Deutsche Welle, 31 July 2013
Liechtenstein's second largest bank has agreed to pay the United States millions in undeclared revenue and lost taxes from US citizens. In return, the US says it will drop its investigation of the tax haven.
Liechtenstein's second largest bank has agreed to pay the United States millions in undeclared revenue and lost taxes from US citizens. In return, the US says it will drop its investigation of the tax haven.
The
Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG (LLB-Vaduz) agreed to pay the US Department of
Justice nearly $23.8 million (17.95 million euros). The settlement ended a
probe into LLB-Vaduz's practices from 2001 to 2011, during which time US
authorities suspected it of facilitating tax evasion for US citizens.
The
corporate tax tricks of 'Big Business'
"[LLB-Vaduz]
has reached a definitive solution to the US taxation dispute," the bank
said in a statement on Tuesday.
Under the
agreement, the Vaduz-based bank will pay $16.3 million in revenue from
undeclared assets belonging to US depositors. US authorities are to receive
$7.5 million in lost tax revenue.
It also
provided US authorities with information on 200 US clients, according to the
news agency AFP.
The US
Department of Justice agreed to halt further prosecution, freeing the
Liechtenstein bank from the prospect of criminal charges or fines.
"This
non-prosecution agreement addresses the past wrongful conduct of LLB-Vaduz in
allowing US taxpayers to evade their legal obligations through the use of
undisclosed Liechtenstein bank accounts," US Assistant Attorney General
Kathryn Keneally said.
US
authorities also agreed to acknowledge LLB-Vaduz' bank reforms beginning in
2008, which required all clients to declare their income before the
investigation had begun.
"As a
result of new Liechtenstein legislation, US taxpayers who thought that they had
obtained the benefit of Liechtenstein's tax secrecy laws have learned that
their bank files were turned over on the request of the Department of
Justice," Keneally said.
kms/jm (AFP, dpa)
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