UBS to discontinue offshore banking for US clients

[athensguy]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a8Jh8z6NacRs&refer=news

What's a billionaire to do...what to do...

[haulingthescoreup]

What are they going to tell the IRS and the divorce attorney???

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"The bank hid as much as $17.9 billion for 19,000 Americans who didn't declare assets to the Internal Revenue Service, according to the subcommittee's 114-page report. ``UBS has opened thousands of accounts in Switzerland that are beneficially owned by U.S. clients, hold billions of dollars in assets, and have not been reported to U.S. tax authorities,'' the report said.

"Offshore banking for U.S. clients brought UBS about $200 million in annual revenue, former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld said in a statement when he pleaded guilty last month to helping a billionaire UBS customer evade U.S. taxes. Branson didn't say how much income U.S. clients generated for the firm.

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"Investors have traditionally parked money in offshore accounts for two primary reasons: to protect money from a politically unstable domestic market or to avoid taxes, S&P's Chambers said. ``The third attraction would be investment expertise, but I'm not sure how compelling that is'' for U.S. residents, he said.

"The subcommittee cited other reasons why people use offshore accounts: To avoid paying legal judgments and to hide money from spouses."

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I suppose they'll figure out something.... There's always the Caymans, I suppose!