瑞士同意披露瑞銀4450美國富人姓名

The US blasted a hole in Switzerland's famed bank secrecy yesterday, as Bern agreed to reveal the names of 4,450 wealthy Americans holding offshore accounts at UBS, the country's biggest bank.

昨日，瑞士政府同意披露4450名在該國最大銀行瑞銀(UBS)持有離岸賬戶的美國富人的姓名，從而讓美國在瑞士聞名的銀行保密制度上打開一道缺口。

Washington hailed the deal as a major victory in the clampdown on tax evasion and indicated it would be the foundation of future efforts to pursue other foreign banks.

美國政府稱，該協(xié)議是在打擊逃稅行動上取得的重大勝利，并暗示，這將是今后向其它外國銀行追查的基礎。

“This agreement sends an unmistakable message to people hiding income and assets offshore,” said Douglas Shulman, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, the US tax authority. “The IRS will vigorously pursue tax cheats around the world, no matter how remote or secret the location.”

美國國稅局(Internal Revenue Service)局長道格拉斯•蘇爾曼(Douglas Shulman)表示：“這份協(xié)議向那些隱瞞離岸收入和資產的人傳遞了一個明白無誤的信息。美國國稅局將在全球范圍對逃稅者窮追猛打，不管這個地方有多遠或多么秘密。”

Mr Shulman said the IRS would now receive an “unprecedented amount of information on tax evaders” and data of the “greatest interest to us” as a result of the agreement.

蘇爾曼表示，協(xié)議將會讓美國國稅局收到“數(shù)量前所未有的逃稅者信息”和“我們極感興趣”的數(shù)據(jù)。

Swiss ministers tried to play down the implications of the deal by arguing that Bern had already agreed in March to accept international standards on tax co-operation after mounting pressure from the G20 group of industrial and developing countries.

瑞士部長們試圖淡化該協(xié)議的意義，辯稱在受到20國集團(G20)工業(yè)化國家和發(fā)展中國家越來越大的壓力后，瑞士政府在3月份已同意接受有關稅務合作的國際標準。

However, lawyers said Washington's aggressive pursuit of UBS had become an international showcase and was likely to be monitored closely by other authorities determined to crack down on tax evasion amid rising government deficits.

然而，律師們表示，美國政府對瑞銀的窮追猛打已經成為國際榜樣，在政府赤字不斷上升之際，可能受到決心打擊逃稅行為的其它國家的密切關注。

The criteria used to select the names on the UBS list will only be revealed in three months, in a deliberate strategy by the IRS to maximise uncertainty and put pressure on more of the bank's estimated 52,000 US offshore customers to come forward voluntarily.

用于選擇瑞銀客戶名單的標準將在3個月里披露，這明顯是美國國稅局刻意采取的策略，目的是盡可能增大不確定性，施壓讓更多的瑞銀美國離岸客戶（估計有5.2萬名）主動申報。

Lawyers said that the most likely criterion would be the use of sham companies, allowing account holders to exploit loopholes in US tax rules.

律師表示，最有可能的標準將是賬戶持有人是否利用美國稅法漏洞，注冊虛假公司進行逃稅。

The US authorities have hinted that many clients have already come clean to take advantage of more lenient punishments. They have extended a formal deadline for self-declaration to encourage others.

美國政府暗示，許多客戶已經主動交代，以利用比較寬大的處罰待遇。他們延長了自愿申報的官方截止期限，以鼓勵其他人交代問題。

譯者/君悅