounts. Several people have already revealed they had offshore accounts under a voluntary disclosure program offering reduced penalties.

New York tax lawyer Bryan Skarlatos told Bloomberg he expects the settlement to include an agreement between the United States and the Swiss government that could affect all U.S. taxpayers who kept money in Swiss banks.